About
Reception for the artist: Thursday, June 24, 6 – 8pm
"They do what painting can do best. They embody the manner and the matter of historical memory from which the history of painting is itself inextricable."
– Dave Hickey, from his essay Dexter Dalwood Covers the Classics, Gagosian Gallery, 2002.
Gagosian Gallery is pleased to announce British artist Dexter Dalwood's first solo exhibition in New York.
In this new series of paintings, Dalwood draws upon the viewer's knowledge of popular culture and political history, depicting fictional scenes that feel vaguely familiar because the people or events that they reference are ingrained in the public's consciousness. The artist continues his exploration of unpopulated interiors, but here he focuses on the private lives of very public personas, obliquely portrayed through their imagined surroundings. Dalwood canvases a broad spectrum of personalities, including literary figures William Burroughs, Truman Capote, and Oscar Wilde; socialites Claus and Sunny von Bulow; and the elegant fashion icon, Diana Vreeland. He also recalls history painting with epic works such as the Bay of Pigs and Birth of the U.N. Merging real history with art history, Dalwood characteristically employs painterly elements or devices appropriated from celebrated twentieth-century artists, including Francis Bacon, Edward Hopper and Willem de Kooning.