Ben Dalls | Sculptural Paintings

May 2 - June 1, 2019

Opening Reception: May 2, 6 - 8 pm

Ben Dallas’ Sculptural Paintings feature new three-dimensional artworks with absorbing visual detail that evades categorization as object or picture. The wall-mounted constructions exude a surprising physicality resulting from Dallas’ deft combinations of plywood, spackle, paint and glaze. The artist first builds the shapes of his wooden structures and later applies layers of paint and glaze to areas of its surface.

For years Dallas’ intensive practice has embodied intellectual negotiations between image and form, exemplified further by his new series of “Remakes.” In this series, works are made from repurposed elements of unrealized projects which are reconsidered and combined to form new geometries and textural fusions. Sculptural Paintings elicit conceptual musings on artifice, structure and the history of painting, while Dallas’ titles like About Nothing simultaneously challenge and invite the viewer towards something purely experiential.

Ben Dallas received an MA in Art History from the University of Illinois in 1971. His work has been in exhibitions nationally including the Rockford Art Museum (Rockford, IL), Orange County Center for Contemporary Art (Santa Ana, CA), Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art (Chicago, IL) and the San Francisco Craft and Folk Art Museum (San Francisco, CA). Dallas has shown with the Elizabeth Leach Gallery since 1996.