PRODIGY

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on August 12, 2019 at 8:23am

Hi Dennis,  It's always a pleasure to see your new work.  Thanks for sharing it on the site!

Comment by DENNIS A. DEZMAIN on August 9, 2019 at 8:19am

Good morning, Kristen. Thank you for your time to review Prodigy and Monarch. Starting to design what I call my first geometric column. 

Thank you as always.

Dennis

Comment by Resident Curator on August 8, 2019 at 3:53pm

Curator’s Comments:

Thank you for bringing this new sculpture to my attention!  I’d like to think I’ve grown sensitive to the nuances in your body of work over time, detecting aesthetic shifts within your very broad and prolific artistic practice. Prodigy, however, represents a significant departure!  While still rather economic in its streamlined geometric construction, it’s shares fewer visual choices with your previous sculptures in terms of color palette and stacked arrangement.  The vertical forms are arguably more figurative, with the circular shape at the top.  The title of course reinforces the implications of personal attributes. But I do still see the abstract reference as architectural, especially in the stepped vertical triangular piece.  The black granite base simply sinks into the dark background on which we view the piece, so I imagine it doesn’t hold as much as importance as some of your other bases selections.  The large new drawing Monarch conversely holds a very agitated and dynamic movement. More in line with your recent drawings featuring primary color and radiating forms, the piece nicely combines organic and geometric abstraction.  I find it interesting that as a two-dimensional piece, the shapes coalesce on a flatter horizontal base.  The small vertical hatch lines break up this linear barrier and connect with the repeated lines elsewhere, but ultimately relate back to the sculptural works on a rectangular platform. I wonder if you also view your sculpture as your primary medium, with drawing allowing you to work out expressive movements more quickly.