Tony de los Reyes - Heather James Fine Art

Published on the occasion of the exhibitionTony de los Reyes: The DartMarch 26 - May 29, 2011Catalogue designed by Timothy TompkinsHeather James Fine Art45188 Portola AvenuePalm Desert, California 92260www.heatherjames.com

Based on Herman Melville’s 1851 classic Moby-Dick, the title “The Dart” is from chapter 62 of the book and is also whalemen’sslang for a harpoon. “The Dart” is also the title of a life-size black/bronze harpoon which dramatically hangs point–downfrom the ceiling in the center of the gallery. A theme that runs throughout the artist’s work is what the “dart” implies, whichis an incision or cutting through matter due to force of will; transactions that occur through violence. Whether they are theMaori tattoo facial markings in the Cannibal works or the thin white lines radiating from Sunset over a roiling, deep black sea,what is consistent is a manipulation of one type of space by the imposition of another. Among other things, Moby-Dick canbe thought of as a meta-narrative that confronts the individual’s relationship with nature and its pull on the subconscious.4

Two of the paintings in the exhibition excerpt passages from the text which illustrate key concerns of both Melville and delos Reyes: “There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method.” The work communicates suchdisorder as coming from a disruption of some kind of “natural” state, which in turn creates a new incarnation of material.De los Reyes’ paintings are a combination of raw linen, first wet and stained with washes of sumi ink, then later appliedwith oil. He only uses white and black pigments—never mixed—which conceptually ties to Moby-Dick’s forces of structuralantagonism and oppositional energies. The dominate surfaces of the paintings are usually very thin, which de los Reyesthen interrupts with areas of thick opacity, relating to Melville’s permeating philosophy of dualism inherent in the book.5

There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method., 2011ink and oil on linen10 x 111 in.6

Better sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian., 2011ink and oil on linen10 x 90 1/2 in.14

1851 (3), 2011, ink and oil on linen, 33 1/2 x 56 in.16

1851 (4), 2011, ink and oil on linen, 12 x 16 in.20

Sunset (2), 2011, ink and oil on linen, 59 1/8 x 59 1/8 in.23

Pequod (2), 2011, ink on paper, 26 x 20 1/2 in.29

Cannibal (3), 2011, ink on paper, 26 x 20 1/2 in.32

Cannibal, 2011, ink and oil on linen, 55 x 45 1/8 in.35

Starbuck, 2010, bronze, 4 1/2 x 16 1/2 x 4 1/4 in.38

Tony de los ReyesBorn 1960, Los AngelesEducation:MFA, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CABFA, California State University, Northridge, CASelected solo exhibitions:2011 The Dart, Heather James Fine Art, Palm Desert, CA2010 Chasing Moby Dick: Selected Works by Tony de los Reyes,Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA2009 The Prophet, Howard House, Seattle, WA2008 Ahab’s America, Carl Berg Gallery, Los Angeles, CA2007 American Baroque: Ruminations on Moby-Dick, RioHondo College Art Gallery, Whittier, CA2006 Or The Whale, Carl Berg Gallery, Los Angeles, CAThe Imago Sea, Bentley Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ2005 The Sea is the Ghost of the World, Howard House,Seattle, WAThe Last Archipelago, Carl Berg Gallery, Los Angeles, CA2004 The Strange Tale of Near and Far, DCKTContemporary, New York, NYStudying the Strange Tale of Near and Far, Michael’s,Santa Monica, CA2003 Ingenious Kingdom, Howard House, Seattle, WABentley Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ2002 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CAExcepts From The Porcelain Pavilion, Howard House,Seattle, WA2001 rrocococo, Artplace, Los Angeles, CASelected group exhibitions:2010 Lost at Sea, Heather James Fine Art, Palm Desert, CA2008 Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NCIn-between Air, Land and Sea, Long Beach CityCollege Art Gallery, Long Beach, CAWeekend Warrior, Nathan Larramendy Gallery,Ojai, CA2007 Mar Vista, Domestic Setting, Los Angeles, CA2006 Major Drawings, Carl Berg Gallery, Los Angeles, CA2005 A Great Mania, Sun Valley Center for the Arts,Ketchum, IDVery Early Pictures, Luckman Fine Arts Gallery atCSULA, Los Angeles, CAWelcome 2 the Jungle, DCKT Contemporary,New York, NY2004 100% Acid Free, curator Micaela Giovanotti,White Columns, New York, NYLandscape, Rena Bransten, San Francisco, CAFantasticism, Carl Berg Gallery, Los Angeles, CAMail-In, London Street Projects, Los Angeles, CA2003 The Art of Thought, curator: Kim Abeles, AngelsGate, San Pedro, CA6 Booths in 7 Weeks, film, Grand Central ArtCenter, Cal State University Fullerton, Santa Ana, CA2002 The Frustrated Landscape, curator: Tyler Stallings,Guggenheim Art Gallery, Chapman University,Orange, CAFull Nelson Four Performance Festival, PalaceTheater, Los Angeles, CAOpen, curator: Chris Miles, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CASpace (+/-) 4, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA2001 Layered Cake, Schomberg Gallery, Santa Monica, CA43

