DARIO S. BUCHELI: NOT CLOSE ENOUGH

November 12 - December 03,2022

From Fort Works Art:

"FORT WORKS ART is pleased to announce artist Dario S. Bucheli’s first solo exhibition, Dario S. Bucheli: Not Close Enough. Bucheli is a contemporary painter based in Texas whose work confronts how we experience artwork on internet platforms. The exhibition opens on Saturday, November 12, 2022, with a reception from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM, and will be on display until Saturday, December 3, 2022.

Although he paints digital images, there is nothing remotely digital about Bucheli’s work. His paintings are treated with such importance, and it is clear with each piece how meticulous he is during his painting process. The surface texture is executed with an elegance that is a stark contrast to some of the most bothersome aspects of the digital world, such as pixelation, advertisements, and pop-ups. As a young artist, he is grappling with issues that have increasingly taken precedence within the art world, including that of where the digital and physical art worlds intersect. Bucheli approaches the dichotomy of physical and digital art in a unique way that leads us to question our own experiences with art.

Bucheli’s paintings often portray skewed representations of internet sites, created by over-pixelation, zooming, or pop-up windows. He pays close attention to the visual distortions that are created when viewing or distributing art online. His work depicts ambiguous stretches of color, acrylic pixels, and the occasional letter or word that intrigue us to figure out the context. Using his cell phone as a tool, Bucheli paints pictures of paintings from artists he admires, focusing on specific areas that distinguish the artistic style of the painter which are then transformed into unrecognizable spans of color.

The artist acknowledges the separation between the viewer and painting when observed online and he takes this a step further. In a recent talk with Fort Works Art, Bucheli explained that the inspiration for these paintings originated in 2019 when he began to reflect on how he consumed art largely through the internet in the form of “digital images,” and how this pattern was exacerbated during the recent global pandemic.

“The COVID lockdowns made this reality more evident as most galleries, museums, and other exhibition spaces closed their doors. This trend of viewing art through the internet has continued to this day even though most people have returned to these spaces in person… Through my work, I invite the viewer to question how their experience of a painted image may differ from that of a digital image, and the role that their body plays in the process of cognition.”

In announcing Dario Bucheli: Not Close Enough, Fort Works Art owner & director Lauren Saba stated, “What is intriguing about Bucheli’s work is that he takes the mundane and transforms it into a new and ambiguous image that forces you to interact with the work. Through various techniques, he creates a confusion as to what he has painted which is the entry point for the viewer.”

About the artist

Dario S. Bucheli was born in Monclova, Mexico, and currently lives and works in Beaumont, Texas. He received his MFA from Texas Christian University and his BA from the University of Dallas, both in Studio Art with a concentration in Painting. Bucheli’s practice is rooted in his love of painted images. He believes that painting has remained meaningful, despite the interminable amount of digital images that constantly fight for our collective attention. His work has been included in both solo and group exhibitions throughout the Texas region, as well as in exhibitions abroad. He has received multiple awards for his work, including The New Normal: An Artist’s Response to COVID-19 2020 artist grant. In 2019 he participated in the TCU Genus Loci residency in the Tuscany region of Italy. He is the current Curator of Collections at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas. Bucheli’s work is represented by Fort Works Art (Fort Worth, Texas), and the exhibition Dario S. Bucheli: Not Close Enough is his first solo show with the gallery."

Reception: November 12, 2022 | 5-7 pm

Fort Works Art 2100 Montgomery Street
Fort Worth, Texas 76107
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