Continuing through August 4, 2012
Los Angeles–based artist Dashiell Manley presents two videos and nine two-dimensional works in a quiet, contemplative display that unpacks more than is at first apparent.
The two-sided abstract wall pieces, are, on one side, washed-out white with lines of text — several featuring callouts of the phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie — or rows numbers in simple equations. On the other side are brighter abstractions using turquoise or yellow or a bit of pink. The text/number sides call to mind the mark-making of Cy Twombly and the fluidity of Brice Marden’s line work.
The videos relate to the static work in that they might be animations of the evolution of the former. Additionally, we see the outline and hands of a clock, invoking the passage of time. And here it all pulls together: the investigation of what we see in relation to time. The static works stop time; the videos speed it up. Each static work cannot be seen in its entirety at the same time, because we can’t see both sides at once. We may take in each side at our own pace. The video, conversely, reveals itself over a set period of time; the viewer has no control over how long seeing it in its entirety will take.
Compressed, then, into these subtle works are intertwining threads that gently prod us to consider the complexity of relations between time and perception.
