Daniel Dove: ReAnimal
Daniel Dove, an established artist, living and working in Los Angeles, CA, has shown in multiple solos and group exhibitions across the nation. He is a recipient of a Joan Mitchell Foundation Fellowship and has been featured in publications such as Art in America, Artforum: Must See, LA Times, and more.
His most recent solo exhibition, reAnimal, which ran from 29 October to 26 November 2022 at Philip Martin Gallery in Los Angeles, expresses a sense of humanity in the inanimate and desolate.
Bullish, 2022
This blog post is divided into three sections; first, my instant response to the work as seen in images online; second, some context on the work provided from a personal zoom interview with the artist; and third, my thoughts on experiencing the work in person. All images courtesy of Clarisse Abelarde from visiting Philip Martin Gallery on November 22, 2022
Upon looking at the work through images online, I formed some reactionary sentiments toward Dove’s work as follows:
It surfaced questions such as, “are these based on characters?”
The painting, Embedded, features a shy and fragmented Lady Liberty, which is a fascinating contradiction. Instead of being liberated, she is boxed in, which I found to be an ironic situation. The character’s presence becomes an icon, using a figure as a sigil or monogram.
Embedded, 2022
I asked myself, “How do you interpret the works?” here are some of the things that came up for me:
Surreal
Aged, Deteriorated
Connecting man-made vs. nature (sublime)
Edge Lord, 2022. Oil on canvas. 20 x 24”
Desolate
Uninhabited, but order exists (human-made touch in foliage, human “was here” graffiti)
Ominous atmosphere
The character is alive but stiff
Quirky & full of personality but is petrified, still
Theatrical, cinematic, focus on figure/ground relation
Nonument, 2022. Oil on canvas. 20 x 24”
In a meeting with Daniel Dove, I asked him if the paintings Faint Heart and Grrrl with Guitar are based on characters, to which he explained that they are both Picasso references, as is the painting Equus II, where the central animal figure is based on the Picasso painting, Guernica.
I also asked, “What are the prominent artistic influences which inspired you to create the paintings?” We discussed Picasso, Mark di Suvero, junk sculpture, and founded forms. He is fascinated by sculptures built out of industrial waste, mass-manufactured objects, the industrial class of materials, reduction, and fragmentation. Dove is interested in planar forms creating volume or turning organic forms into planar elements.
Another question was, “why were you drawn to the subject matter, and what does it represent?” We conversed about sculptural forms replicating living forms, taking waste and reanimating them (giving life to the object), and junk materials to fine art. We also talked about Salvation Mountain in Slab City, where people choose to live on the edge of society.
Nocturnal, 2022. Oil on canvas. 20 x 24”
Upon visiting Philip Martin Gallery, it was interesting to observe the arrangement of artwork. The space was beautifully curated, and the order of paintings allowed me to spend a long time on each piece, especially on the large-scale works. It was vital for me to see these paintings in person and be able to analyze the paint application techniques he used to achieve specific effects. The physicality of paint is prominent in these paintings, and there is a sense of abstraction in the details, but when the viewer steps away, the mark-making melds together to coherence.
Additionally, because there is a combination of medium-sized and large-scale works, we can make connections between what could possibly be a study for a larger piece, allowing the audience to get a glimpse of the artist’s process.
Although I took detailed shots, the photographs do not show the intense impact of being in front of one of these paintings. Combining small, detailed forms against monumental statues in one painting gives the viewer a sublime feeling. Personally, I was impressed by the use of color, scale shifts, and compositional choices Dove made. I believe these paintings express the human condition without a literal human presence and show it metaphorically, using remnants of graffiti and junk. The exhibition questions the current state of the world and asks us to think about consumption, legacy, and the dull, sinister, fossilized dystopia that is our current reality.