David Dreyer
Exhibit: Recent Paintings & Sculpture (Square Gallery)
Dates: March 8 - April 25, 2008
14 Works : Sculpture and Mixed Media on Panel and Canvas
David Dreyer
Sculpture: "Polaris"
2007
Powder-coated iron.
75" x 106" x 63"
Artist Statement:
"I seek the dynamics of change, growth, and potential. Imagination and observation are my muses. They are like flint and metal, when struck together the potential is infinite".
Dallas artist David Dreyer is equally a painter and a sculptor. Both media express his interest in the dynamics of nature. Dreyer is driven to answer questions such as: How does something arrive at its present form? How has it changed? What is its potential? In answering those questions, Dreyer uses the gestures of lines to convey the essence of his subject. he asks: “How can I make one line mean everything?” The gesture of a line could be inspired by the way a wet leaf looks on a concrete sidewalk, the imagined arc of a bird flying above trees, the curve of a twig with a leaf dangling on its end or a valley cutting through two mountains. In Dreyer’s hand, these gestures can take the form of a graphite line in an oil painting; the implied line between shapes of color on his canvas; the line formed by the curve of an iron wire; or the arc cut out of a sheet of iron. The artist uses those lines to describe the essence of that leaf, bird, twig, and mountain. A self-described doodler, David records things he sees instantaneously on small pieces of paper he carries with him. Some of these doodles become the basis for his paintings and sculptures. He says “single observations are often catalysts that spark recollection and assimilation. However, the work has its roots fixed in a diagrammatic exploration of such things as perception, motion and gravity.” His is an organic process has an interconnectedness. As he states: “I am pushing these ideas around a little more instead of just trying to make one object that is only about itself.” One example is his sculpture Polaris. It came from a photograph he took of a renovation project. He liked the dynamics of the angles, lines, and shadows in the photograph so much that he based a painting on it. He started playing around with small bits of cardboard and wire which turned into a small maquette and later into the large sculpture Polaris. This piece has generated at least ten more paintings. Each painting and sculpture from this group stands alone but is interconnected with the other. Ultimately, they are all interconnected with the space captured in the photograph that inspired him. Answers to his questions are evidenced in his paintings by the history he leaves on the canvas. For example, a graphite line may be painted over, then moved, but traces of the original line can still be seen. The color that was originally washed over the canvas has been painted over in a totally different hue, but the original color faintly shows through.
Questions of where things have come from and where they are going can be seen in the visual history. These changes result in paintings with tactile, delicious surfaces. These are works you can rest your eyes on. For Dreyer, “gesture is not only the essence of a statement but it’s also the search for that statement, which is kind of fun!”
David Dreyer earned both his BFA and MFA from Southern Methodist University is currently Technical Supervisor, Safety Coordinator, and Adjunct Instructor for the Division of Art at SMU.
