Guy Hepner Gallery

Punkmetender The Architecture of Greatness (Catherine the Great) For Sale

Punkmetender
Punkmetender - The Architecture of Greatness (Catherine the Great) , 2026, Oil on canvas with handwritten epoxy resin | si...

The Architecture of Greatness (Catherine the Great) , 2026

Oil on canvas with handwritten epoxy resin | signed and dated

48x60 in.

About this work

THE ARCHITECTURE OF GREATNESS (CATHERINE THE GREAT) Punkmetender has rapidly established a distinctive presence in the contemporary art market through works that fuse classical portraiture traditions with bold, unconventional material interventions. Operating at the intersection of historical reverence and contemporary irreverence, the artist has cultivated a following among collectors drawn to pieces that challenge conventional hierarchies of subject matter and medium. This commanding large-scale portrait presents Catherine the Great rendered in rich, traditional oil technique, her imperial bearing and penetrating gaze dominating the composition. The artist demonstrates considerable technical facility in the handling of flesh tones, fabric, and the subtle play of light across the Empress's features, evoking the grand manner portraiture of the eighteenth century courts. Yet the work refuses pure historicism. The integration of handwritten epoxy resin introduces a textural dimension that disrupts the painted surface, creating passages where language becomes both ornament and subversion. This material duality speaks to contemporary concerns around power, narrative construction, and the ways historical figures are continuously rewritten by successive generations. At forty-eight by sixty inches, the scale asserts an appropriately monumental presence, demanding engagement from across the gallery space. The work exists as a unique edition, signed and dated by the artist, ensuring its position as a singular statement within Punkmetender's evolving body of work. For collectors seeking works that bridge technical accomplishment with conceptual depth, this piece represents a significant opportunity. Guy Hepner invites serious inquiries regarding acquisition. Please contact the gallery directly for pricing, condition reporting, and shipping arrangements worldwide.

Price on Application

Edition & Provenance

Year
2026
Medium
Oil on canvas with handwritten epoxy resin | signed and dated
Edition
1/1

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About the Membrane Series

Roman Lefebvre is a French multidisciplinary artist working across digital film, photography, painting and sculpture. His practice examines the invisible structures through which perception becomes memory, belief and reality.

Across both digital and material forms, Lefebvre explores the distance between seeing something and possessing its meaning. His earlier practice under the moniker Punkmetender established a visual language of metamorphosis, beauty and repetition; urrent work moves those concerns toward time, consciousness and the instability of representation.

Membrane examines the unstable boundary between what is visible and what remains inaccessible. Historical portraits, sacred figures and classical forms are altered through oil painting, abrasion, handwritten language and transparent epoxy resin.

The surface preserves the image while interrupting access to it. Writing does not explain the subject; it becomes another veil placed between the viewer and certainty.

The series asks whether revelation produces understanding, or simply expands the unknown.

In Membrane, that investigation becomes physical through oil painting, abrasion, handwritten language and transparent epoxy resin. Images are preserved while access to them is interrupted, creating a tension between revelation and concealment.

“The image reveals itself without surrendering its meaning."

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The Architecture of Greatness (Catherine the Great)

About Punkmetender

Roman Lefebvre is a French multidisciplinary artist based in Miami. Born in Paris and shaped by nearly two decades in Los Angeles, Lefebvre played an integral role in developing the visual identity, design language and studio practice of Mr. Brainwash during the formative years of his international career. He is featured in the Academy Award- nominated documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop and worked alongside Banksy and other influential figures of the international street-art movement.

Under the name Punkmetender, Lefebvre subsequently established an independent international practice spanning painting, sculpture, installation and large-scale public work. His works are held in prominent private collections internationally, including those of a member of the Getty family, Mariah Carey, Khloé Kardashian, Paris Hilton and Dave Navarro, among others.

Now working under his own name, Lefebvre is expanding his practice through digital film and Membrane, a materially layered series examining perception, memory and the unstable boundary between image and reality. Moving between contemporary digital figures and historical imagery transformed through oil painting, abrasion, handwritten language and transparent epoxy resin, his work explores how beauty is preserved, disrupted and reinterpreted across time.

Available through Guy Hepner in New York.

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