~KENT DORN . . ALMOST PARADISE
MORE PIX FROM THE OPENING . .
KENT DORN . . . ‘SHADOWLAND’
& video projection in the back room by REBECCA GOYETTE
OCT 17 – NOV 16, 2013
FREIGHT+VOLUME – 530 WEST 24TH ST – CHELSEA, NYC
KENT DORN and NICK LAWRENCE at the opening.
I’m so . . into ‘big’ hats. Hash Halper wears one too.
CORY in front of KENT DORN’S . . . ‘Almost Paradise.’
KENT DORN, ‘Almost Paradise’, 2013.
mixed media on canvas, 45 x 60 in.
($8,000)
so I was wondering why Nick would pair REBECCA GOYETTE’S over-the-top video with a KENT DORN show.
maybe this painting is a clue . . .”almost paradise”, anybody ?
even with 2 suns, this painting also says: paradise lost.
KENT DORN, ‘Shadowland’, 2013.
mixed media on canvas, 75 x 60 in.
($14,000)
2 suns ?
maybe that’s a truly .. mutated world, of the future.
it’s kind of a ‘fierce’ .. image / metaphor.
well they both, GOYETTE and DORN have a lot to say about water, though one references the secret and terrifying ‘life’ beneath salt sea water . . while the later, Kent Dorn: the ‘mystery’ life atop a kind of ‘fading glory’ .. lake water. they both speak .. ‘fierce’.
esp in terms of pure visual ‘technique’.
they both speak to human desire, and ‘mating’. and degrading. ritual. being lost, and not in control.
though it’s a bit of a . . raw call. an over-the-top contrast.
but while Ms. Goyette, is deliberately .. very trashy in her expression, she is at least racially diverse. Mr. Dorn zeros in a counter culture that is all white, and counter culture trashy. but then, the painting is damn: serious.
both are very: entertaining. for all the darkness, it’s really just .. food for thought.
a kind of a visual ‘fish’ food . . that comes drifting down the everyday pipeline.
I mean it’s strange to write about. Rebecca’s work is so outrageous, so fun, and yet ultimately, reads .. sad.
Kent Dorn’s work .. is harder to peg.
it skews ‘dark’, and yet .. reads extremely beautiful.
I’m sure someone could dig into those 2 opposing landscapes, and come up .. with a book.
Almost Paradise . .
human behavior . . for the soft-fleshed creatures we are, with brains, and comprehensive history, Kent Dorn’s paintings aren’t that far from saying . . what Ms. Goyette is saying ..
maybe we do need . . shells.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH