Abraham, Abraham! by Salvador Dalí (images courtesy of Ao5 Gallery)
Ao5 is the ultimate eclectic gallery, a giant space with movie posters, paintings, sculptures, even screenprinted furniture covering every surface in a milieu of color and style. Scenic landscapes rest by a glittery Jimi Hendrix headshot; a giant banner advertising Disney’s Beauty and the Beast hangs just around the corner from meticulous bronze-limbed sculptures. It’s pristine next to pop, masterpieces and mass-produced side by side.
The overwhelming variety shouts a clear message: There’s art for everyone, at almost every price point. Visitors can grab matted movie stills for around 40 bucks or find historically framed originals priced in the mid-five figures. For now, wind your way through the visual labyrinth toward the back corner to witness Ao5’s latest exhibit of lithographs by Salvador Dalí and Alexander Calder. If you hit the Dr. Seuss wall of taxidermied imaginary creatures, you’ve gone too far.
“Calder is my favorite, and Dalí is the world’s favorite,” gallery director Todd Gresley shared at the July 13 exhibit opening. It’s as good a reason for the display as any, since the two artistic giants seem to have little in common. As the father of surrealism, Dalí’s work is full of tortured figures and hidden meanings behind every overstuffed detail. Calder isn’t even thought about in two dimensions. His bright-colored simple shapes are typically associated with giant hanging mobiles. There’s some overlap – they both worked through the 1900s, pioneering their individual styles and inspiring drastic shifts in the art world. But Ao5 joins them together, because why not? Any excuse to bask in art is a good one.
These lithographs are straight from the artists’ studios, hand-numbered and rare.
Besides, here we have both masters working in the same lithographic medium. Lithography involves carefully applying colors to etched plates, then pressing them on high-quality paper. Basically, they’re prints, but don’t confuse them with cheap Etsy posters. These lithographs are straight from the artists’ studios, hand-numbered and rare. If digitized posters are the fading echo of the artist’s voice, these prints are the artist whispering firmly and clearly in your ear, a direct call from the source.
Dalí might be the name getting people in the door – it’s what piqued my interest – but the Calder works inspired the show. Ao5 is showing about two dozen Calder prints on behalf of a private collector, and it’s the most of his work the gallery has had at once. It’s odd to see static Calder works, especially if you’ve witnessed any of his hanging mobile monoliths. The bold color palettes, reds and yellows and blues, repeat the familiar rounded motifs of Calder’s most famous works. They are the “stabiles” to contrast the “mobiles.” But even these two-dimensional works burst with movement. In Fleur d’Hélice, a yellow, black, and white daisy-like figure evokes propellers. Flowers on a Fence has overlapping ovals perched atop curving black lines, seeming to wave in the breeze. They celebrate simplicity, the potential in the mundane.
Fleur d’Hélice by Alexander Calder
But like the basic art history lover I am, what drew me to Ao5 was their deep well of Dalí lithographs. At least four walls are covered with the artist’s illustrations for The Divine Comedy, the Vulgate Bible (Biblia Sacra), and even Alice in Wonderland. One section shows an odd collaboration with artist Francisco de Goya, whose plates were acquired and “enhanced” by Dalí. There’s also a random smattering of works for sheer entertainment, including the anamorphic Lys. It’s intentionally distorted with a saucy surprise in store for the enlightened viewer (a penis, naturally).
All the works show off the alluringly nightmarish world of Dalí, something recognizable on a subconscious level. Encroaching terror haunts his subjects, from Dante moving through his inferno, to prophets from the Bible. In one Biblia Sacra print, Abraham, Abraham!, classic portrayals of a knife-wielding prophet and his sacrificial son are dwarfed by the shadowy angel of the Lord, a darkened figure looming, offering relief in the story and distress in the art. Such is Dalí. He takes sacred sources and drags them to Earth, illuminating grotesque fear in each story.
The works are on display for the next two months, and Ao5 will bring out a fresh batch of Dalí’s work for the closing in September. Meanwhile, enjoy a visit and relax in the presence of two seminal artists. Calder breathes dynamism into stationary forms. Dalí updates tradition with modern cynicism. Each created pieces that frame the ordinary world as something wholly new.
Masters: Calder and Dalí
Through September
