Gracie DeVito, Daniel Rios Rodriguez & Aaron Spangler: Beach, River, Forest
The gallery is pleased to announce the first of three exhibitions during the gallery’s fall residency at 958 Madison Avenue in New York.
Beach, River, Forest features three artists whose artwork is rooted in a spirit of place – for Gracie DeVito, Daniel Rios Rodriguez and Aaron Spangler – the beach, river and forest offer images, materials and processes that are uncovered, abstracted and reincorporated into paintings, assemblages and sculptures.
Realized between Zuma Beach and her downtown Los Angeles studio, Gracie DeVito’s paintings are imbued with the presence and juxtaposition of the two locations; sunny haze and electric buzz, sandy canvas and painting rags, observation and imagination, malleable and fixed, plein-air and atelier. On the surface, the atmospheric impressions of the beach seem to prevail, yet figures emerge and subtle images allude to other imagined, intertwining narratives.
Incorporating and encoding cast off or discarded materials found during daily walks around the San Antonio River Valley, Daniel Rios Rodriguez’s semi-abstract tableaux are autobiographical investigations into memory, nostalgia, ritual and home. Loaded with symbolic meaning and emotional content, the painterly assemblages – integrating feathers, rope, wood, shells, river rocks, and most recently terra cotta – are reminiscent of talismans or amulets.
Aaron Spangler’s immersion in the Northwoods in rural Minnesota plays a central role in his art-making; from sourcing wood at the local lumber mill to his commitment to woodcarving as a contemporary process, a heartlander ethos permeates his process. The artist’s proximity to the mythic headwaters of the Mississippi River intermingles with Middle American history to inspire idiosyncratic sculptures that personify forest tales.
Gracie DeVito (b. 1985) lives and works in Los Angeles – she received a MFA from CalArts and a BFA from Brown University. DeVito has previously exhibited and performed at Tif Sigfrids, 356 S Mission Rd, ltd Los Angeles, the Rob Pruitt Flea Market, the Torrance Art Museum, and Claremont University.
Daniel Rios Rodriguez (b. 1978) lives and works in San Antonio, Texas – he received a MFA from Yale School of Art and a BFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Rodriguez has previously exhibited at Artpace, the Chinati Foundation, the McNay Art Museum, Lulu and White Columns.
Aaron Spangler (b. 1971) lives and works in Park Rapids, Minnesota – he received a BFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Spangler has previously exhibited at the Walker Art Center, the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, the Ackland Art Museum, Kaikai Kiki Gallery, the Van Abbe Museum, the Smart Museum of Art, and the Rubell Family Collection.