Cheryl Donegan: GRLZ + Veils Contemporary Arts Museum Houston Cheryl Donegan: GRLZ + VEILS January 19–March 31, 2019

Please do not remove from gallery. 1 Cheryl Donegan: GRLZ + Veils Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

TRACKSUIT RESIST PAINTINGS The resists began as dotty and decorative abstract compositions, which Cheryl Donegan has likened to an illegible signature upon a digital tablet. Her interest in pushing to incorporate a greater level of tactility upon her surfaces led to this series. Since 2017, she has incorporated images of clothing, such as tracksuits, onto hand-dyed, digitally printed fabrics. The Tracksuit Resist paintings evolved from the Resist paintings and as a response to Donegan’s scanned fabric banners which can be seen hanging here in the gallery and her fashion lines.

untitled_track_resist_yellow_x, 2017 Hand-dyed, digitally printed cotton fabric Collection Melinda Douglas, Aspen, Colorado

untitled_track_resist_holes, 2017 Hand-dyed, digitally printed cotton fabric Courtesy the artist

untitled_track_resist_post ghosts, 2017 Hand-dyed, digitally printed cotton fabric Courtesy the artist

Please do not remove from gallery. 2 Cheryl Donegan: GRLZ + Veils Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

untitled_track_resist_bitter_tears_of_a_disco_dancer, 2017 Hand-dyed, digitally printed cotton fabric Courtesy the artist

untitled_track_resist_double_different_reds, 2017 Hand-dyed, digitally printed cotton fabric Courtesy the artist and David Shelton Gallery, Houston, Texas

untitled_track_resist_rainbow_reebok, 2017 Hand-dyed, digitally printed cotton fabric Courtesy the artist

untitled_track_resist_marriot_worcester, 2017 Hand-dyed, digitally printed cotton fabric Courtesy the artist

Please do not remove from gallery. 3 Cheryl Donegan: GRLZ + Veils Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

BLOOD SUGAR Fashion is the touchstone for the video Blood Sugar (2013). As the title suggests, another bodily metaphor, metabolism, is at play in the continuous cycle and recycle of images. As the models emerge and recede into darkness, images and patterns appear, degrade and reemerge to an uninterrupted beat.

Blood Sugar, 2013 Dress form with vintage ski jacket; video: color, sound, 5:28 minutes Courtesy the artist

Please do not remove from gallery. 4 Cheryl Donegan: GRLZ + Veils Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

STOP ME IF YOU THINK YOU’VE HEARD THIS ONE BEFORE

This video contains some strong language.

“I became fascinated with Viva’s monologue in [the Andy Warhol film Nude Restaurant (1967)]. I always think I talk too much especially when I am nervous. It is one of the things I dislike most about myself. I was thinking a lot about the art world and how nervous it makes me. I was thinking about my old videos, where I never said anything and how much people like those. So I decided to talk in a video. I’m not an actress and I wasn’t sure what to say so I decided to say what Viva had said. I read somewhere that Warhol said her voice was the most mesmerizing and the most grating he had ever heard—he should have known, he was a connoisseur of great talkers, although he didn’t say too much himself

So I cast myself as Viva and my nine-year-old son as Taylor Mead—Beauty and the Beast reversed. Vintage headphones and a Nintendo DS keep us in our zones. The more I talked—trivial, breathless, at a breakneck pace—the more it reminded me of getting on my own nerves. The relentless voice hooked up to a nervous system of images, everyday jolts. It’s just mom in the kitchen, serving up a hot dish of cool leftovers. “—Cheryl Donegan

Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before, 2008 Video, color, sound, 21:07 minutes Courtesy the artist

Please do not remove from gallery. 5 Cheryl Donegan: GRLZ + Veils Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

EYES WIDE SHUT Eyes Wide Shut references a “fake” exhibition staged by Cheryl Donegan and artist Tom Meacham in the former New York City, New York studio of Wade Guyton in 2010. Eyes Wide Shut at Burning Bridges was the title of the unrealized event, which was publicized by a poster followed by an email with installation images produced using Photoshop. Recipients were led to believe that they had missed a great show, when in fact the works never left the artists’ studios. With bold, contrasting colors and intersecting planes, Donegan’s series was primarily created with acrylic and spray paint on canvas and inspired by internet merchandise sites, such as eBay.

