Matt Dangler, Rebirth
As the tides turn and more people adopt tablets to consume their reading materials, guest curator Michael Mararian envisioned the current show at Last Rites Gallery in New York, “Bound Requiem,” as an examination of the current identity crisis of the printed page. The extensive line-up of artists in the show — including Naoto Hattori, Sas and Colin Christian, Lola, Luke Chueh, Elizabeth Winnel and many more — was invited to create works using books as a starting point. While some painted directly on book covers, others used pages for collage material. All in all, the show included as wide a range of technical approaches as it did attitudes. Some artists lamented the book’s demise while others looked hopefully into the future.
On view concurrently with “Bound Requiem,” Matt Dangler’s solo show, “Grace,” includes a series of paintings that delve into fantastical realms. The seven paintings in the show represent Dangler’s different interpretations of the title. With his dark forests and ambiguous figures, Dangler’s work contains folkloric elements that unite the pieces in the show within the same fictional world. One can imagine the works belonging to a larger narrative, bringing the two shows full circle. Both “Grace” and “Bound Requiem” will be on view through January 18.
Opening night photos courtesy of Paola Duran.
Naoto Hattori
Matt Rota, Elizabeth Winnel, Ray Geary, Paul Booth, BIlly Norrby, Michael Mararian (Guest Curator), David Stoupakis, Craig LaRotonda, AJ Fries, Fred Harper, Erica Berkowitz (left to right)
David Stoupakis
Alexander Korzer-Robinson
Lola
AJ Fries with his work
Craig LaRotonda
Scott Lickstein
Genevive Zacconi with her work
Luke Chueh
Elizabeth Winnel
Elizabeth Winnel with her work
Matt Dangler with his work
Matt Dangler, The Transcendental Engineer
Guest viewing Matt Dangler’s work