San Luis Obispo, California – in the center of Daisy Patton’s For these witnesses Hangs a double swing decorated with dust flowers. Formed from a dilapidated bank that the artist found on Craigslist, frame the vintage wedding photos of an anonymous Venezuelan pair that the artist has enlarged, printed and embellished with daring acrylic paint on canvas. The result is “Untitled (Color Fade Wedding pair with purple background and green vines)” (2024), an enchanted assembly that projects both joy and sorrow. Visitors to the exhibition – which focuses on the theme of weddings – will feel his emotional impact when they enter the gallery.
One of the large wall pieces of the show presents an undated queer salon wedding, tailored to an extensive fabric frame with embroidery, pony, flower buds and dust flowers. “Untitled (wedding party in salon celebration with white vines and green flowers)” (2024) combines a feminist application of craftsmanship and interest in postmodern theory. In particular, Patton embraces the idea of critic Roland Barthes from the punctum: an aspect or detail of a photo that holds our gaze without condescending to only meaning or beauty. In the faces of the wedding guests, originally recorded by a camera and cheerful by the attentive artistic process of Patton, we feel that they look back at us in time and culture, and offer themselves to see themselves.
The intimate connection of Patton with the ghost in its source photos leads to the intuitive artistic decisions she makes when they paint by hand. The Bulgarian couple who appears in one piece gets various treatments: his face appears in black and white, while hers is veiled in light blue. His suit is embellished with flower patterns, while her dress figure is dressed in a gradient of lively blue. An African-American couple from Indiana is presented in Aqua (her) and Orange (him) while leaning forward for purple blinds and pink wallpaper.
By means of For these witnessesIt feels like Patton is updating and personalizing Andy Warhol’s technology from SilkScreing Andy Warhol. The difference is that Warhol enjoyed the cool mechanical aspects of his process, while Patton emphasizes hand -painted details and decorations that remind us of her warm involvement in her subjects.
The feeling of inclusion offered by Patton’s dazzling works transmits her dedication to empathy and understanding. Her photo-based works from the past decade, which have been treated with family, identity and mortality, are all rooted in her search to bridge the personal and the universal. Patton’s interest in creating a spiritual experience that combines images and decoration is the core of the universal message of the show.
For these witnesses Continue on the Harold J. Miossi Art Gallery at Cuesta College (CA-1, San Luis Obispo, California) up to and including 14 March. The exhibition was compiled by gallery coordinator Tim Stark.
