castaneda/reiman at DCKT Contemporary September 10 - October 11

New York, NY, August 22, 2009 --(PR.com)-- castaneda/reiman

sculptures of paintings of places we’ve never been

September 10 – October 11, 2009
Opening Reception: Wednesday, September 9, 6-8pm

DCKT Contemporary is pleased to present a new installation by castaneda/reiman, sculptures of paintings of places we’ve never been, using the artists' combined personal collection of landscape paintings as both material and catalyst.

castaneda/reiman here unite their mutual fascination with found landscapes and their ongoing concern with the relationship between the natural landscape and the desire for its representation in domestic spaces. At first glance, the installation appears to include these traditional landscape paintings. However, upon closer inspection, the installation is revealed as a collection of ersatz replicas constructed from plywood panels, drywall mud and other materials commonly found on construction sites - a methodology that has been consistently associated with castaneda/reiman’s art-making practice throughout their nearly twenty year collaboration.

These replicas use the landscape imagery literally and conceptually as a foundation by printing them directly on the drywall surface. Just as landscape paintings function in domestic spaces as stand-ins or reminders of places or horizons, the representations in the installation serve as stand-ins for the paintings themselves. In the greater installation, oak hardwood details serve as symbols of how elements of the natural world are placed into the service of interior domestic landscapes. Units of stacked drywall are framed in oak, subtly and ambiguously suggesting the fabrication of a home or the framing of a painting.

These most recent sculptures and objects demonstrate a fundamental shift in castaneda/reiman's process. While still considering the architectural environment, their concerns have moved from the rigid structures that support a space to the residuum of materials reflected in those spaces. Through these sculptures, they rebuild and reinterpret the subjects of their collection into awkward and informal depictions of landscape collage.

castaneda/reiman are collaborative artists who live and work in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2004 they were awarded the Fleishhacker Foundation Eureka Fellowship and have since been included in group exhibitions at the Oakland Museum of California and the Berkeley Art Museum. Their work is included in the permanent collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. This is their third solo exhibition with DCKT Contemporary.

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