David Richard Gallery is pleased to present Neo-Op, an exhibition by Mark Dagley featuring a comprehensive body of work begun in 1994, with several new canvases finished as recently as February of 2019. This work emerged out of Dagley’s systematic approach to structure using a specific set of material constraints and limitations on color. The results include multiple series in two and three dimensions: paintings, sculpture and works on paper using simple motifs of geometric progression, linear interplay, concentric organic forms and chain-linked lozenges.

Dagley was born and raised in Washington, D.C., where he began studying painting at the Corcoran in his mid-teens. Though the region’s Color School had a great influence on his artistic development, he has always aimed to be something more than a second-generation participant. His interests in color, finish and surface have led him in many directions, but the categorization of his work has, up until now, been more “post” than “neo.” Several of Dagley’s paintings were included in the exhibition Post-Hypnotic, which traveled the country from 1999-2001, and much of his work has been referred to as Post-Structural. However, in keeping with the artist’s desire to remain in the moment, or one step ahead of it, this show has been titled Neo-Op.

Mark Dagley’s creative output is not limited to fine art. He is also a musician, composer, audio engineer, videographer, essayist, publisher of art books and limited editions. He has performed and recorded, mostly as a guitarist, since the late 1970s. Among his past band mates are fellow artists George Condo and Steven Parrino. Dagley and his wife, author and actress Lauri Bortz, co-founded Abaton Book Company, a publishing house and music label, in 1997 and have been running it together ever since. Dagley is currently studying music theory at Juilliard and classical guitar privately. The musical patterns he’s been immersed in are echoed in his recent paintings.

Neo-Op is Dagley’s first solo show with David Richard Gallery.

Mark Dagley (b. 1957, Washington D.C.) is a visual artist who studied painting and sculpture at the Corcoran School of Art, and painting, video and electronic music at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts.

Dagley has exhibited his work internationally for the past three decades, including in North America, Europe, and Australasia. During the 1980s, he was active in the East Village abstract painting scene and showed alongside other pioneering abstract painters, including Barry X Ball, Max Gimblett, Olivier Mosset, James Nares, Stephen Parrino, Li Trincere, and Alan Uglow, among many others. His first solo exhibition took place in 1987, at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York City.

In 1993 Dagley had his first Museum exhibition at the Kunstverein St. Gallen, Switzerland. In the same year, he received his first major commission from Hoffman/LaRoche Pharmaceuticals: two wall reliefs, nine-foot square, which were installed in their new office building outside of Basel.

During his career, Dagley has worked with a number of influential galleries worldwide, including Tony Shafrazi Gallery (NYC), Galerie Hans Strelow (Dusseldorf, Germany), Galeria Mar Estrada (Madrid, Spain), and Galerie Swart (Amsterdam, The Netherlands). More recently he has exhibited his work at Anna Kustera Gallery (NYC), The Shore Institute of the Contemporary Arts (Long Branch, NJ), The Suburban (Chicago, IL), Daniel Weinberg Gallery (Los Angeles, CA), Instituto de Artes Graficas (Oaxaca, Mexico), ParisCONCRET (Paris, France), Galeria Leyendecker (Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain), and Musee des beaux-arts de La Chaux-de-Fonds (La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland).

His work can be found in the collections of the Cafritz Foundation, Collection Doberman, Oppenheim & Co, R.H. Peterson, University of Michigan Museum of Art, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, the Musée des Beaux Arts La Chaud de Fonds, Credit-Suisse, Hoffman/LaRoche, Henkel GmbH, EMI Madrid, Bloomingdales Corporation, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Buenos Aires and Muzeum um?ní Olomouc, Czech Republic.

His most recent exhibitions were at, Spencer Brownstone Gallery (2017), MACBA (2015), Galerie Caesar (2015), The Museum of Geometric & Madi Art (2013), Kent Place Gallery (2012), and Minus Space (2012).