Dan Walsh

RECORD III

2019
acrylic on canvas
55 x 55 inches

Optical art for optic’s sake is not of interest. But I’m all for using optics to trigger the eye into certain kinds of rhythms, patterns, or depth. I’m trying to use the syntax of painting and optical activity to prompt a psychological read. – Dan Walsh

There is an internal logic found in Dan Walsh’s paintings – brushstrokes weave in and out of gridded structures, varying enough to keep the viewer’s eye moving within the composition. Records III humorously casts one of the common elements Walsh uses in his paintings, the fanned brushstroke, as vinyl records, fluctuating across the square format canvas. Walsh’s regularity and repetition of shapes and patterns highlights moments of inconsistency, seen here in the subtle variations in the mark-making and the broken outline on the bottom of the interior grouping. “I think of the paintings as meditative for me,” says the artist, “but hopefully also meditative for the viewer. With Tibetan mandalas, you are trying to keep your mind in the present while looking at something. There is a quality of vibration and opticality.” Walsh’s work has been exhibited at venues throughout the US and Europe, including the MoMA, New York; the New Museum, New York; Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva; as well as in the 2014 Whitney Biennial. His paintings can be found in the collections of MoMA, New York; the Jumex Collection, Mexico City; and the Musée d’art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, among others.

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