V1 GALLERY PROUDLY PRESENTS
Blue Dream
A solo exhibition by Wes Lang
Biker iconography, abstract scribbles, vintage playboy magazines, skulls, butterflies, flowers, Native Americans and quotes from ancient eastern philosophy, American literature, and popular music populate Wes Lang’s new body of work on canvas and paper.
The works in Blue Dream are loaded with references and homages: to high and low culture, fellow artists, life and death, bad times, but mostly good times, violence and beauty. This duality is characteristic for Wes Lang’s work. Each work comes across as an earnest meditation on life and how to live it. Not an answer, a poetic reflection - a map to explore.
All the works in Blue Dream were created on the west coast of America where Lang relocated from New York at the end of 2012. There is a sense of freedom, hope and positive perspective flowing through the exhibition. In one large painting (213 x 305 cm) the skeleton of a Native American Chief, on a motorcycle, is carrying a shield with the words: Live For Today, Think For Yourself, Be A Better Man, Now’s The Time, Expand - Wes Lang reminds us of the human potential even though we are living in the shadow of death. The title of the painting is Wide Awake In America, like the rest of the exhibition, it is an ode to independence, sincerity and free thinking.
Wes Lang (1973, US) has recently exhibited at Marlborough (Madrid) and The Chateau Marmont (Los Angeles). In 2012 he created the highly celebrated Grateful Dead Spring 1990 box set. In 2014 he will have his first extensive solo presentation at ARoS Museum of Modern Art (Aarhus) – where he currently have a work on display in the exhibition 7, 9, 13 Directors Choice. His work is included in the collections of MOMA (New York) The National Gallery Of Denmark (Copenhagen) and Deste Foundation (Athens) and ARoS (Aarhus) amongst others. Blue Dream is Wes Lang’s third solo exhibition with V1 Gallery.
