November 11 - 11, 2024
From Erin Cluley Gallery:
“Erin Cluley Gallery is pleased to announce What, me worry., an exhibition of work by Dallas-based photographer Kevin Todora. The exhibition will debut new image-based work, including a collaborative work between Todora and Nathan Randall Green, continuing the artist’s exploration of photography’s sculptural qualities through image manipulation and illusionary set design. In his work, Todora disrupts the perfectionist nature of images with full-bleed compositions that emphasize gesture, line, and color. What, me worry. presents innovative image-based work expanding the artist’s aesthetic and conceptual vision of photography’s future. Over the course of his career, Kevin Todora has expanded the canon of reappropriated photography, focusing less on the sociopolitical contexts as with late 20th century artists, and more on the image’s physical surface and presentation. Todora’s take on conceptual photography work deviates from other artists in its playful nature and incorporation of Pop Art aesthetics—the surfaces in What, me worry. turn and cave in free-form motions printed with painterly images. With a limited use of digital manipulation, the artist’s photographs utilize staging to create his work’s complex patterning and layered textures. Printed on MDO board, a type of wood typically used in signage, Todora’s work treats photographs as citations, then adapted onto industrial substrates. In his latest solo exhibition, Imp, a sculpture with a mustard yellow and blue argyle pattern, juxtaposes its print with an organic, playfully lumpy frame. Upon closer look, the surface reveals intentionally rugged brushwork— blending the lines between painting and its lens-captured subject, Imp disturbs the viewer’s perception of staged photography. What, me worry. showcases Kevin Todora’s newest collection of image-based sculptures. The artist’s work plays with cultural and artistic conceptions of the photographic canon, incorporating expressionistic texture into abstract compositions. A collaborative work between Todora and concurrently exhibiting painter Nathan Randall Green, brings out the innovations both artists bring to their mediums. What, me worry. presents the artist’s clearest conception of photography’s limit and changing place in contemporary life and art. What, me worry. will be the artist’s fourth solo presentation with Erin Cluley Gallery. It will be exhibited concurrently with Full of Song an exhibition of work by Brooklyn-based artist Nathan Randall Green. Kevin Todora (b. 1977 Beaumont, TX) received a BA in 2005 from The University of Texas at Dallas, and an MFA in 2009 from Southern Methodist University. Todora utilizes the photograph as the foundation for his sculptural work. His process consists of cutting, drilling and painting onto appropriated material to free the image from its original obligation. Ultimately, the deconstructed works rebel against what the artist considers intrusive imagery in print media. Todora has shown his work in solo and group exhibitions including at Oliver Francis Gallery, Dallas, TX; The University of Texas at Dallas; FotoFest 2017, Houston TX; The Power Station Dallas, TX; Dallas Contemporary; and the SMU Pollock Gallery, Dallas, TX. In 2011, Todora was a recipient of the Dozier Travel Grant from the Dallas Museum of Art. Kevin Todora currently lives and works in Dallas, TX. Erin Cluley Gallery is a contemporary art gallery representing emerging, mid-career, and established artists from Dallas and the United States. The gallery presents a provocative program of artists working in both traditional and alternative forms including painting, sculpture, new media, photography, sculptural installation and public intervention. In 2014, Erin Cluley Gallery ignited a creative movement in West Dallas acting as a hub for visual arts and community engagement. After nearly five years on Fabrication Street, the gallery has moved its operation to Riverbend – a development in Dallas’ Design District celebrating the intersection between culture and commerce. From April 2021 to November 2024, Cluley opened and operated Cluley Projects – a satellite location in West Dallas acting as an incubator space focusing on regional artists and providing a platform for discovery and mentorship.”
Artist talk: November 11, 2024
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