David Aylsworth: That Thing That Makes Vines Prefer to Cling

Holly Johnson Gallery in Dallas is pleased to announce the opening of That Thing That Makes Vines Prefer to Cling, an exhibition of new paintings by David Aylsworth. This is the artist’s third exhibition with the gallery. An opening reception will be held Saturday, May 8, from 6 to 8 pm. The exhibition continues through June 12, 2010.

David Aylsworth's latest paintings burst from the canvas in vivid colors and reference the lightheartedness of musical theater. For Aylsworth, the creation of a painting is equated to the direction of a theatrical performance. His curvilinear and angular forms in the work are "characters" that interact with each other in theatrical settings.  Many shades of white are featured prominently in a number of these canvases, often creating voids between the jubilantly colorful forms. Upon closer inspection these seemingly empty spaces reveal multiple layers of painting underneath pushing these forms toward the surface.

Aylsworth was born in Tiffin, Ohio in 1966. He received a B.F.A. degree from Kent State University in 1989.  From 1989 to 1991 he was a Core Fellow and Resident at the Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. In 2001, The Galveston Art Center mounted a ten-year survey of his work that traveled to Texas A&M University in Commerce and the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. In 2008 his work was included in a group exhibition, Learning by Doing: 25 Years of the Core Program, at the Museum of Fine Arts, in Houston.  His work was also featured in a one-person exhibition, Fugue for Tinhorns Sounds like Frère Jacques, at the Ellen Noël Art Museum in Odessa, Texas in 2008.

Last month David Aylsworth was one of seven recipients of an Artadia Award Houston. He was also awarded an Individual Artist Grant from the Cultural Arts Council of Houston/Harris County in 2005. Many articles about his work have been published in noteworthy publications such as; Art Lies, Art in America, House Beautiful, The Dallas Morning News, and Fort Worth Star-Telegram. His work is in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Dallas Museum of Art, The Art Museum of South Texas in Corpus Christi, The Art Museum of South East Texas in Beaumont, and the El Paso Museum of Art.  He currently resides in Houston.