FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DIKE BLAIR
April 26 – June 7, 2008Mary Goldman Gallery is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of sculpture and painting by Dike Blair. An opening reception for the artist will be held on Saturday, April 26, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
The models in the eye paintings are my wife, friends and former students, many of whom are artists. These are portraits, but the image of the eye is so metaphorically rich that I hope they do more. For me, isolating and slightly enlarging the eye amplifies its eroticism. I think there are also aspects of a ping-pong gaze and an inside-and-outsideness (windows are another of my favorite subjects) in these works. The parking lots are painted from photos taken at night at racetracks and supermarkets, although there’s nothing particularly significant about that; I’ve just always loved painted lines on asphalt.
The new element in the sculptures is the inclusion of Noguchi’s Akari lamps. I’d like to note that I intend the use of the readymade as homage, not as critique. In these, and in my more recent sculpture, I’ve been colliding and confusing my painterly and sculptural interests into single pieces. I’m also playing with the design problem of using the packing crate as part of the sculpture. A somewhat unintended benefit of the design solution was the surface of the crates, which allow me to play more literally with painterly abstraction, something that was sublimated in the earlier light and carpet sculpture. Like the eye paintings, I hope the sculptures have something to do with inside-and-outsideness, and something to do with looking and recognizing.
Dike Blair, 4/6/08
Dike Blair is a New York based artist who has exhibited both nationally and internationally for 30 years. His work is in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art and the MOCA, LA. He exhibits with Feature Inc. in New York, and this is his second solo exhibition with the Mary Goldman Gallery. His book of collected interviews and essays, Again, was recently published by Whitewalls. Included in the book is an essay on Noguchi’s lamps.
Mary Goldman Gallery is located at 932 Chung King Road in the Chinatown district of Los Angeles. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm or by appointment. For further information, please contact the gallery at 213 617 8217 or at info@marygoldman.com.
