Daniel Dove – Visiting Artist Lecture and Discussion

via Shannon Gowen.

Hey guys, just thought I would give you my take from Daniel Dove’s visit to Texas State last week and perhaps a better understanding for those who did not attend.

Tubescapes, 2007. Daniel Dove

oil on canvas. 60″x84″.

Although some of Daniel Dove’s earlier works deal with chance, his latest paintings are highly controlled. Dove works from a variety of source material. This includes manipulated photography, 3D forms or models built through a program called FormZ, as well as real world models that he sets up in his studio. His work is developed from sketch to small painted versions of the actual piece. With all of these sources he is able to control every aspect and get exactly the look he is trying to recreate. Dove strongly believes with the idea of driving around with the “art eyes” on at all times.
Dove is attracted to things in the world that are what most would say is unattractive or generic. The collision of the idealism of what an image is an idea that is seen throughout his work. A series of his paintings focuses on playscapes and gives them an animated presence. He is attracted to them because it is an object that doesn’t age well.
For these pieces he first takes a photograph of the object because he might like the way it is lit. He will then go on to build the 3D model of the playscape, and later set up pipe objects to get the right color of plastic when it is lighted. The Focus on shadows of light of objects he sets up is meant to get the right lighting. He uses “color as a function of light”, rather than the other way around.