“Painting has been dead for so long that only the bones of the stretcher skeleton remain. And a few scraps of barbecue, ”says the announcement for the new two-person show by Mark Flood and Preston Douglas at PRP in West Dallas.
With the reference to “death of painting” these two artists stand in the long tradition of those who do not want to emphasize the ability of art to visually represent an imagined scene, but rather its role as a sign in a game or a negotiation between artist and viewer: What do you think of this work and what are you going to do about it?
The work here poses such questions in a raw, harsh, and aggressively sharp way. Each of them is a shock to the senses. They would go well with whiskey shots and distorted guitar power chords played out loud.
Curator Greg Meza (left) and artist Preston Douglas collaborated on the exhibition at the PRP in West Dallas.(Kevin Todora)
The 11 pieces in the two galleries largely fall into two categories. In the front room there are large, bare stretcher frames (6 feet high or more) that, instead of being covered with canvas like a “normal” painting, are flooded or hydro-dipped and draped with pieces of plastic, vinyl and wire Polychiffon fabric (Douglas). In the back room, on a smaller scale (1 or 2 feet tall), are framed black and white inkjet prints by Douglas and two confidently crude collages by Flood.
Although the aesthetics of the two artists go remarkably well together, clear differences remain between them. Flood’s colorful collages often include found objects and ransom-style text keywords such as “rich” and “sadist,” among the more printable examples. In keeping with his long-standing bad boy pose, Flood often seems to mock the rituals of the art business, with phrases like “empty gallery” and a stapled VIP card from the Pulse Art Fair in Miami.
Douglas’ stricter grayscale works, on the other hand, use motifs from internet culture and video games, glittering and almost forgotten, but with brand names such as “Google” and “Sublime” still visible. The use of fabric also suggests his interest in fashion and the human body. The intricacies of Douglas’ patterns give the eye of the beholder a bit more study than Flood’s work, but the overall effect remains cool and detached.
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Mark Floods “Rich” (2020), vinyl on aluminum and wooden support bars, with dummy ammunition and electronic wire, can be seen until July 31st.(Nan Coulter)
The kind of punk rock attitude evident in the works of Flood and Douglas was arguably developed in the 1980s by baby boomers like Richard Prince and Cady Noland, and then by Generation X artists, Banks Violette, Josephine Meckseper, and their younger colleagues continued. Flood (born 1957) and his former studio assistant Douglas (born 1995) are clearly part of a larger tradition of provocation and challenge, which is reflected in the present installation with some echoes.
“Stretcher Barbeque” is the second in a series of shows curated by artist Greg Meza at PRP, offering welcome insights to young artists who, like Douglas, are fairly new to the scene. Although Flood has been based in Houston for many years, and so has Douglas (until he recently moved to Brooklyn), none of a Dallas audience will be as well known.
Designed for viewers tired of looking at beautiful pictures, this show challenges them to go shot by shot with the artists and see how long they can keep up.
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Preston Douglas and Mark Flood, Stretcher Barbeque is running through July 31 at PRP, 508 Fabrication St., Dallas. The gallery’s weekly opening times are published on the gallery’s website, prp.agency.
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