On View: March 15 - April 20, 2013
Opening Reception: Friday, March 15, 7-9pm

On View: March 15 - April 20, 2013
Opening Reception: Friday, March 15, 7-9pm

In his first solo exhibition with the gallery, Dan Gray presents sculptural installations that re-fashion found and commonly resourced objects such as fence posts, chairs, and stud-walls into complex, yet useful structures. Interested in simple and not-so-simple technologies and machineries, Gray investigates individual resourcefulness. His sculptures and installation utilize natural mechanics and simple machines to create art in a post-consumer world.

According to the artist, “Invention is an unreal action; there is only discovery, evolution, and adaptation in something that has been invented. It is the very fact that we know nothing until shown something that proves this notion. Preparedness and necessity are roots of almost everything we ‘invent.’ Resourcefulness has again become a necessity in this modern time of exhausted resources and abundant waste. The contemporary human certainly has needs, yet obtaining materials from natural sources is no longer necessary, ironically removing us from nature. Seeking Provision investigates the modern state as an opportunity to be primal while providing for needs in a complex social context.”

Trained as a painter, and taught by an artist grandfather, Gray says he keeps alive the “spirit of the landscape painter” in his work; yet it is no longer about specific objects, form, or appropriation. “I find myself, now, in-between the literal landscape and the literal statement; and my current struggle is to develop the inherent dialogue that a set of composed mediums can have. I consider art to be a mirror for many things, including the self, society, and nature; and I feel like this mirror is very important to our well-being and the prevention of our own self-demise. In this sense, art is very utilitarian,” writes Gray.

Gray graduated from the Corcoran College of Art & Design in 2012. He has exhibited work at the Corcoran Gallery, the Fridge, (e)merge art fair, Area 405 gallery, and the Church Mouse Gallery. In addition to his fine art degree he has a background in stagecraft, scenic painting, and welding/design.

 

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