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PRESS RELEASE
Paul Booker: Three-Dimensional Installations
Monica Vidal: Works on Paper
September 10 through October 9, 2004
Dunn and Brown Contemporary is pleased to announce a two-person exhibition, which will include three dimensional installations by Paul Booker and works on paper by Monica Vidal. The opening of the exhibition will take place on Friday, September 10, 2004 from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. The exhibition will continue through Saturday, October 9, 2004.
For this exhibition, Paul Booker has created multi-part sculptural works which he will install directly into the gallery walls. His detailed and time consuming installation process -- using hundreds of straight pins to attach these delicate structures to the wall -- is reminiscent of methods used for scientific specimen displays. Fascinated by charts, grids, and diagrams, Booker has built upon their two dimensional beginnings, layering and manipulating clusters of these boxed forms. The individual sculptures gradually transform themselves into architectural structures whose shapes appear to be constantly growing and multiplying upon themselves. Carefully arranged and composed, Booker achieves a sense of movement with his work that seems effortless. Although his ideas originate within a stated framework, his three-dimensional works evolve into forms with an organic quality all their own.
Equally captivating are Monica Vidal’s large-scale monochromatic watercolors on paper. The drawings, comprised almost entirely of circular forms, have a light, vaguely dreamy air that belies a quiet intensity. Vidal utilizes graphite to create a clean, seemingly impermeable line following up with a wash of ink to encourages its dissolution and achieve precise gradation. This technique lends a painterly feel to the work. The repetition of forms creates a rhythmic pattern that captivates the viewer as well. The hollow nature of ellipses necessitates that negative space assert itself to create balance. In one work, aptly titled Idea, the repeated orbs seem to spring up like inspired thoughts before quickly retreating into space. These drawings owe much of their success to Vidal’s precise application which creates an air of weightlessness. In Tagged, the orbs appear to dissolve against a sea of lines; highlighting the vast expanse where nothing is bound by the constraints of gravity.
Paul Booker completed his B.F.A. at the University of Texas at Austin prior to receiving his M.F.A. in painting and drawing for the University of North Texas where he received the Outstanding Graduate Student Award. Booker currently lives and works in Dallas, Texas.
Monica Vidal received her undergraduate degree from the Cleveland Institute of Fine Art followed by a M.F.A. from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia. She currently lives and works in Houston, Texas.
Both artists will be present at the opening reception for the exhibition.
Please contact Elizabeth Phy at the gallery for additional information or to request visuals. Dunn and Brown Contemporary is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday from 11:00 until 5:00 p.m. and by appointment.