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PRESS RELEASE
Sam Reveles
Dissolution: New Works on Paper
June 20 through July 20, 2003
Dunn and Brown Contemporary is pleased to announce an exhibition of new work by London-based artist, Sam Reveles. The opening of the exhibition will take place on Friday, June 20 from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. The artist will be present for the opening, and the exhibition will continue through Saturday, July 20.
In his most recent drawings, Reveles continues to blur the line between figuration and abstraction by uniting these contradictory artistic styles. Figurative images emerge from beneath layers of abstract color. The exhibition contains two disparate groups of work, the Dissolution Drawings and the Adamantine Drawings.
The word Dissolution in the title of the exhibition comes from Tibetan Buddhist text. In these intimate, hand held drawings, Reveles explores ways in which the individual relates to the universe or, perhaps more interestingly, how one dissolves into it. These vertically oriented works are part of an ongoing series based on found images from periodicals and newspapers. Subject matter ranges from athletes to politicians, serial killers to Native American masks. The energy of these images is then transformed by the bold colors Reveles layers on top of them.
While larger in scale and less delicate, the Adamantine drawings also explore the transference of energy from one form to another. Rather than using color to conceal the figurative image underneath, Reveles views the laying on of color as a different way to harness the same energy. The colors used in each image have a conceptual connection to the image. These horizontally oriented works are based on found landscapes: photographs of American Indian settlements in the northwest and vintage photographs of ghost towns.
There is a psychological component to Reveles’ drawings as well. This effect comes not only from images, but the viewers relationship to them. The mystery of what lies beneath the surface compels one to question the relationship between the figurative and the abstract and the ultimate dissolution of the two.
Originally from El Paso, Texas, Reveles now lives and works in London, England. In 1987, he received his M.F.A. from the Yale University School of Art and Architecture, and in 1995, Reveles was included in the prestigious Whitney Biennial Exhibition. His work can be found in the permanent collections of museums across the country, including the Dallas Museum of Art, Saint Louis Art Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Centro de Arte Contemporaneo in Mexico City.
Please contact Elizabeth Phy at the gallery for additional information or to request visuals. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. and by appointment.