Andy Woll “Strange Animal”

Denny Dimin Gallery

[Images: Andy Woll "Mt. Wilson (Fiery Brown I)" (2019) Oil on linen. 96 x 66 in.]

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“We had no word for the strange animal we got from the white man- the horse. So, we called it Šunka wakan, “holy dog”. For bringing us the horse we could almost forgive you for bringing us whiskey. Horses make a landscape look more beautiful.”

-Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions, 1972

Denny Dimin Gallery presents Strange Animal, a solo exhibition by Andy Woll. This is Woll’s second solo exhibition with the gallery.

Andy Woll is best known for his paintings of Mount Wilson, a peak that is identifiable from all over Los Angeles, where Woll lives. His unique approach, informed by research of modernist artists and literary figures, explores the relationship of an abstract artist to a well-known and deeply investigated subject (i.e. a mountain, a horse).

Strange Animal includes two bodies of landscape painting, both Woll’s most recent Mount Wilson paintings and a newer series that refer to the figure of the horse. The four large mountains are iterations of one another, one with the mountain fully represented and the other three as distinct more abstract versions. As with the mountain paintings, the horse paintings examine a subject ubiquitous in Woll’s everyday life. However, Woll’s practice is distinctly devoted to repainting the prior painting of a horse, or the prior painting of a mountain, in the studio’s version of a game of telephone. This practice allows him to explore the formal aspects of painting, engendering an identifiable style of bold brush strokes in spare gestures.

Andy Woll received his B.F.A. from Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. Woll has exhibited extensively in Los Angeles. Woll’s most recent solo exhibitions were Passage at Night Gallery in 2018 and Western Wear at Denny Gallery in 2018.