It’s hard to find excitement in the banality of everyday life. It takes a certain kind of person to find the magic in the mundane and London-based artists Cristina BanBan and Dominic Dispirito are those type of people. Their new dual show “Candy,” which opens this week at The Dot Project, grapples with how to navigate a world saturated by consumerism, digital imagery, humor, and the struggle of everyday life. Using bold colors and commonplace objects, BanBan and Dispirito’s work is characterized by visual exaggerations of modern day banalities.
BanBan fills the canvas with voluptuous bodied figures, often engaged in familiar domestic acts—eating Chinese food, scrolling through their phones, shaving their legs, laying in bed with a lover. Likewise, Dispirito’s paintings recall humdrum activities of everyday existence like walking the dog in the park, having a coffee, eating an ice cream, yet the leisurely illusion of both artists’ work is offset by the ironic and self-aware tone the employ throughout each piece.
BanBan’s work reflects a portrait of the society in which she lives—the situations she witnesses, that pass by as unremarkable, at a glance. As she paints she imbues the rather generic imagery with the intimacy and personal touch that redirects it towards a more autobiographical storyline. BanBan works on different layers of paint through an additive and substrate process until she feels the image is complete. The appetizing palette she uses contrasts with a certain degree of frustration felt in some of her paintings.
Dispirito’s practice, although it employs a similar technicolor candor as BanBan’s, draws largely on the analog painting’s relationship with digital technology. All of Dispirito’s works start with the use of iPhone apps—the drawings and animations composed in this digital space are then made into paintings which mimic the digital textures and colors of these studies. In his most recent works Dispirito focuses on subjective human states of being. His subject matter is isolated and reduced, becoming the focus for painterly exercises in color, volume and style.
Both Dominic and Cristina take risks in pushing figurative painting in their own unique and stylistic ways, with their characters standing as the main element and focal point in order to create some type of narrative.
“Candy” will be on view at The Dot Project from October 5th to November 26th. Opening Reception: Thursday, Oct. 5th, 6pm -9pm.
Dominic Dispirito
