Works Exhibited
About
Home can be a dream for some and a nightmare for others. It is the past we come from and the future we aspire to. But inevitably it’s where we are, the earth we stand, work, and rest on in the present.
—Dan Colen
Gagosian is pleased to announce Lover, Lover, Lover, an exhibition of new paintings by Dan Colen from the Mother and Woodworker series. All the paintings belong to the final group of his Disney-inspired canvases, which he initiated with the Candle series in 2003. Also included are two sculptures by Sy Colen, the artist’s father.
Borrowing its title from a song written by Leonard Cohen on a visit to his ancestral homeland of Israel during the Yom Kippur War, Lover, Lover, Lover employs the aesthetics of Disney animation to reflect on the many “lovers”—god, birthplace, friend, father, mother, spouse, and child—that we have, lose, and move between. Colen, who is also Jewish, relocated briefly with his family to Israel when he was five years old, an experience that shaped his idea of home in all its charged complexity. Lover, Lover, Lover, which was conceived of during another pivotal moment in the artist’s life, explores this perception in concert with ideas of tradition, influence, and the always-fraught American dream.
The Mother paintings, which Colen began in 2009, are based on scenes from the Disney classic Lady and the Tramp (1955) and reflect a concern with the places that shape our lives. They propose various sites as potential manifestations of “home,” exploring a spectrum between freedom and bondage. In this series, Colen incorporates the theme of influence by “quoting” brush marks from a broad range of historical movements including, but not limited to, Photorealism, German Romanticism, and American Spiritualism. The images present moments from a journey toward a hinted-at promised land, conjuring feelings of uncertainty, but also of hope. For Colen, Disney’s creations manufacture an idealized backdrop to our shared desire while operating in the context of power and control; the series explores our collective need for a secure existence—and the reality that many will never attain it.
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Dan Colen: Other Worlds Are Possible
In this interview, curator and artist K.O. Nnamdie speaks with artist Dan Colen about his recent show in New York: Lover, Lover, Lover. Colen delves into the concept of “home” as it relates to his work, specifically the Mother and Woodworker series. Thinking through the political and historical implications of “homeland” in the context of the artist’s relationship with Israel and America, the two consider the intersections between these paintings—the final group of his Disney-inspired canvases—and Colen’s work with Sky High Farm, New York.
Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Spring 2023
The Spring 2023 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, featuring Roe Ethridge’s Two Kittens with Yarn Ball (2017–22) on its cover.
Sky High Farm Symposium at Judd Foundation: The Art Panel
In this video, Deana Haggag, program officer, Arts and Culture at Mellon Foundation; Dan Colen, artist and founder of Sky High Farm; Linda Goode Bryant, artist and founder of Project EATS; and Diya Vij, curator at Creative Time sit down together to explore the roles of artist and audience, place and accessibility, legacy, capital influence, and individual vs. collective agency as they relate to artmaking today.
Sky High Farm Symposium at Judd Foundation: The Community Panel
In this video, Thelma Golden, chief curator and director of the Studio Museum in Harlem; Tremaine Emory, founder of Denim Tears and creative director of Supreme; Father Mike Lopez, founder of the Hungry Monk Rescue Truck; and artist Anicka Yi sit down to explore how the concept of community has shaped their work, and the power in seeing the places we live, our histories, and even our bodies as porous, interdependent, and alive.
Sky High Farm Symposium at Judd Foundation: The Land Panel
In this video, Veronica Davidov, visual and environmental anthropologist; Karen Washington, activist, farmer and co-founder of Black Urban Growers (BUGS) and co-owner of Rise & Root Farm; Candice Hopkins, curator, writer and executive director of Forge Project; and Haley Mellin, artist, conservationist and founder of Art to Acres sit down to explore the tensions and overlaps between different efforts to define, use, and protect land.
Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Summer 2021
The Summer 2021 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, featuring Carrie Mae Weems’s The Louvre (2006) on its cover.
