Daniel Douke solo show

through November 14th, 2015

@ Peter Mendenhall Gallery, Los Angeles

(…) We are used to scrutinize the human face. We look at it every morning and others doing it quite well so I was looking at something we never scrutinize. (…) Daniel Douke extract from the video by Eric Minh Swenson (see it below)

 

Hyperrealism “trompe-l’oeil” by that amazing LA artist, born in 1943. Everything is fake in that exhibition except the appearance.

With time, what was seen as an amusement, takes a very deep meaning. When Douke started his fake anonymous items, did he know that he was doing such a consistent body of work? The theme of appearance is one of the hit of today’s philosopher preoccupation. What is the most important the inside or the outside? Is the image gives enough clues to get to know what’s inside?

Another direction of thinking, when looking at Douke’s work, is the conservation he is doing of items. There’s a huge probability that our grand grand children will never see in real life those items because they will be replaced by something different, adapted to their times.

Meaning that it is quite reasonable to imagine a long line of people, in front of a museum, ready to admire that box with the appearance of cardboard for which they will learn that a long time ago boxes were made from trees! And what if they look at it the same way we look at Mona Lisa? Do we say why not? yes “Why not”! BCh

NB: Daniel Douke has just been added to our Best Ultimate Artists selection – in sculpture and painting section –

 

 

Understand the process of Daniel Douke in that excellent interview by Eric Minh Swenson: