Thornton Dial
Happiness with Flowers
24" x 17", archival pigment print
Edition of 50
$300
Exhibition A is proud to partner with Souls Grown Deep Foundation and Marianne Boesky Gallery to present a new print by the late Thornton Dial, the self-taught pioneering African-American artist.
Living in rural Alabama for the entirety of his career, Dial worked primarily in three dimensions, creating intricately woven mixed-media sculptures from found materials. His complicated compositions swirl together vernacular objects with politically-charged titles that directly address the disparities found in American culture ranging from economic issues to women's rights, racism to politics.
Dial's aesthetic has been oft-compared to his contemporaries, though his work was created in isolation from the art world and therefore bereft of its influence. As stated in ARTnews' obituary for Dial, "[his] undulating compositions can bring to mind titans like Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock [...] and the sheer pleasure in disparate materials, Robert Rauschenberg." While Dial's aesthetic may have unintentionally mirrored Abstract Expressionism, the motifs that recur throughout Dial's oeuvre are singular, as well as pressingly relevant, as they echo the ongoing fight for equality demanded by today's civil rights activists. As Dial once explained to William Arnett, his longtime patron, "My art is the evidence of my freedom."
In addition to his larger works, Dial created series of sinuous drawings, encapsulating the swirling energy of his mixed-media works through freely rendered graphite, watercolor, and pastel. In this vein, Exhibition A is proud to present Happiness with Flowers by Thornton Dial, based on his drawing by the same name.
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