News

Mark Dean Veca
Impulse
March 18th—April 8th, 2011

The LAB (for installation + performance art) is thrilled to present Impulse, a wall drawing by Mark Dean Veca. Armed with few supplies and no preconceived design, between March 14th-18th, Veca will enter the enclosed gallery, and in full view of  passersby, riff spontaneously, directly onto the walls, “leaving a trail of calligraphic breadcrumbs that lead only to the depths of my psyche”.

It is an approach atypical of his oeuvre, pure monochromatic improvisation. This will be virtually the only wall drawing in his body of work that’s not premeditated. The piece will be uniquely devoid of color; Veca intends to focus specifically on  the gestural mark-making which is characteristic of his work.

“Mark Dean Veca is a purveyor of prehistoric magic: creating space on a two-dimensional plane with a few lines of charcoal, ink, or paint. He draws on paper, canvas or walls and uses simple black lines to manifest volume, space, and depth. He shares his illusionary worlds and characters to express the internal and external tension of the human condition as he experiences it. His work is visceral, carnal, with its depictions of organs and orifices and writhing tendons, arteries, and intestines. It is comic and unnerving with strong contrasting palettes and patterns and odd juxtapositions of historical and popular iconography often abbreviated, disfigured, or exposed. Whether large or small the work is intentionally spectacular and the artist wholeheartedly embraces his constructive affliction of horror vacui.” — Excerpted from Curator Meg Linton’s catalog essay for the publication Mark Dean Veca: Phantasmagoria published by the Ben Maltz Gallery/Otis College of Art and Design in conjunction with the Fall 2008 Jennifer Howard Coleman Distinguished Lectureship and Residency.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Mark Dean Veca attended Otis Art Institute (now Otis College of Art and Design). Veca is the recipient of  New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in painting three times and has done residencies for institutions such as the Bronx Museum, the MacDowell Colony, and Villa Montalvo. Veca has exhibited throughout the United states, Europe, and Japan at institutions such as The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, PS 1 Contemporary Art Center, The Brooklyn Museum of Art, The Bronx Muesum of The Arts, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

ABOUT THE LAB
The LAB (for installation + performance art) is a New York based, converted storefront turned fishbowl producing 20+ fast paced performance art and installation exhibitions annually. Aimed at the furious midtown foot traffic, The LAB’s programming is designed to confront modern relationships between art and audience and seeks to force an interaction between the high energy, “outrospective” exhibitions it produces and the nearly 25,000 daily passersby. The LAB is located on the North East corner of 47th and Lex and is a Roger Smith Collaboration.

For further info, please visit:
www.thelabgallery.com