Kawakubo (Finn’s Painting), 2011 Spray paint and pencil on canvas Courtesy the artist

Artificial Spirit, 2010 Spray paint on canvas Courtesy the artist and David Shelton Gallery, Houston, Texas

Untitled (Dress, Kuba), 2011 Spray paint on canvas Courtesy the artist

Please do not remove from gallery. 6 Cheryl Donegan: GRLZ + Veils Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

Untitled 2010 #1, 2010 Spray paint on canvas Courtesy the artist

Untitled (Mall Map), 2010 Spray paint and acrylic on canvas Courtesy the artist

Please do not remove from gallery. 7 Cheryl Donegan: GRLZ + Veils Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

GRLZ UPCYCLE COLLECTION “Did you ever notice when you walk down the streets of New York that air conditioners stick out of the windows everywhere? Well, sometimes people take blunt instruments, like a coin or something, and push down the grates to make scratchitti or frottage in the grill, like a rubbing with their signature, a little figure, or something like that. Some people say it’s vandalism, but to me, they’re little abstract silver paintings that stick out all over the city. Every time I see a particularly beautiful one, I take a photo of it. I have a huge collection now. I’ve printed some of the best on the garments for this show—they remind me of a legion of tin men dressed in gestural slashes.” —Cheryl Donegan

“Often, if you make a foray in a new direction as an artist, people tend to push you all the way. When I started making clothes as part of my art practice, people would say, ‘Oh, so you’re a designer now.’ People want to professionalize you, probably for their own convenience. For me, it’s more about evolving, discovering, adding, and mixing rather than professionalizing and determining. That’s how I see my work. My clothes are a kind of meditation on fashion, just like they’re a meditation on performance and painting—I see it as less me making ‘fashion’ than me making something that’s thinking about fashion.” —Cheryl Donegan

1. Slip Dress with Appendage in Gash and Grills, from GRLZ Upcycle, 2018 Silk and thread Courtesy the artist

2. Sunrise Ombre-Dyed Slip Dress in Weather with Neckpiece with Sleeve in Splatter, from GRLZ Upcycle, 2018 Silk, cotton polyester, and thread Courtesy the artist

Please do not remove from gallery. 8 Cheryl Donegan: GRLZ + Veils Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

3. Slip Dress in Rips with Flutter Sleeves in Foil and Caged, from GRLZ Upcycle, 2018 Silk, cotton polyester, and thread Courtesy the artist

4. Tall Tee Long Fringe in Crinkle, from GRLZ Upcycle, 2018 Cotton polyester and thread Courtesy the artist

5. Tall Tee Racerback Braids in Caged, from GRLZ Upcycle, 2018 Cotton polyester and thread Courtesy the artist

6. Double Toga Slip Dress in Rips and Wrapper, from GRLZ Upcycle, 2018 Silk and thread Courtesy the artist

7. Double Toga Slip Dress with Ring Variation in Drags and Wrapper, from GRLZ Upcycle, 2018 Silk and thread Courtesy the artist

Please do not remove from gallery. 9 Cheryl Donegan: GRLZ + Veils Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

8. Drug Hoodie in Splatter, from GRLZ Upcycle, 2018 Cotton polyester and thread Courtesy the artist

9. Ombre-Dyed Slip Dress in Ripple with Attached Vintage Sleeves, from GRLZ Upcycle, 2018 Silk and thread Courtesy the artist

10. Slip Dress with Apron and Flap in Night and Plate, from GRLZ Upcycle, 2018 Silk and thread Courtesy the artist

11. Tall Tee Racerback Macrame in Matz, from GRLZ Upcycle, 2018 Cotton polyester and thread Courtesy the artist

Please do not remove from gallery. 10 Cheryl Donegan: GRLZ + Veils Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

THE RASTER STARS The Raster Stars series derives from an iconic drawing by artist Sigmar Polke. Polke’s work depicts a newspaper photograph of Lee Harvey Oswald, the man who assassinated United States President John F. Kennedy. The original drawing was executed by Polke in his signature “raster dots.” Raster graphics are dots of pixels or points of color which can form an image. Cheryl Donegan has adopted this technique by using a glue-resist technique to emphasize the dots on polka- dot fabric, which she then dyes. Similar to Polke’s fascination with the famous criminal, Donegan selects her own celebrities, both real and fictitious, who have influenced and inspired her. Portrayed on hand-dyed cloth, the figures appear digitally reproduced and pixelated.

