David B. Smith Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of new works by Brooklyn-based artist, Ryan McLennan. Formulated as a formal and conceptual meditation inspired by seminal cinematic works of the twentieth century, for Fabrications McLennan draws upon the themes and visuals of the work of filmmakers such as Andrei Tarkovsky and Guy Maddin among others.

Completed over the course of a year, the twenty paintings on view in this exhibition depict empty, sometimes foreboding spaces. Of the images McLennan has created, many he has rendered from film stills with their narrative agents removed. McLennan evokes a sense of familiarity as he explores an in-between, or liminal, space. Among the isolated edges, corners, and halls, these sites are mysteriously incomplete, yet they convey the familiar spare lines of an empty film set. There are elements of false-memory and nostalgia, which McLennan introduces in the bleak banality of the spaces and scenes he has chosen. The vision of an empty hallway is a universal sight, and the works comprise the makings of a dream-state or an alter reality, as they evoke anecdotal descriptions of the astral plane.

In addition to the edgy, at times rough, brushwork, which McLennan employs, many of the works on view in Fabrications are mounted to burlap, underscoring McLennan’s departure from the exquisite detail he has employed in previous works. This series is composed in a somewhat looser style, perhaps in contrast to his constrained subject matter. Through the lens of an artfully subdued palette, McLennan creates atmosphere via shadows, dark voids, and soft mist. The cinematic asymmetry, and painterly, worked-over layers of pigment are engaging via a subtle, seductive density.

Please join us for a reception with Ryan McLennan celebrating this exhibition of compelling new works, to be held at the gallery on Friday, September 6, from 7 – 9 pm. Please visit the exhibition page on our website for more information about Ryan McLennan and Fabrications.

Ryan McLennan was born in Norfolk, Virginia in 1980. In 2002 he received a BFA from the Painting and Printmaking Department of Virginia Commonwealth University. Since then he has exhibited work in cities such as Los Angeles, New York, Boston and Richmond, Virginia, as well as Australia and the United Kingdom. McLennan was a recipient of the 2008/2009 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship and was the 2010 Grand Prize winner of the West Prize. McLennan currently lives and works in New York.

David B. Smith Gallery is Denver's venue for compelling contemporary art. The gallery specializes in the exhibition and sale of progressive contemporary artwork from emerging international artists. Since its founding in 2007, the gallery has been committed to presenting intelligent and culturally relevant exhibitions featuring work from some of today's most dynamic artists with growing international reputations. Through participation in leading art fairs and extensive media coverage, David B. Smith Gallery has grown a strong regional, national and international collector audience. The New York Times hailed the gallery as offering "an exciting contrast of cutting edge works." The gallery is located on Wazee Street in the historic LoDo neighborhood of Denver. In addition to its curatorial program, David B. Smith Gallery maintains an active publishing division, which produces limited edition artist prints, monographs, and exhibition catalogues.

David B. Smith Gallery
1543 A Wazee Street
Denver (CO) 80202 United States
Tel. +1 (303) 8934234
info@davidbsmithgallery.com
www.davidbsmithgallery.com

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