I'm really enjoying the epic-mundane paintings of Dan McCleary right now. (Security, 2011 and Panel Discussion, 2011 above)
This is the work I'll be showing for mid-terms. I'm also showing a drawing for the paintings I'll be doing in the spring. I had to write an artist statement too. I tired hard not to make mine too pretentious, but here it is:
My work examines ubiquitous objects that fill the urban environment and attempts to subvert the expectation that the ordinary should be synonymous with the mundane. Through experiments with size, editing, and technique, I aim to enliven the everyday and expose tensions and contradictions embedded in scenes of city life. I am influenced by the themes and style of the Ashcan School (1908-1920), especially the painters John Sloan and George Luks. As precursors to Warhol, Lichtenstein and others, these artists were fascinated by advertising signage and the way it competes for our attention. Their work is marked by a subtle politics and an economy of mark-making. Like the Ashcan painters, I am interested in the contradictions that images help us see. My most recent work of the backs of billboards and covered signs explores (un)spoken, (un)intentional, and (un)available meanings in the urban environment. The focal point of my work is in the dark places and areas of absence where there is a duality between covering and revealing.
