PG Contemporary is pleased to present Keepsakes from Several Occasions, a solo exhibition of photo-paintings by artist and A+C Visual Arts Editor Devon Britt-Darby.
The exhibition unveils a body of work begun in 2010, when Britt-Darby, wishing to create a memento of his participation in a performance at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston by renowned ceramicist Jim Melchert, began transferring digital video stills to linen using an inkjet printer and t-shirt iron-on transfer paper.
At once highly regularized due to the paintings’ grid format and unpredictable due to the canvas’s uneven acceptance of the transfers, the process prompted Britt-Darby to revisit images from what was then his hidden past as a San Francisco-based sex worker with a popular website during the early 2000’s. As he continued working with images from his escorting days and images captured between 2010 and 2012, the paintings gradually became more painterly as he explored the interaction between the transferred inkjet’s often-ruptured paint film and sign painters’ enamel.
Although the paintings’ imagery is often drawn from Britt-Darby’s experiences, literal autobiographical readings are thwarted by Britt-Darby’s mixing of past and present as well as the inclusion of stills taken from found Internet footage. Complicating matters further, the found footage sometimes includes Britt-Darby himself in imagery he once presumed lost but rediscovered online via the Wayback Machine.
Related works by Britt-Darby will appear in a group show exploring themes of masculinity and sexuality opening at Avis Frank Gallery on Jan. 25. A solo exhibition of Britt-Darby’s text- and photo-paintings will open at Art League Houston on May 17.
Keepsakes from Several Occasions
Opening Reception on Saturday, January 12, 2013 from 6 to 8 PM
PG Contemporary
3227 Milam Street, Houston 77006
