David Scanavino “Slingshot Broken Branch Life Vest”

Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery

[Image: David Scanavino "Broken Branch (Sunset)" (2019) oil, pastel, acrylic on cold pressed watercolor paper 35 ⅝ × 35 ¼ in.]

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In David Scanavino’s current show, Slingshot Broken Branch Life Vest, six images hang above a blue linoleum floor. In one, a broken branch is silhouetted against the sun, and in another, purple life vests float in a pool-bottom blue. The shapes are iconic, calling to mind tiki bar decor or perhaps a multinational corporation eager to turn its image around. Framed paintings on paper made with oil paint and pastel, the images are in some cases square, while others have a tall vertical format evocative of Japanese folding screens or paintings by Édouard Vuillard. Yet the colors are vivid and flat: lavender, pink, lime, red, and orange. In Broken Branch (Sunset) (2019), Scanavino’s palette echoes the one used in his signature linoleum floor sculptures. In one sense those tile colors are readymade options available to order in an industrial catalog. But like the orange hospital hallways and green school cafeteria floors of our shared architectural unconscious, they are also carefully calibrated to evoke certain emotions and trigger subtle moods. The show’s sole sculpture—an oversize slingshot made of carved wood, elastic, and leather—suggests a world of childhood menace.

- excerpt from “Suggested Images,” an essay by Maika Pollack included in the exhibition catalog.

This is David Scanavino’s fifth solo exhibition at the gallery since 2008. Scanavino received an MFA from Yale University and a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design. He has recently exhibited large-scale installations at the Moody Center for the Arts, Rice University, Houston, TX (2017), the Columbus Metropolitan Public Library, Columbus, OH (2015), the Pulitzer Art Foundation, St. Louis, MO (2014), and the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT (2014).