Storied Abstraction - Dyani White Hawk

Bockley Gallery is pleased to open its 2016-17 season with an exhibit of new works by Dyani White Hawk. This is White Hawk’s third solo exhibit at Bockley Gallery. In a dozen paintings, White Hawk continues to expand her interrogation of the connection between Modernist abstract painting and Lakota aesthetics. White Hawk phrases this urge to abstraction as a question: “How do I pare down these complex ideas into visual statements made as gracefully and poignant as possible?”

Her images are both boldly abstract and rich with references to materials used in Native American quillwork, beadwork, and sewing. In one painting White Hawk expertly enlarges and reproduces a calico fabric pattern, partnered with design elements of a star quilt rendered through marks mimicking porcupine quillwork and beadwork. In another work she incorporates antique ledger paper polka dots, beaded into a field of clouds blending landscape with abstraction and materiality. In other works, geometric patterns painted in a grid expand under broad banners beaded into linen. Her palette shifts from a deep red, gold, and blue, to pale periwinkle and dusty pinks that reference vintage bead colors. Storied Abstraction also includes works in a softer presentation, reminiscent of textiles—these works blur and blend lines so the viewer might think of trade cloth or woven blankets or patterned wool.

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