EXHIBITIONS
Damian Loeb “Still”
Dates: Oct 1 – Nov 5, 2022
Location: amanaTIGP
Opening reception: Saturday, Oct 1, 18:00 – 20:00
The gallery will implement necessary measures to prevent coronavirus infections.
amanaTIG is pleased to present a solo exhibition with New York-based American artist Damian Loeb from October 1 to November 5, 2022. This marks the artist’s first exhibition solely of his photographic works, and features a selection of 13 prints.
Loeb is known for creating contemporary realist paintings based on scenes from films and photographs he has taken himself. From the shallow depth of field that enables one to relive the consciousness of the photographer, to lens flares characteristically observed in photography, and aspect ratios reminiscent of a movie screen, the camera lens serves as a constant mediator in the images Loeb depicts.
Images (both moving and still) that permeate contemporary society have formed a unique visual language in the process of competing for the attention of the audience. While Loeb had initially gleaned such linguistically dense imagery from the vast sea of existing images, from around 20 years ago he took the camera into his own hands, and in sensitively detecting landscapes that may suggest the presence of some kind of context, began to capture images directly from the outside world through photographs.
The subjects collected in this way are painted in oil on canvas over the course of several months. Unlike photographs that have a high degree of transparency, paintings harbor a sense of material resistance that is specific to its medium, such as the volume of paint, fine brushstrokes, and unevenness of the canvas. The subtle traces that Loeb leaves upon the picture plane serve to transform emotions such as anxiety, hope, and melancholy that the aforementioned visual language evokes in our subconscious mind, into more complex ones.
This is the first exhibition for Loeb to present only his photographic works. The works the artist selected while preparing for the exhibition amid the pandemic, are photographs of places that are familiar to him such as his home in New York and the scenery of Hollywood. By choosing to engage with photography that in itself demonstrates little resistance as a medium, the works gravitate towards the image. Furthermore, the emphasis on neutrality inherent to the camera lens gives rise to a diverse array of interpretations. This exhibition will serve as an opportunity to consider sceneries that are widely yet implicitly shared by society, the context behind them, and contemporary visual culture as a whole.
【Concurrent Exhibit】
A selection of Loeb’s paintings will be exhibited in the Taka Ishii Gallery viewing room (complex665 1F), located a 10-minute walk from amanaTIGP.
Dates: October 1 – November 5, 2022*
Venue: complex665, 1st floor viewing room
*Closed on Thursday, Oct 27
Damian Loeb was born in 1970, and currently lives and works in New York. He is co-represented by Acquavella Galleries and Pace Gallery, with recent solo exhibitions at Pace Palo Alto and a solo booth at Frieze New York with Acquavella Galleries, as well as several solo exhibitions in New York. He has presented his work internationally, with solo shows at White Cube in London, Jablonka Galerie in Cologne, including a retrospective at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum (Ridgefield, Connecticut, 2006).
