Mac Whitney: Painting and Sculpture

Extended show dates: February 19-April 9, 2011
Artist reception February 19, 6:30 pm

Mac Whitney's work has been selected as the inaugural exhibition of Kirk Hopper Fine Art, a new gallery in Dallas. Hopper spearheaded HCG Gallery in the Design District for the past three years and is known for putting up some of Dallas' most impressive and imaginative exhibitions. Now, he's not only moving from the perceived center of Dallas galleries on Dragon Street, he's relocating to a new venue he designed himself where he plans to show both cutting-edge young artists and established veterans.

Whitney's work has been collected by a host of museums, including the Dallas Museum of Art. Hopper said, "Some of Whitney's pieces are massive in scale. In fact, we're having them brought in with a crane. The largest will be displayed in the open air courtyard."

About his own work, Whitney says, "Starting in 1969, most of my career has been spent working in the Dallas Area. I have worked and shown in Berlin, and have shown large-scale sculpture at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C. I constructed a fifty-foot-tall sculpture for the City of Houston and, over the years, have constructed a number of large-scale sculptures that are in the Dallas area and California. The Dallas Museum of Art has one in its permanent collection, and another is on loan to the Nasher.

"In this show, there is a sample of the acrylic sculptures which were cast between 1973 and 1980; these demonstrate the use of opaque color in a clear environment. The stainless steel wall reliefs are from 1987-1990. These welded constructions were made from plasma cut, stainless plate.

"In my oil painting, there is a back and forth between the painting and the sculpture. They inform each other. My painting is about fragmented or deconstructed sculpture.

"In the last few years, I have been using links to make sculpture. The links are made of steel, stainless steel, or bronze. When put together, these links make a chain which can become large; some are forty feet tall, and some are kinetic."