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Dan Monick “Goodbye to Romance”
Gallery Commune
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Artists
Dan Monick
Gallery commune is pleased to present Goodbye to Romance, an ongoing photographic narrative by Dan Monick examining the landscapes of Los Angeles that have fascinated the artist since moving to the city in 2001.
Installed like a giant strip of film, Monick’s photographs take the viewer on a sequenced journey through the shadowy, neon-lit nighttime hours of the streets of Los Angeles. As Monick drives through the night, he scans the city for the familiar blue glow of fluorescent light, nocturnal coyotes, Nagel rip-offs in nail salons, bent newspaper boxes, psychic windows, absurd restroom hand dryers – neon lights and fluorescent beams seem to radiate out of the photographs, encapsulating the intention of his narrative. Each photograph is imperfectly wheat pasted onto wooden board and framed in steel, illuminated with light representative of deteriorating billboards. For Monick, these elements have always been the foundations of a city that so many people associate with glitz and lust. “A lot of Los Angeles has always felt very left alone,” he describes, “it buzzed incessantly below the fever dreams of its reputation. It’s changed…and change is good, but erasure is not.”
There is a romanticism that comes with photographing this rapidly changing city. The images are homages to not only what seems to be disappearing but also a celebration of perseverance. Every bodega, storefront, donut shop and dry cleaner that Monick has admired anxiously becomes his subject matter. “If I saw something, I used to make a note to return to shoot it at a later date. Now its U-turns and ‘sorry I’m late’ as I am never sure it will be there tomorrow…with every image I feel like I say, ‘Goodbye to Romance.’” It is in this way that Monick’s photographs become a celebration of the esoteric and raw beauty of Los Angeles.
Installed like a giant strip of film, Monick’s photographs take the viewer on a sequenced journey through the shadowy, neon-lit nighttime hours of the streets of Los Angeles. As Monick drives through the night, he scans the city for the familiar blue glow of fluorescent light, nocturnal coyotes, Nagel rip-offs in nail salons, bent newspaper boxes, psychic windows, absurd restroom hand dryers – neon lights and fluorescent beams seem to radiate out of the photographs, encapsulating the intention of his narrative. Each photograph is imperfectly wheat pasted onto wooden board and framed in steel, illuminated with light representative of deteriorating billboards. For Monick, these elements have always been the foundations of a city that so many people associate with glitz and lust. “A lot of Los Angeles has always felt very left alone,” he describes, “it buzzed incessantly below the fever dreams of its reputation. It’s changed…and change is good, but erasure is not.”
There is a romanticism that comes with photographing this rapidly changing city. The images are homages to not only what seems to be disappearing but also a celebration of perseverance. Every bodega, storefront, donut shop and dry cleaner that Monick has admired anxiously becomes his subject matter. “If I saw something, I used to make a note to return to shoot it at a later date. Now its U-turns and ‘sorry I’m late’ as I am never sure it will be there tomorrow…with every image I feel like I say, ‘Goodbye to Romance.’” It is in this way that Monick’s photographs become a celebration of the esoteric and raw beauty of Los Angeles.
Schedule | Jun 28 (Fri) 2019-Jul 16 (Tue) 2019 Opening Hours Information
Opening Reception Jun 28 (Fri) 2019 19:00 - 21:00 | ||||
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| Fee | Free | ||||
| Website | http://www.ccommunee.com/DanMonick2019Ex_e/ | ||||
| Venue | Gallery Commune http://www.ccommunee.com/index_e/ | ||||
| Location | 1-18-7 Nishihara, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 151-0066 | ||||
| Access | 3 minute walk from the South exit of Hatagaya Station on the Keio New line, 11 minute walk from the North exit of Yoyogi-uehara Station on the Odakyu Odawara or Chiyoda line. | ||||
| Related images | Click on the image to enlarge it |
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