The Green Line is Daniel Gordon’s first solo exhibition in Los Angeles, and from 18 May until 29 June his colourful and striking works will adorn the walls of M+B. The exhibition title is a nod to Matisse’s well-known 1905 portrait of the artist’s wife and is visually referenced in several of Gordon’s works including large scale still lifes and portraits, along with a selection of smaller works operating as isolated studies. Available at the gallery will also be Gordon’s fourth monograph titled Still Lifes, Portraits & Parts, published by Mörel in conjunction with the exhibition.

As part of his practice, the artist collects photographic images from the Internet, prints them out and uses them to build three-dimensional tableaus. The final piece, however, is a photograph of these works captured with an 8 x 10 inch view camera. Afterward, the sculptures are dismantled, though their various elements—body parts, colors, background patterns—are often reused to make new works. Gordon skillfully blends together, fragmented parts to construct a dislocated reality, where a variety of view points, profiles and people merge into a whole. Through the process of slicing, cutting, gluing, staging, arranging and recycling, the artist moves from digital to analogue, challenging the stability of the fixed image and opening up a space for new meanings to arise. His unique dealing with the photographic medium, places him within the history of collage and painting.

Also included in the display is a selection of smaller works depicting fruits and vegetables that Gordon refers to as color and object studies. These formal investigations included another element of recycling: all are parts or pieces that have been discarded from the larger still lifes and portraits. In The Green Line they are given special attention, to examine in more depth the physical nature of these objects.

Daniel Gordon: The Green Line, 18 May – 29 June, M+B, 612 North Almont Drive, Los Angeles, California 90069.

Credits
1. Daniel Gordon, Still Life with Lobster, 2012 chromogenic print © Daniel Gordon, Courtesy M+B Gallery, Los Angeles.