~KENT DORN . . SHADOWLAND .. F+V
KENT DORN . . . ‘SHADOWLAND’
opened THURS, OCT 17, 2013
the show runs thru NOV 16, 2013
FREIGHT+VOLUME – 530 WEST 24TH ST – CHELSEA, NYC
TURNS OUT, NICK LAWRENCE & HIS FREIGHt+VOLUME CREW . . HAVE ANOTHER ONE OF THE LIVELIEST, & SERIOUSLY !! PAINTERLY . . SHOWS TO OPEN SO FAR, THIS SEASON. THE OCT/NOV LINE-UP IS – A CRUCIAL MONTH FOR THE GALLERY SCENE. IT’S WHEN THE BIG COLLECTORS COME OUT TO BUY THEMSELVES SOME PRETTY HOLIDAY TRINKETS . . TO HANG ON THEIR WALLS.
NOTHING LIKE A LITTLE PAT-ON-THE-BACK TROPHY ART .. ESP WHEN, IT’S .. THE REAL DEAL.
PIX FROM THE OPENING – PART I
painter KENT DORN, NICK LAWRENCE of FREIGHT+VOLUME, and ERIN SIUDZINSKY. . . at the opening.
KENT DORN, ‘HOME’, 2013.
mixed media on canvas, 72 x 96 in.
($16,000)
this show is KENT DORN’S 3rd exhibition and 2nd solo show at FREIGHT+VOLUME. the Texas-based, Carolina-born painter, b. 1977 . . currently lives and works in Houston.
‘suns’, and sometimes .. ‘moons, and . . their eerie light figure prominently in Mr. Dorn’s paintings. they anchor the narrative and help ‘cast’ the spell. worldly and yet decidedly .. other worldly, these paintings move into the dark, just as easily as they reference landscape.
from the gallery:
“with a nod to horror movies, hippie counterculture, and the rural Southern landscape of his youth, Dorn’s distinct landscape paintings are not as concerned with an idyllic representation of nature as much as as constructing a virtual stage for an unfolding melodrama.Littered with debris, overgrowth and remnants of past inhabitants, his landscapes are a conflation of the real and the imaginary, where myths come to life.”
read: more
the backgrounds turn towards the dark, dark secrets .. esp when the paint volume, as opposed to the realist ‘subject’ . . is turned, way up. expressionistic, detailed pointillism merges with free form impasto.
what . . goes on in this houseboat ?
there’s a sun, but it sure ain’t .. no sunny day.
yep. there’s some serious dark poetry, some mystery, some human depth .. in these canvas narratives. not quite a moment in time, as a deeper , darker dream unfolding.
lyrical, not.
haunting, yes.
the dark, on the other side . . of ‘counterculture’. the underbelly – the deeper, darker, sadder seams and dreams .. of the American dream ?
I guess that’s why they call the show: ‘Shadowland’.
paintings with an ‘afterlife’ . . all of Kent Dorn’s paintings, do not end at the canvas edges.
they turn over, turn inward, kind of tunnel down into the deeper recesses, like glow worms.
they continue, well on into further viewings and .. musings.
and, yeah initially you do come away, kind of stunned.
KENT DORN, ‘Outsiders’, 2013.
mixed media on canvas, 80 x 60 in.
($15,000)
TO BE CONTINUED.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH