PATRICK KRAMER Masterworks in Ruins

In his second solo show at Arcadia Contemporary, Patrick Kramer offers an array of "destroyed masterpieces." Kramer recreates famous paintings as if they had been damaged in some way.

- Meg Daly

Using trompe l'oeil, or trick of the eye effect, the masterworks appear in three-dimensional settings, scraped, covered in rubble, surrounded by objects or otherwise in a state of decay.

Kramer made a name for himself with his impeccable realistic still lifes and figures, often featuring butterflies, flowers and beautiful women. In recent years, his tone has turned darker as he began imagining famous paintings under duress. One influence has been his wife's work as an archaeologist. He started playing with covering masterpieces in rubble, as if they were excavated at an archaeological dig.