Kenise Barnes Fine Art is pleased to announce David Collins fifth solo show with the gallery.
Collins new body of work further explores the artist’s well-crafted visual language. He eloquently speaks with drawn and painted language of repeating and radiating circles, thin layers of saturated paint that is built up and removed and with thicker opaque color deftly laid down in bands of color and folded geometric shapes.
The title of the show refers to the graphic depiction of a beacon that is employed in many of the paintings in this new series. The duality of a beacon symbolizes a guiding presence and simultaneously warns of imminent danger. The viewer questions if the energy emanates from the center of these radiating lines or perhaps the focused still-point in its center is drawing you in with gravitational urgency. The dichotomy of the message and the ambiguous space from which it is sent reiterates the flip-flop of a world out of balance and a hopeful optimism. Stylistically the beacon references traditional European landscape painting and perspective lines. Collins subverts the idea of landscape and creates multiple horizontal spaces that sometimes read as horizons floating in an abstract space. As is previous work Collins’ stylized graphics and flattened space also reference the tradition of Eastern painting.
Collins was awarded Yaddo Fellowships in 2003 and 2005. His work is in the collections of Pfizer Corp., Hyatt Corp., General Electric, The Library of Congress and many other corporate and private collections.
David Collins is a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design. He lives and works in New York City.
