 
While appropriating icons of consumer culture in art hardly registers a shockwave since Warhol's soup cans, Dale Oftedal's current series, in which he juxtaposes these familiar images into collages which are witty, visually striking and challenging, wisely focuses less on social critique (although that is present in them) and more on offering an object lesson in the archetypal shapes inherent in selling us cereal, heroes or spirituality. His use of the sphere and parallel lines in multifarious ways--flags, patterns, bull's eyes, planets, faces--presents a portrait of our culture beyond mere ironic commentary.
Dale unearths the shapes by which we make sense of visual stimuli, and the means by which advertising exploits our visual vocabulary. The sphere, the flag and the starburst--the world, the nation and heaven. These are the promises of commercial culture, and Dale Oftedal has found rich source material in his investigation of our world. He reflects our consumer culture back to us, and invites us to open our eyes.
Degrees of Abstraction
Reception:
Thursday October 4, 2007 6-8 PM
Exhibition Dates:
9/28/2007 - 10/18/2007
Invitation to
Dale Oftedal's exhibition
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Stop Sign
Mixed Media
30" x 24"
$3000
Stop Sign
Mixed Media
30" x 24"
$3000
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Tony
Mixed Media
30" x 24"
$3000
Tony
Mixed Media
30" x 24"
$3000
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Good Guys
Mixed Media
30" x 24"
$3000
Good Guys
Mixed Media
30" x 24"
$3000
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Four
Mixed Media
30" x 24"
$3000
Four
Mixed Media
30" x 24"
$3000
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