1969 Gallery is pleased to present Deep Down, Drew Dodge’s first solo exhibition at the gallery. The title of the exhibition connects Dodge’s innermost consciousness and core with the depths of the earth and its landscape. Throughout the exhibition, anthropomorphic figures seek and discover bull skulls, which Dodge re-presents as intimate memory-holding vessels that are empathetic, absorbent, quiet and sexual, unveiling another dimension to the opaque symbol that demands masculinity, ambition and death. The figures identify with the skull, infusing it with a soulfulness, which is how Dodge considers his own body, purpose and momentariness.
In Corkscrew, two figures drill an enormous skull into the beach shore while waves crash behind. The figures are trapped in a loop, spiraling the skull into the sand indefinitely as the endless cycle of burying and washing away interferes and intensifies the figures’ efforts. Nonetheless, they are devoted to anchoring the skull to the earth to conceal a treasured part of themselves before the storm rolls in.
The queer relationship between the figure and the skull is emblematic of a personal spirituality that is mirrored in the landscape. As the settings of the paintings change, lava, mud, and water spill from the crevices of the skull. Molten, bubbling and turbulent, the fluidity of these materials synchronizes with the figures to articulate their ever changing existence. The figures are engulfed in these elemental materials, emerging and sinking as the active landscapes ooze energy, sexuality and spirit.
In Meeting Point, two figures are suspended in an open sky reclining in the arms of a monumental sky-scraping cactus. Although there is no skull depicted, the cactus’s verdant flesh, fallen spines, scars, and rotting skin exposes a wood skeleton with arms that stem from its core like horns. The corporeal character of the cactus continues as phallic appendages curve over the figures with tight ends, meeting the fingertips of the figures. Dodge communicates a feeling of sexuality and queer serenity. However, there is simultaneously a feeling of love and loss or pleasure and pain as the two figures, one with eyes shut, touch toes beside the dying corpse of a cactus. Altogether, the landscape shares a synergy with the body, providing a sense of belonging for the figures.
Deep Down presents a captivating exploration of the human psyche and its connection to the natural world. Through the use of elemental materials coupled with the evocative figures, Dodge presents a poignant reflection on the complexity of human existence and the search for identity, purpose and belonging.
