Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery 438 Union Avenue, 718-383-7309
Williamsburg / Greenpoint / Bushwick

Alex Dodge

On February 15th, 2008, Intelligent Design, the second solo exhibition of work by Alex Dodge will open at Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery. The show will include new paintings, a sculptural installation, and works on paper.

Dodge's work continues to consistently combine superior technical expertise and experimentation with a deeply thoughtful description of human experience. In his floor sculpture, Study for Intelligent Design, cast silicone body parts derived from the artist's own body are presented as discarded android appendages, including a face, hands, and ear, that incorporate synthetic colorless hair and technological fragments for sub-dermal viscera. The innards revealed by the torn away silicone flesh are comprised of a range of mechanical and electronic parts that span technologies of the past 50 years; including typewriter parts, both old and current computer components, wires, and fiber optic filament. The violence of this installation is emphasized in the nonchalant way in which the body is incorporated with other strewn debris, such as shredded paper documents and computer disks, originating from a torn open garbage bag...

Far from simply being a grim depiction of the potential consequences of technological advancement, Dodge's work implies that technology is something inseparable from the human condition and essential to its existence. This is evident in his own practice, combining traditional mediums and techniques like oil painting and sculpture with computer-aided drafting and materials whose origins range from obsolete technologies to the most current.

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