D’Amelio Terras, New York
September 8 – October 21, 2006
In his first solo gallery exhibition in New York, Dario Robleto will present meticulously handcrafted objects that reference Victorian reliquaries and explore the effects of American wars upon our life. Known for melting down such carriers of shared history as old vinyl records to create his sculptures, Robleto continues this tradition of sampling by turning to the relics of war — shrapnel, soldiers’ love letters home, mourning clothing, and hair lockets — as his raw materials. The titles and elaborate lists of materials – including some almost impossible to fathom – indicate that beyond the virtuosity of the craft the works are sincere meditations on love, death, spirituality and ultimately healing.
For Dario Robleto, the healing power of art is a central concept best manifested by his interest in trench art, which encompasses objects made by prisoners of war or by soldiers convalescing from wounds as handicraft therapy. The carefully rearranged and conceptually loaded elements encourage us to use art as the means by which to examine our past and reconcile pains inflicted on individuals by the making of history.
Concurrent with the exhibition at D’Amelio Terras, Dario Robleto will show work from the same series at the Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC (September 24 – December 17, 2006), which will travel to The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT and to the Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN. All three venues were sites of major American War battles. A catalog of the exhibition, which includes an essay by Xandra Eden, will be available.
Dario Robleto received his B.F.A. from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 1997. Robleto has had a solo show titled Say Goodbye to Substance at the Whitney Museum of American Art at Altria in 2003 and was included in the 2004 Whitney Biennial. In 2006 his work was part of A-historic Occasion show at The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, MA. Robleto’s work is in numerous public and private collections including The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, San Diego, CA, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, and The Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, Austin, TX. Robleto lives and works in San Antonio, TX.