The series contains a diverse group of portraits, including Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman; Ukranian-born French abstract painter and designer Sonia Delaunay; Rei Kawakubo, influential Japanese fashion designer and founder of the label Comme des Garçons; The Smiths lead singer Morrissey (nicknamed “Moz”); Japanese avant-garde artist and musician Yoko Ono; MC, producer, and cofounder of the hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest, rapper Q-Tip; and actress Gena Rowlands.

Raster Star_Moz, 2015 Hand-dyed cotton fabric Courtesy the artist and David Shelton Gallery, Houston, Texas

Raster_Star_Rei_Kawakubo, 2016 Hand-dyed cotton fabric Courtesy the artist and David Shelton Gallery, Houston, Texas

Please do not remove from gallery. 11 Cheryl Donegan: GRLZ + Veils Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

Raster_Star_Gena_Rowlands, 2017 Hand-dyed cotton fabric Courtesy the artist and David Shelton Gallery, Houston, Texas

Raster_Star_Chantal 1, 2015 Hand-dyed cotton fabric Courtesy the artist and David Shelton Gallery, Houston, Texas

Raster_Star_Yoko_Ono, 2016 Hand-dyed cotton fabric Courtesy the artist and David Shelton Gallery, Houston, Texas

Raster_Star_QTip, 2016 Hand-dyed cotton fabric Courtesy the artist and David Shelton Gallery, Houston, Texas

Raster_Star_SD_Sonia_Delaunay, 2017 Hand-dyed cotton fabric Courtesy the artist and David Shelton Gallery, Houston, Texas

Please do not remove from gallery. 12 Cheryl Donegan: GRLZ + Veils Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

Untitled (Grey Folds), 2014 Digitally printed cloth Courtesy the artist

Untitled, 2012 Acrylic and spray paint on canvas Collection Donald Donegan Jr.

Please do not remove from gallery. 13 Cheryl Donegan: GRLZ + Veils Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

RESIST PAINTINGS Cheryl Donegan investigates materiality in her series of Resist paintings by using readily-available components along with a batik technique. This technique traditionally entails applying hot wax on cloth to paint designs, creating a resist when dyed; Donegan updates this method by using Elmer’s School Glue that leaves images on the fabric when it is washed out after dyeing. This process reveals suggestive imagery and presents an interesting shift from the artist’s previous, strict engagement with digital printing.

untitled_dots_green_grey, 2014 Hand-dyed cotton fabric Courtesy the artist

Untitled (dots_purple_blue), 2015 Hand-dyed cotton fabric Courtesy the artist

Please do not remove from gallery. 14 Cheryl Donegan: GRLZ + Veils Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

Untitled Resist (dusty rose and orange gold), 2015 Hand-dyed cotton fabric Courtesy the artist

Untitled (soft drab mapping), 2014 Dyed cotton Courtesy the artist and Levy.Delval, Brussels, Belgium

Please do not remove from gallery. 15 Cheryl Donegan: GRLZ + Veils Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

BANNERS The works in the Banners series are created by arranging fabric on a scanner, and feature tracksuit and gingham images that have been cropped and altered according to the limitations of the software used by Cheryl Donegan. Each repeated scan creates a new image. Once set, the fabric is ordered online by the meter, printed, shipped, and displayed in the gallery space. Like many of Donegan’s series incorporating fabric, there is an immediacy as well as an embrace of consumer culture.

