Installation view
David Lloyd
Time is taller than space is wide
January 28 - March 4, 2017
Opening Reception: Saturday, January 28th, 6-8pm
Artist Talk: Sunday, February 19th, 3pm
KLOWDEN MANN is very proud to present Time is taller than space is wide, a show of new paintings by Los Angeles based artist David Lloyd. The exhibition will be on view from January 28th through March 3rd, 2017, with an opening reception for the artist on Saturday January 28th from 6-8pm, and an artist talk on Sunday February 19th at 3pm.
David Lloyd’s new series of abstract paintings in acrylic and encaustic on wood are a hybridization of painterly languages, co-existing in a limited space. Each painting begins as a 24 by 24 inch piece of wood, which Lloyd then cuts into distinct individual shapes. Once cut, the shape of the painting informs its internal composition; within the parameters of the shape, Lloyd gives himself freedom to build the painting intuitively. Moments of intense color and hard-edge geometric abstraction come up against thick gestural marks that allude to abstract expressionism, and Lloyd’s signature trompe l’oeil string often creates direct connection between areas of the composition containing differing styles. Lloyd views this shallow and illusionistic space as another opportunity to create a sense of of the paintings as object, and to exude potent visual impact on a small scale.
This body of work is an extension of the abstract paintings Lloyd exhibited at Klowden Mann in 2014, and also references the abstract paintings on shaped canvas he exhibited extensively in Los Angeles in the 1980’s and early 90’s. Lloyd's 2014 series was painted on raw canvas with a significant use of negative space and a resulting sense of expansion; with works that ranged in size from small to quite large in scale. In Time is taller than space is wide, Lloyd takes a similar gestural language and condenses it into a smaller object. The consistent size of the works provide structure, and allows for the visual content to be the only factor that indicates the significance of the work—there can be no hierarchy based on size. Not pre-conceived or sketched, the dense compositions become a direct result of the time in which they are made. Lloyd’s responses drive the visual narrative, and the narrative remains open-ended.
David Lloyd (b. 1955, Los Angeles, California) graduated with a BFA from California Institute of the Arts in 1985, and began his career with a series of intelligent, near-humorous abstractions, turning towards the incorporation of imagistic referents several years later. He has shown in California at Klowden Mann, Otis College of Arts and Design, Margo Leavin Gallery, Gallery Paule Anglim and the Orange County Museum of Art, along with many others, as well Metro Pictures, and Milk Gallery in New York. His work has been written about extensively, and he is included in the collections of the Orange County Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego and the Getty.