DAVID RATCLIFF – BASEMENT PSYCHEDELIA
2018-09-24History is destined to repeat itself, though our ability to record and process events is struggling to keep pace with the increasingly rapid rate at which that repetition occurs. Drawing on an archive of pulp and subculture scraps, Basement Psychedelia captures a contemporary sense of dread; the anticipation, fear, and anxiety of the present moment as defined by an endless cycle of an American imperative defined by male entitlement, insatiable indulgence, and immediate gratification.
Basement Psychedelia presents a new body of contemporary history paintings animated by a frenzied energy and a newly colorful palette. Ratcliff has steadily expanded the formal range of his painting practice, and the new pictures evince a loose virtuosity with a more direct presence of the artist’s hand and increasingly painterly effects. Gestural brushwork and fluid paint introduce new material and surface qualities while underlining the exigent suspended motion of Ratcliff’s signature stencil spray-painting.
Opposite – Untitled, 2018
Exhibition runs through to October 21st, 2018
team (bungalow)
306 Windward Avenue
Venice
CA 90291
