CULT | Aimee Friberg Exhibitions is pleased to present You Don’t Have to be Alone Tonight, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Dan Gluibizzi, on view from November 6 - December 19, 2015. The gallery will host an opening reception on Friday, November 6, from 7-9pm.
The title of painter Dan Gluibizzi’s latest body of work, You Don’t Have to Be Alone Tonight, is drawn from a Christmas Eve listserve posting for a sex theater in Portland, Oregon. The reference deftly captures the nature of Gluibizzi’s creative practice, which centers on amateur adult content imagery culled from myriad online sources.
In this series, the artist explores online interactions as they trace a metaphoric line to constellations. As heavenly formations once connected and confounded observers, so internet and social media now receive and display our hopes and fears through the ether, to points often unknown.
Gluibizzi eliminates the spatial referents when rendering the subjects he finds engaged in erotic acts. Through watercolor—a medium generally associated with the ease and innocence of children’s art—his subjects form a tangle of limbs that accrue a distinct visual presence through color and formal repetition. The figures, cut from their digital platform, are re-imagined in a decidedly analog method, bringing human touch to the digital world.
You Don’t Have to be Alone Tonight arouses complex questions about the nature of communication and intimacy. Beyond wondering who these anonymous actors are, Gluibizzi’s practice spurs us to consider how online communication informs or hinders our taste for direct contact.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Dan Gluibizzi (b. 1971, Kentucky) lives and works in Portland, Oregon. He has exhibited nationally and internationally at venues including Texas Contemporary, (Houston); Western Exhibitions (Chicago), Ampersand Gallery, (Portland); Kopeikin Gallery and Jack Hanley, (Los Angeles), Postmasters, (New York) and Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien (Berlin). He holds an MFA from University of Cincinnati, Ohio.
DAN GLUIBIZZI - Our Nova, 2015, Acrylic and watercolor on paper, 64 x 42 inches
DAN GLUIBIZZI - Inhale, Exhale, 2015, Watercolor on paper, 30 x 22 inches
DAN GLUIBIZZI - Six Happy Couples, 2012, Watercolor on paper, 30 x 22 inches
DAN GLUIBIZZI - Celebration, 2015, Acrylic and watercolor on paper, 32 x 31 inches
DAN GLUIBIZZI - Composition in Oval, 2015, Acrylic and watercolor on paper, 45 x 112 inches
DAN GLUIBIZZI - Conception of Perseus, 2015, Acrylic and watercolor on paper, 64 x 42 inches
DAN GLUIBIZZI - Dormroom to the…, 2015 Acrylic and watercolor on paper, 30 x 27 inches
DAN GLUIBIZZI - Holtzman Effect, 2015 Acrylic and watercolor on paper, 22 x 30 inches
DAN GLUIBIZZI - Liked, 2015 Acrylic and watercolor on paper, 30 x 22 inches
DAN GLUIBIZZI - Orbits Overlap, 2015, Acrylic and watercolor on paper, 40 x 60 inches
DAN GLUIBIZZI - Our Equals, 2015, Acrylic and watercolor on paper, 42 x 62 inches
DAN GLUIBIZZI - Smokers, 2014, Watercolor on paper, 36 x 28 inches
DAN GLUIBIZZI - The Simple Merge, Acrylic and watercolor on paper, 37 x 31 inches
DAN GLUIBIZZI - Time Space Dance, 2015, Acrylic and watercolor on paper, 62 x 40 inches