NEW YORK, NY.- Gagosian is presenting Lover, Lover, Lover, an exhibition of new paintings by Dan Colen from the Mother and Woodworker series. All the paintings belong to the final group of his Disney-inspired canvases, which he initiated with the Candle series in 2003. Also included are three sculptures by Sy Colen, the artists father.
Borrowing its title from a song written by Leonard Cohen on a visit to his ancestral homeland of Israel during the Yom Kippur War, Lover, Lover, Lover employs the aesthetics of Disney animation to reflect on the many loversgod, birthplace, friend, father, mother, spouse, and childthat we have, lose, and move between. Colen, who is also Jewish, relocated briefly with his family to Israel when he was five years old, an experience that shaped his idea of home in all its charged complexity. Lover, Lover, Lover, which was conceived of during another pivotal moment in the artists life, explores this perception in concert with ideas of tradition, influence, and the always-fraught American dream.
The Mother paintings, which Colen began in 2009, are based on scenes from the Disney classic Lady and the Tramp (1955) and reflect a concern with the places that shape our lives. They propose various sites as potential manifestations of home, exploring a spectrum between freedom and bondage. In this series, Colen incorporates the theme of influence by quoting brush marks from a broad range of historical movements including, but not limited to, Photorealism, German Romanticism, and American Spiritualism. The images present moments from a journey toward a hinted-at promised land, conjuring feelings of uncertainty, but also of hope. For Colen, Disneys creations manufacture an idealized backdrop to our shared desire while operating in the context of power and control; the series explores our collective need for a secure existenceand the reality that many will never attain it.
In the Woodworker paintings, begun this year, Colen employs imagery from Disneys Pinocchio (1940), building a more literal connection to his own familyspecifically his fatherand establishing a meta-narrative within the exhibition. The new works depict details of the old wood-carver Geppettos studio, alluding to the moment at which materials become autonomous from their user. Woodworker (Musical Boxes) (2022), which pictures an assortment of figurines crowding the puppeteers workspace, alludes to the artists output; Woodworker (Book) (2022), which focuses on a thick leather-bound tome surrounded by other books and objects, gestures toward the process of research. In the relatively spare Woodworker (Chisel) (2022), Geppettos chisels and paint containers are confined to the margins of the composition, leaving a central area clear and charged with creative potential.
Both the Woodworker and Mother series thematize the way in which familial relations mirror the notion of creative influence, and the inclusion in the exhibition of three sculptures by Colens fathera self-taught wood-carverunderscores this idea. One of these portrays Dan Colens grandfather; another represents his mother while pregnant with him, bringing the project full circle.
While Lover, Lover, Lover focuses on Colens painting practice, the artist also continues to work on Sky High Farm in New Yorks Hudson Valley, which he founded in 2011 as an extension of his studio practice. Now operating as a 501(c)(3) organization, the farm grows and raises nutrient-dense produce and proteins for donation to marginalized communities and is committed to creating pathways toward food sovereignty. Coinciding with the opening of Lover, Lover, Lover, Sky High Farm will host a symposium at the Judd Foundation on September 17, 2022. The series of talks will focus on nontraditional art practices and artist-run organizations, land access, and community empowerment. Additional details and registration information are forthcoming.
Home can be a dream for some and a nightmare for others. It is the past we come from and the future we aspire to. But inevitably its where we are, the earth we stand, work, and rest on in the present.
Dan Colen