Statement

Through construction, destruction, and subsequent reparation, Dan Charbonnet displays the experience of the painting and unravels it.  Reminders of the array of textures inherent to the practice are crafted through raw margins of ripped canvas contrasting with hard edges of value.  Angular formations continually relate to their four-sided boundary, remarking upon but undercutting its rectangularity. Pared down to a minimal color scheme, ribbons of intensity fashion their own picture while suggesting potential palettes for alternate images. The repetitive, rhythmic and meditative qualities native to processes of the medium are emphasized: torn fiber indicates the action of stretching canvases while the recurrence of shapes signals compulsivity and echoed movements essential to painting. Variations in pigment and consistency glimmer and bounce out of the grid, agitated by rips and gaps in the fabric, while their rapport maintains the composition’s underlying discipline. Several dimensions develop optically: the dim background, two layers of textile, and the simultaneous awareness of another view - one without depth: hued ropes enclosed by white, grey outlines cast by shadow, separation by darkness. Patterns emerge out of overlapping, mirrored complexions, and through time spent looking, one continually perceives these ever-proliferating, oscillating arrangements.  -Eve O'Shea