Dana DeKalb: A Day Like Never

Opening Reception: Saturday, October 28th, 1-4 pm
Artists’ Talk with TaVee McAllsiter Lee, Saturday, November 4th starting at 2 pm

Transmission Gallery is pleased to present recent work by Dana DeKalb in “A Day Like Never.”

Enigmatic and trancelike, DeKalb’s paintings reflect on an unlikely perfected world, one we can only imagine, a day like never. Titles such as Utopia, Somnambulist, Escape Room, and Celestial Event indicate the course we’re on, charted through mysterious landscapes and dreamy scenes with placid companions, unfazed by their participation.

Figurative and narrative in nature, DeKalb comments on the work, “The characters are sourced from social studies textbooks, antique travel guides and high school yearbooks. They are placed in improbable settings that are simultaneously nostalgic and disorienting, and are often captured in a moment of decision. The open-ended fables explore the unexpected, humorous and exotic in seemingly familiar situations, suggesting a morality play in progress but with the lesson left unstated.”

Born in Indonesia, Dana DeKalb spent most of her childhood living in developing countries, where she acquired an appreciation for the exotic and unexpected. She spent every free moment of her early years drawing and painting. After graduating with a degree in Studio Art from Pomona College, DeKalb moved to the Bay Area, where she has been based ever since. Her paintings have been exhibited nationally since the 1980s and are held in many private and public collections, such as Stanford University, Siemens, PayPal, Mercy Housing and Stags’ Leap Winery. Her work has been reviewed in numerous publications, including San Francisco Chronicle, Visual Art Source, Southwest Art, American Art Collector, Huffington Post, Artweek and East Bay Express.

Gallery Hours: Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from noon – 5 pm, First Fridays till 8 pm and by appointment.