Donye 

Curator: I see, plain as day, an explosion of color and playful caricature. It’s so vibrant, it almost hums with a defiant energy. It's, well... unforgettable. Editor: Quite right. We’re looking at “Donye” by Dave Macdowell, rendered in acrylic. Notice the… distinctive… merging of personas? And that backdrop of red, white, and blue. Curator: Merging is a polite way to put it! It feels almost like a dare. The textures practically jump off the canvas; you can feel the sheer audacity of the artist. But behind the initial shock, it gets you thinking about how identity is formed, how appearances can be deceiving. Editor: True, Dave Macdowell certainly emphasizes the physicality of paint. The way the colors are layered and blended is… aggressive. This, along with that cap with the altered name… suggests commentary on the commodification of image, the superficiality of celebrity culture. Curator: Aggressive is a great word! It challenges you! I find myself asking questions about… well, questions about a lot. And that little glint in his eye, beneath that questionable blonde hair... It’s sly, almost inviting you into a shared joke. What do you think about that background, with the almost faded flags? Editor: Right, it does suggest themes of blurred histories, almost manufactured traditions. Also the flat plane of support; these readily available commercial paints are so central to accessing these potent public figures that have become commodities within reach to manipulate. I also notice how that title printed across the hat, further abstracts the identity being represented to reflect new interpretations. Curator: Well, "Donye" manages to be both deeply unsettling and weirdly compelling. It is brash. A bold experiment using… loaded symbols. The artist holds a cracked mirror up to something in our culture. What does this work say about what the Artist believes in? That, to me, is so wonderful! Editor: It truly underlines the constructed nature of symbols themselves; how easily they are adopted and adapted. It shows how powerful the medium itself is, regardless of what narrative an Artist might suggest as being at play.