The methods and materials of painting have long been the subject of Dever's practice. Since 2006, he has worked exclusively in black and white on a variety of supports. For this, his fifth solo exhibition at the gallery, Dever has expanded into the color red. His intention is to bring color back into his work through a slow, deliberate process, one color at a time.
In 2011, Dever traveled to Southern France, through Languedoc, a land marked by wars and wine. For inspiration, he packed Roland Barthes’ essay, Wine and Milk. "Red, while also the color of blood, is above all a converting substance capable of reversing situations and states, and of extracting from objects their opposites. Hence its old alchemical heredity, its philosophical power to transmute and create ex nihilo."
Dever's yoga practice has introduced him to the three gunas and their corresponding colors and qualities: tamas, or black, darkness, matter; satva, or white, light and the ether sphere; and rajas, red, the energy which binds each of these qualities as well as all existence. This association compelled Dever to introduce Naphthol Scarlet Red to his existing palette of Titanium White and Ivory Black. Since doing so, he has discovered an unlimited succession of outcomes and unearthed a wide range of red tints, shades and tones. The essence of Dever's work resides in his mixing proportions of light, energy and matter.
The exhibition opens on Saturday, Oct. 20 with a reception from 6 - 8 p.m. and will run through Nov. 21st. For more information and images, contact Sara Nightingale at sara@saranightingale.com. 631-793-2256.
images: Eric Dever, NSIBTW-13, NSIBTW-17, oil on canvas, 36" x 36" each, photo credit Gary Mamay
