Candy for the eyes: “Dress Up” by Amanda Dolan
Last night, my client–mixed media painter Amanda Dolan–unveiled her latest creations in a flirty new fashionesque series entitled, “Dress Up,” making this her 5th exhibition to show at the Ward Nasse Gallery in New York City.
“Dress Up” introduced a darker, edgier side of Dolan (think: less rainbows, more bondage), surprising those who have seen her happier works in recent exhibits like “Precious Things,” and “Heart Attack.” Not darker in the literal sense, the colors were still bright and feminine like Amanda’s signature style, but darker by way of the theme. Gagged women and torture devices played in delicately with the images of shoes, corsets and vintage measuring tapes.
Always a fashionista and trendsetter in her own right–Amanda has spent the past year working as a stylist in the Betsey Johnson showroom–and used this immersion in style as inspiration for the new exhibit.
“Working at Betsey, we are playing dress up all day long, surrounded by beautiful clothes, textures and fabrcis,” explained Dolan, “Women want to look their best. We can be so girle and feminine, but at the same time, so brave. Beauty is pain. Corset are pain. High heels are torture. But we put ourselves through it. And, I wanted to explore that.”
Motivated by the historical side of fashion, and how closely art and fashion overlap when it comes to textures, imagery and color palettes, “Dress Up” was born. This flirty collection includes paintings in new shapes and sizes using Dolan’s signature colalge technique with papers, photocopies, textures, resin and paint to fuse the old with the new.
“Dress Up” runs through September 14th (2010) at the Ward-Nasse Gallery: 178 Prince Street (between Thompson and Sullivan).
[Alyson Campbell for It's All Very PR]
