Daniel Mrva / Bent

August 13 - September 14, 2012

Opening Reception:
August 18 - 6:00 pm -8:00 pm

Artist Statement: My work asserts the power of the author by encouraging submissive attitudes from the viewer through the lure of beauty, material curiosity, and illusionistic puzzle. When encountering my work, a viewer who moves to a particular vantage point (often by kneeling or leaning against the wall) is rewarded with an interesting color interaction, beautiful pattern, etc. Other times, visual and material puzzles encourage the viewer to examine more closely the canvas which juts into the viewer’s personal space. By luring the viewer in such ways, and then highlighting the compulsive power of visual pleasure to literally move their body, I remind the viewer of the nature of beauty as a consensual submission to the power of some Other, in this case, myself as author of their visual experience.