The Arts Center at Duck Creek presents “Liths,” two large-scale sculptures by Carl D’Alvia on the grounds at Duck Creek. This show is presented in collaboration with Hesse Flatow Gallery, based in New York City and Amagansett.
Known for his hyper-textured sculptures in resin, bronze, and marble, D’Alvia explores the limits of traditional sculpture, making work that is at once minimal and maximal, humorous and tragic. For his “Liths” series, D’Alvia continues to explore sculptural dichotomies with monumental works in painted aluminum that appear both hard and soft, serious and funny, masculine and feminine.
Drawing from ancient monoliths as well as 1970s works by Tony Conrad, Elizabeth Murray, Alexander Calder, and John McCracken, D’Alvia looks at the concept of the statue or monument with a contemporary lens. D’Alvia softens the severe form of the monolith, introducing playfulness and humor, bridging old traditions together with the new to point to the work’s heavy, serious, and darker qualities.
“Once I hit on humor in my work, I’ve never let go of it,” said D’Alvia. “And it’s something that took me a long time to come to… How do you take this form and animate it, and have it be a character, but still in some way have a connection to this kind of statuary path?”
Introducing heightened color for the first time in his thirty-year practice, D’Alvia coats each work in a different shade of automotive paint, further adding to the humor and personality found in the works, and referencing the work of sculptors like John Chamberlain and George Sugarman. The series began with his 2017 sculpture “Lith”, which is currently on view at Art OMI in upstate New York.
The show opens on Saturday, July 17, and will be on view through September 4.