DAN REES
SHAKIN' PEG RAILS (AND THE SUNSETS)
9 December 2010 – 29 January 2011
WALLSPACE, New York

"Hang your coat up, hang your coat up ... up, lock the doors up ...Do your own thing with your own thing." - 'Nu-di-ty' by Kylie Minogue 

"Listening to ‘Give Me Your Heart Tonight‘ by Shakin’ Stevens. The show was going to be called ‘Garden Leave,’ as in the period of time when an employee is prohibited to be either at their place of work or at a new job. The idea is that they see out the rest of their contract at home while receiving their full salary. I like the thought of this limbo or dangling state with its quaint name; more often than not the result of mistrust on the employer's behalf, should the employee take trade secrets with them to would-be competitors. It seemed a fitting metaphor for a type of uncertainty in one's artistic direction, a purgatory of sorts." - Dan Rees, November 2010

For his first solo show in New York, Dan Rees will present a series of paintings displayed on Shaker peg rails and hooks. The Shakers, known for their unique architecture and furniture design, relied on skilled craftsmanship and natural materials to achieve a sense of austerity and simplicity. Rees' paintings share this sense of labor and economy of means. The works tread the fine line between what can be understood as a ‘ground,’ or beginning of a painting, and the finished article. The installation further reflects this ambiguous state: the paintings, hung as if they were items of clothing, are in effect ‘coats of paint’ dangling on hooks.