Wallworks, LA Artcore, Los Angeles, CABerlin/L.A. Exchange 2001, Luna International,Berlin, GermanyASU Art Museum Short Film and Video Festival,Arizona State University, Tempe, AZMail Art Exchange, Los Angeles County Museum ofArt, Los Angeles, CA2000 Wall Space, Miller Durazo Contemporary ArtistsProjects, Los Angeles, CA2nd Annual Short Film and Video Festival, Gallery825, Los Angeles, CAAre You Interested?, Smart Gals Production, LosAngeles, CATaxation, Smart Gals Production, Los Angeles, CABibliography:M. Duncan, Soul Searching in the U.S.A., Art in America,March 2011R. Hackett, Tony de los Reyes:high seas bobast on a table,Artsjournal, October 5, 2009, ills.J. Graves, Currently Hanging, TheStranger.com, October 5,2009, ills.K. Newhouse,Tony de los Reyes: Ahab’s America, X-Tra,Volume 11, Number 2, Winter 2008: 27-32, ills..S. Mizota, Tony de los Reyes, ArtNews, Volume 107, Number6, June 2008: 138-139, ill.P. Frank, Falling Together, LA Weekly, Volume 30, No. 21,April 11-17, 2008: 51, ill.R. Leslie, LA Art Fair, Art Nexus, No. 65, Volume 6, 2007: 114.S. Nys Dambrot, Tony de los Reyes, Modern Painters,November 2006: 104-105, ill.M. Duncan, Critics Picks: Opening Salvos in LA, Art inAmerica, November 2006: 76-79, ill.M. Hebron, Critic’s Picks: Tony de los Reyes, Artforum.com,September 2006, ill.P. Frank, Major Drawings at Carl Berg Gallery, ArtWeek, April2006: 18.L. Ollman, The definition of drawing, expanded, Los AngelesTimes, March 10, 2006, ill.M. Duncan, Tony de los Reyes at Carl Berg, Art in America,January 2006: 128, ill.L. Enriquez, Exploration and deconstruction, The SeattleTimes, December 16, 2005: 521, ill.K. Bossick, Honoring the Legacy of Delftware, Wood RiverJournal, July 13, 2005.D. Dugan, Delftware made deftly, Idaho Mountain Express,July 13, 2005: C1,C9, ill.C. Knight, The Deft Look of Delftware, Los Angeles Times,March 4, 2005, ill.B. Sholis, Los Angeles Critic’s Picks: Tony de los Reyes,Artforum.com, February 2005, ill.R. Jana, 100% Acid Free at White Columns, Art on Paper,March/April 2005.K. Johnson, Tony de los Reyes, New York Times, October 22,2004.J. Korotkin, The Neo-Baroque Era, Tema Celeste, July/August2004: 38-45, ill.C. Roth, Mail-In Show at London Street Projects, Artweek,March 2004: 22, ill.R. Hackett, The Sky’s the Limit at Howard House, Seattle PostIntelligencer, October 31, 2003: 16, ill.44

E. Wood, To Move the Stars, Essay for The FrustratedLandscape, 2002.D. Walsh, Scenery as Metaphor, Orange County Register,September 15, 2002.B. Crotty, Excerpts From the Porcelain Pavilion, Tablet, July2002, ill.V. Josslin, Puttin’ on the Style: Tony de los Reyes at HowardHouse, artdish.com, July 2002.J. Demetre, Tony de los Reyes, Seattle Weekly, June 13-19,2002: 74, ill.C. Roth, Tony de los Reyes at Artplace, Artweek, Vol. 32, Issue7/8, July/August 2001, ills.45

45188 Portola Avenue Palm Desert, CA 92260 760-346-8926PO Box 3580 172 Center Street Suite 101 Jackson, WY 83001 307-200-6090www.heatherjames.com