Artists and Sculptors Offer New Vision for Gold Statuette

Last year, when THR first asked L.A. and N.Y. artists to reinvent the Oscar statuette, we had no idea what to expect. Alake Shilling’s painting of a smiling blue octopus — with a shiny trophy gripped in almost every tentacle — was definitely a surprise. Seth Bogart’s ceramic beefcake body-builder Oscar was also a head-turner. That’s to say nothing of Trulee Hall’s performance art version of the statuette, complete with a bald, sword-wielding model in a gold Speedo atop a life-size award pedestal.

So, this year, when we asked 13 additional renowned painters, sculptors and ceramicists to do it again, we figured we’d be better prepared for what they’d come up with. We weren’t. We were wowed once again … and suspect you will be, too.

On the following pages, you’ll find a collection of reimagined Oscars beyond your wildest imagination, everything from naughty Oscar postcards to a towering 10-foot totem to, well, let’s just say one of these artists gave Golden Boy a whole new body part.

You can see all of these works, in person and on display, at a special LA Art Week exhibition at the Hollywood gallery AF Projects, running through March 21.

Ken Gun Min

@kengunminn

The former Lucasfilm illustrator broke out in the art world a few years ago. His solo booth was the talk of Art Basel Miami in December and he’s just come off of back-to-back shows at MCA Denver and the SCAD in Georgia. “The image of Oscar in my mind is more than just an award,” he says. “It’s a symbolic figure, almost surreal, pulsing with emotion and desire. I see it in my painting as a trophy-like form with a head of flaming flowers and a golden body reminiscent of a homoerotic bodybuilder or a go-go dancer, adorned with a bikini of glittering jewels.”

Rogan Gregory

@rogangregory

The award-winning fashion designer turned furniture designer recently branched into a new medium: ceramic sculpture. “I’ve unearthed from my kiln what we believe to be a totem used in ritualistic custom that honors achievement in art forms portraying a society just past the golden age of its existence,” is how he describes his Oscar.

Kathryn Andrews

@thekathrynandrews

One of the stars who emerged from the first Made in L.A. biennial in 2013, Andrews since has had acclaimed shows at MCA Chicago and David Kordansky Gallery in L.A. She recently founded The Judith Center for gender equality and had begun a poster project dealing with gender issues — which may or may not figure into the Oscar reinvention she created for THR. “Women are tired of getting shafted in Hollywood,” she says of the inspiration for her work. “When I see Oscar, I see a tainted icon.”

Drake Carr 

@drake.carr

The figurative painter has filled Vogue and W with his portraits, and will have a solo show in April at the Megan Mulrooney Gallery in West Hollywood. The inspiration for this painting was a story Carr made up in his head about an opera based on the Oscar in which the actors and actresses compete for the attention of the lead dancer, “the Trophy.” 

Sachi Moskowitz

@sachimoskowitz

She’s had shows in Brussels and Venice, and her booth at Untitled Art, Miami Beach, was sold out. Known for working in blue-and-white ceramics, she let the gold flow for this sculpture, a tribute to a winged Greek goddess. “Nike was known for flying around battles to locate victors,” she explains. “When she found one, she gave him fame and honor with a wreath of laurel leaves. Through my reinterpretation of the Oscar, she is now the trophy itself.” 

Rob Pruitt

@robpruitt5000

Over the past three decades, this renowned New York artist has done everything from install a cocaine buffet on the floor of an NYC gallery to a stainless steel monument to Andy Warhol in Union Square. For THR, the avowed eBay junkie sourced every “Oscar” item he could find on the online marketplace. “I ordered the objects that intrigued me,” he says, “mostly characters named Oscar — including a Muppet, a couple musicians, a famous gay poet of the ages, a murderous Olympian, a hot dog company and a fashion designer — and curated the items I liked best in a wall assemblage.”

Umar Rashid

@frohawktwofeathers

Also known as Frohawk Two Feathers (and Hi-Fidel, when he’s rapping), this artist is famous for canvasses filled with complicated mythohistorical plotlines. “Employing my penchant for [mixing] modern pop culture into historical works, I incorporated Marvel Comics’ Juggernaut, the Greek-inspired BAFTA mask and Elton John’s ‘Benny and the Jets,’ ” he explains of his “fever dream” creative process. “I’m rather pleased with how it turned out. The density of the work should provide many revelations with each viewing.”

Elliott Hundley

@elliotthundley

His works are on display in the permanent collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and in New York at the Guggenheim and Museum of Modern Art. For THR, he constructed a towering 10-foot-tall monolith. “My Oscar is a totem for us this year,” he explains, “a hybrid of a festive, rolling rack full of feathers, beads, sequins, tassels and furs — and a charred palm tree.”

Jess Valice 

@jessvalice

This neuroscientist turned emerging art star, all of 29, has already had shows in New York, Miami, Milan, London and Paris. “The idea for this drawing didn’t come naturally,” she says. “I just started drawing the sculpture itself and noticed its molded body shared a resemblance with one in a straitjacket. So, I decided to play with that concept.”

Grant Levy-Lucero

@grantlevylucero

Known mostly for his pop-inflected ceramics — think irony-infused Disneyland castles and Morton Salt containers — he decided to create a magnum-sized decanter in the shape of a deliberately tilted statuette (the piece is titled “Tipsy Oscar”). “We can all flick the cap off and take a big ol’ swig of the good stuff,” he says.

Ellen Jong

@___ellenjong

First recognized for her breakthrough 2006 photo series “Pees on Earth,” she’s lately shifted her focus to sculpture rendered in black Chinese calligraphy ink. The water flowing from her reinvented Oscar is an inky liquid that creates a gown-like fountain. “It’s my instinct to see the feminine in things, so I decided to give Oscar an elegant new silhouette,” she says. “Oscar-ella.”

Austyn Weiner

@austyn

During COVID, this abstract painter tried to keep sane by creating and mailing herself inspirational postcards. She did the same for her THR Art of Oscar submission. “These postcards are an ongoing exploration that offers a counterbalance to large-scale paintings,” she says. “Sitting down to create these small comedic moments allows me to reflect upon the current state of our world.”

Conrad Ruíz

@zomgconradical

Known for painting fire — even before this year’s tragic L.A. blazes — Ruíz whipped up this Oscar artwork after returning from a solo show in Munich. “I envisioned the statuette as the embodiment of Hollywood,” he says. “Both the city and its cinematic soul have been scarred by fire, yet the statuette remains a symbol of resilience.“

This story appeared in the Feb. 26 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.