Mark Dean Veca: The 90's

July 14, 2008 through October 4, 2008

Jonathan LeVine Gallery, in association with Ogilvy, is pleased to announce Mark Dean Veca: The 90's, curated by Jun Lee.  A former student of Mike Kelley at Otis Art Institute, Veca moved from Los Angeles to New York in 1991 where he embarked upon a new phase of his early career. Drawing inspiration from cartoons and comics he explored territory shared by other emerging New York artists of the era, such as Christian Schumann, Arturo Herrera, and Sue Williams.

Mark Dean Veca: The 90's features paintings and drawings created during this pivotal period in the artist’s career. All works presented are from the artist’s personal archives.  Included in the exhibition are several seminal paintings utilizing Popeyeconography, Veca’s deconstruction of the Popeye cartoon canon. This body of work climaxed in the form of Canto III, a monumental mural at The Drawing Center in Soho as a part of the Wall Drawings ‘96, a show that also introduced the work of San Francisco artist Barry McGee to New York.

Veca’s work from the 1990’s mines other pop-culture sources as well, including Krazy Kat, Charlie the Tuna, and custom hot rods. In the series HydroPyro, a graphic interlocking of flames and fluid became the underpinnings of his site-specific installation, Hydropyrosphere, which was featured in the blockbuster exhibition, Pop Surrealism, at the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art in 1998.  The paintings exhibited will also reflect the stylistic transitions underwent by the artist towards the end of the decade.  Works such as Elizabeth (1999) are emblematic of this shift to the more decorative Toile de Jouy style that characterizes Veca’s work in the new millennium.

 
ABOUT THE ARTIST

Mark Dean Veca was born in 1963 in Shreveport, Louisiana, and received his BFA in Painting at Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, CA. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. His work has been shown throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan at institutions such as PS1/MOMA, The Drawing Center, The Brooklyn Museum, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Reviews of Veca's work have appeared in numerous publications including The New York Times, Juxtapoz, Artforum, Art in America, Beautiful Decay and Flash Art. He has received numerous awards including fellowships from The New York Foundation for the Arts in 1998 and 2002, as well as a grant from The Pollock-Krasner Foundation in 2006.

ABOUT OGILVY

Ogilvy New York has always been a strong supporter of the Arts, and over the course of a year, has focused on a growing list of curated shows within the agency itself. With a consistent rotation of top artistic talent, including the works of Shepard Fairey and working closely with top galleries, such as Jonathan LeVine Gallery, the agency ensures an interesting and at times provocative line of work aiming to inspire thought and infuse discussion. Works on display on the walls of the agency's 12 floors include Thunderdog Studios, Mint & Serf, Friends with You, Cannonball Press, Bilderklub, Chris Scarborough with The Foley Gallery, Yee Haw Industries, Henrik Krundsen, Moshe Brakha, Kenji Aoki, The Art Student’s League of New York with a view to the following shows opening in the summer Yo! What Happened to Peace in July, Kareem Black, Anthony Lister and Maleonn. For the first time, Ogilvy will open their doors to the viewing public, by appointment only, every first Thursday evening of the month.

To Make an Appointment to View Exhibition Please Contact:
Jun Lee : 212 237 5975  |  jun.lee@ogilvy.com

For Press Inquiries Please Contact:Michelle Parks : 212 237 4627 | michelle.parks@ogilvy.com
or Toni Lee : 212 237 5090 | toni.lee@ogilvy.com