1543 A Wazee Street Media Contact: Denver, CO 80202 Nicole Schwager | Associate Director 303.893.4234 [email protected] www.davidbsmithgallery.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Mark Dean Veca: Le Poppy Den March 14 – April 12, 2014
Mark Dean Veca, Le Poppy Den, 2014, acrylic paint, bean bags chairs, carpet, 10 x 10 x 14 feet, installed at David B. Smith Gallery Denver, March 2014
Le Poppy Den, a site-specific project from acclaimed artist Mark Dean Veca, combines oppressive, yet energizing spectacle, with the circuitous and anatomical melee of Veca’s signature style. The red walls, a color known to inspire hunger and consumerism in humans, here invite the viewer to enter while simultaneously agitating their sensibilities. The beanbag chairs, a component Veca has employed on and off in his immersive installations for over fifteen years, hint at a somewhat comical and kitsch historical life, while offering a deceptively comfortable, and malleable seat from which to observe the chaos. The title references both the name of the paint, the size of the room, and the sneakily cozy carpet; Le Poppy Den seduces while it repels and exemplifies the high-low play so celebrated in Veca’s work.
About Mark Dean Veca Known for his unique style, which straddles the edges of pop art and the graphic conventions of the 20th and 21st centuries, much of Mark Dean Veca’s work touches on the impacts of pervasive branding in visual culture, as well as the possibility to subvert these meanings via pointed low-culture strategies. Veca’s practice is divided between paintings and immersive site- specific installations. He has exhibited throughout the United States, Europe and Japan at institutions such as the San Jose Museum of Art, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, MoMA PS 1, The Brooklyn Museum of Art, The Bronx Museum of Art, The Drawing Center, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and the Orange County Museum of Art among others. Veca received fellowships from The New York Foundation for the Arts in 1998, 2002, and 2008, The Pollock-Krasner Foundation in 2006, and a City of Los Angeles (C.O.L.A.) Grant in 2011. Mark Dean Veca is based in Los Angeles, California.
About David B. Smith Gallery David B. Smith Gallery is Denver's venue for compelling contemporary art. The gallery specializes in the exhibition and sale of progressive contemporary artwork from emerging and mid-career international artists. Since its founding in 2007, the gallery has been committed to presenting intelligent and culturally relevant exhibitions featuring work from some of today's most dynamic artists with growing international reputations. Through participation in leading art fairs and extensive media coverage, David B. Smith Gallery has grown a strong regional, national and international collector audience. The New York Times hailed the gallery as offering "an exciting contrast of cutting edge works." The gallery is located on Wazee Street in the historic LoDo neighborhood of Denver. In addition to its curatorial program, David B. Smith Gallery maintains an active publishing division, which produces limited edition artist prints, monographs, and exhibition catalogues.