Press Statement / Richard Green Gallery January, 1989

John Divola New Works by John Divola will be exhibited January 7 to February 4, 1989 at the Richard Green Gallery, located at 834 North LaBrea, Los Angeles. These new pieces (1986-88) address what Divola terms "representation of the natural." He has described them as a "conscious reworking of the existing codes for a romanticized notion of the sublime - a attempt to generate the presence of absence." These pieces can be roughly divided into three photographic groups which include representations of theatrical studio constructions, unaltered images taken from nature paired with monochromatic acrylic panels and finally, distant observations of people in natural environments. Works in the first section which deal with an iconography of the natural range from 42 inches square to 48 by 60 inches. Pieces in the second section, made from photographic linen and acrylic on canvas, range in size from 22 by 44 inches to 40 by 56 inches. The last section is comprised of smaller works, ranging in size from 12 by 15 inches to 18 by 28 inches. These individual pieces are made of images on black and white photographic linen which have been stretched and coated with a polymer resin. Divola has received three fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts (1973,76,79) and one from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation (1986). His work has been displayed internationally in more that 100 exhibitions over the last fifteen years. For more information, please contact the gallery.