Tracksuit Banner (black/hot pink/blue), 2015 Digitally printed cotton fabric Courtesy the artist and Levy.Delval, Brussels

Banner [Black Gingham], 2015 Digitally printed cotton fabric Courtesy the artist and Levy.Delval, Brussels

Please do not remove from gallery. 16 Cheryl Donegan: GRLZ + Veils Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

CRACK PAINTINGS Made at roughly the same time as the Eyes Wide Shut paintings is a series called Crack, comprised of clashing layers that incorporate spray paint, glitter, sheet metal, fabric, and Plexiglas, all adhered to MDF board. This body of work evolved from two paintings called Luxury Dust (both 2007), knife-slashed silver and gold metallic tape works on cardboard that, in the artist’s words, originated from an attempt to cover up a failed painting.

Glamorous Glue, 2010 Fabric, spray paint, Plexiglas, and cardboard on MDF Courtesy the artist and David Shelton Gallery, Houston, Texas

Crack 12, 2010 Spray paint, Plexiglas, fabric, and sheet metal on MDF Courtesy the artist and David Shelton Gallery, Houston, Texas

Rather Be, 2010 Fabric, spray paint, and Plexiglas on archival cardboard on MDF Collection Corrinn Davis and Vernon Perry

Please do not remove from gallery. 17 Cheryl Donegan: GRLZ + Veils Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

Crack 4, 2010 Metallic tape, sheet metal, and spray paint on MDF Courtesy the artist and David Shelton Gallery, Houston, Texas

Still Life with Checked Cloth, 2011 Fabric, Plexiglas, and spray paint on MDF Courtesy the artist and David Shelton Gallery, Houston, Texas

Untitled (white leather), 2013 Leather on archival cardboard on MDF Courtesy the artist and David Shelton Gallery, Houston, Texas

Crack 15, 2010 Spray paint, glitter, and Plexiglas on MDF Courtesy the artist and David Shelton Gallery, Houston, Texas

Please do not remove from gallery. 18 Cheryl Donegan: GRLZ + Veils Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

VINES Vine was a short-form video platform where users could share six-second-long looping video clips. Here the viewer can see an iPhone screen shot of Cheryl Do- negan’s Vine channel, YourPlasticBag. Donegan’s interest in the lived experience of commercial culture continues in this series, which reflects her earlier videos, as well as her paintings and her recent clothing line.

Vines, 2015 Video, color, sound, 8:45 minutes Courtesy the artist

Please do not remove from gallery. 19 Cheryl Donegan: GRLZ + Veils Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

Untitled [Layers #4], 2015 Cotton cloth and digitally printed cloth on MDF Courtesy the artist and Levy.Delval, Brussels, Belgium

Untitled [Layers #1], 2015 Cotton cloth and digitally printed cloth on MDF Courtesy the artist and Levy.Delval, Brussels, Belgium

Untitled (white leather ruffle), 2013 Leather on archival cardboard on MDF Courtesy the artist and David Shelton Gallery, Houston, Texas

Please do not remove from gallery. 20 Cheryl Donegan: GRLZ + Veils Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

Untitled (deep purple and lavender pink), 2012 Acrylic on jute Courtesy the artist and David Shelton Gallery, Houston, Texas

Untitled (bright blue gingham), 2013 Fabric on MDF board Courtesy the artist and David Shelton Gallery, Houston, Texas

Untitled (light lemon yellow and pale blue on green), 2014 Acrylic on jute Courtesy the artist and David Shelton Gallery, Houston, Texas

Untitled (black leather ruffle), 2013 Leather on MDF Courtesy the artist and David Shelton Gallery, Houston, Texas

Please do not remove from gallery. 21 Cheryl Donegan: GRLZ + Veils Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

GINGHAM ON JUTE For these works, Cheryl Donegan chose jute (a glossy plant fiber primarily used for sacking, burlap, and twine) for its rough, bumpy surface, which she then en- hances artificially with acrylic. Using an aerosol sprayer, Donegan creates patterns of gingham, simulating folds, glitches, and various disruptions—a result of concealing certain areas while spraying. The harmonious gridded pattern is con- trasted with markings upon the surface by the artist’s hand as she attempts to “solve” her newly created grid, ultimately left unresolved.

