Adrian Ghenie
Adrian Ghenie’s painting A Farewell to the Western World (2007) situates a white-clothed figure within a bunker, perched atop a miniaturized version of the New York City skyline and Greco-Roman antiquities. The composition references an installation image from the 1939 New York World’s Fair, an international presentation of cultural and technological innovations in which 62 nations participated. Ghenie’s ominous interpretation painted in grisaille is perhaps a reflection of a post-Soviet Romania where the benefits of Western influence, in particular the promises of its governing and financial principles, were questioned.