Dana DeKalb
Available Works
My paintings are rooted in the narrative tradition. Primarily acrylic on canvas, polyester or wood, they incorporate multiple colored glazes, which bathe the action in a sensual, tinted light.
The characters are sourced from social studies text books, old travel guides and high school yearbooks. They are posed in improbable dioramas that are simultaneously
nostalgic and disorienting, and are often captured in a moment of decision between actions. The open-ended fables explore the unexpected, humorous and exotic in seemingly familiar situations, suggesting a morality play in progress but with the lesson left unstated. My intention is that the viewer will become as absorbed in the characters as they are in their activities, and that perhaps some preconceptions will be gently teased along the way.
The Magic Hour paintings are part of an ongoing still life series based on antique ceramic flowers. The intertwined petals and leaves are closely cropped and immersed in the same tinted light as the figure paintings. They are clearly not living flowers, but instead evoke a museum exhibition of artifacts from a lost era.