Please do not remove from gallery. 22 Cheryl Donegan: GRLZ + Veils Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

GINGHAM ON BOARD Loud colors, competing angles, and clashing layers combine in Cheryl Donegan’s fabric works that launched her use of the “broken gingham” pattern. The works are influenced by the Comme des Garçons (a Japanese fashion label founded and headed by Rei Kawakubo) 1997 collection, which was widely referred to as “lumps and bumps” that distorted the body through its design. Some patterns appear orderly, while others are more illusionistic. With the later fabrics adhered to MDF board, she incorporated spray paint, complicating and flattening space. This series, and subsequent bodies of work with fabric, was propelled by the artist’s interest in how gingham has both a public and private nature and how personal identities are shaped and expressed.

Untitled (deep green gingham), 2012 Fabric on MDF Courtesy the artist and David Shelton Gallery, Houston, Texas

Please do not remove from gallery. 23 Cheryl Donegan: GRLZ + Veils Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

Untitled_beige and rose, 2013 Acrylic on jute Collection Shelley and Mike Melody, Houston, Texas

untitled_jade green_neon red, 2016 Acrylic on jute Courtesy the artist and David Shelton Gallery, Houston, Texas

Untitled (two rose gingham), 2013 Fabric on MDF board Courtesy the artist and David Shelton Gallery, Houston, Texas

Untitled (spring green and blue grey on pink), 2014 Acrylic on jute Courtesy the artist and David Shelton Gallery, Houston, Texas

Untitled (teal and deep khaki on red), 2014 Acrylic on jute Courtesy the artist and David Shelton Gallery, Houston, Texas

Please do not remove from gallery. 24 Cheryl Donegan: GRLZ + Veils Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

Untitled (shadows and edges), 2011 Fabric and spray paint on MDF Courtesy the artist and David Shelton Gallery, Houston, Texas

Untitled (red and blue), 2013 Acrylic on jute Courtesy the artist and David Shelton Gallery, Houston, Texas

Please do not remove from gallery. 25 Cheryl Donegan: GRLZ + Veils Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

I STILL WANT TO DROWN I Still Want to Drown (2010) is a short lament and meditation on housework, heart- break, and posing: keeping up appearances and appearing to keep up. Cheryl Donegan was inspired by German film director Douglas Sirk and his 1959 work, Imitation of Life, a romantic drama dealing with issues of race, class, and gender.

1. I Still Want to Drown, 2010 Video, color, sound, 3:18 minutes Courtesy the artist

Please do not remove from gallery. 26 Cheryl Donegan: GRLZ + Veils Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

CHERYL In Cheryl (2005), Cheryl Donegan’s starting point is the appropriated audio of a self-motivating corporate monologue by a woman named Cheryl. A model of forced enthusiasm, this stand-in repeats a rapid litany of retail clichés and personal encouragements (“I am a winner!”) as positive thinking turns to desperate urgency. This found audio is coupled with a flow of images taken directly from the Internet; each image features a cheaply-made, kitschy consumer item. Donegan puts each low-resolution image through the same formal process of enlargement and transition. The standardization both elevates the generic objects and revels in their uselessness. Presenting Cheryl the home-shopping motivator as a surrogate and cheesy consumer goods as art objects, Cheryl the artist questions hype and material value in a personality-driven art market.

2. Cheryl, 2005 Video, color, sound, 26:39 minutes Courtesy the artist

Please do not remove from gallery. 27 Cheryl Donegan: GRLZ + Veils Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

REHEARSAL To a compilation soundtrack of studio out-takes, including excerpts from the Beach Boys recording sessions for Good Vibrations, we see Cheryl Donegan work through a series of painterly gestures. Rehearsal (1994) explores the limitations of concepts of spontaneous creativity and expression.

3. Rehearsal, 1994 Video, color, sound, 14:25 minutes Courtesy the artist

Please do not remove from gallery. 28 Cheryl Donegan: GRLZ + Veils Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

FLUSHING Shot at the Flushing Mall in Queens, New York, Flushing (2004) is a tour of a mall that doesn’t live up to the glossy standards of typical American consumer palac- es, but is therefore perhaps a better place to understand the yearnings for fanta- sy via retail.

4. Flushing, 2004 Video, color, sound, 4:13 minutes Courtesy the artist

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