VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

DiverseWorks ArtSpace, a visual and performing arts center, presents the exhibition Don Ed Hardy: 2000 Dragons + 12.

Hardy’s 2000 Dragons is a 500 foot-long scroll painting of 2000 dragons, created in the year 2000 to commemorate not only what was The Year of the Dragon in the Asian zodiac system, but the dawning of a new millennium. Also on view will be a series of twelve new dragon paintings – one for each month of 2012, the first Year of the Dragon since 2000.

The exhibition will be on view June 9 – July 7, 2012 at DiverseWorks ArtSpace, 1117 East Freeway, Houston, TX 77002. An opening reception will be held Saturday, June 9, 3 – 6 pm.

2000 Dragons (4 x 500 feet) is an expanded and updated version of the venerable Asian tradition of dragon painting and is specifically inspired by the Southern Sung dynasty (mid-13th century) dragon painter Ch'en Jung, whose most famous work, the Nine Dragon Scroll, is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

The Asian dragon is a composite symbol of all the powerful and beneficial forces of nature, and is particularly related to water from the skies, oceans, and rivers. It is the primary embodiment of the notion of cyclical renewal and life force. The new dragon paintings, each 4 x 3 feet (the same height as the scroll) are Sumi ink and acrylic on Tyvek, and will be presented together for the first time.

The concept for 2000 Dragons first occurred to Hardy in 1976, another dragon year (the Asian zodiac is a 12-year cycle). The painting was executed during the first seven months of 2000 in acrylic on a support of synthetic Tyvek - a light, strong and archival material. The images range from one-inch hieroglyphic marks based on ancient Chinese bronze dragon forms, to 30-foot-long creatures undulating among explosive clouds, waves, and rain forms. Brush work moves from explosive gestures to meticulous detail.

Emulating classic Chinese and Japanese picture scrolls, the painting presents a journey that progresses through periods of time and weather changes. Hardy painted the piece in five-foot sections continuously until completed; only five feet of the working surface was visible at a time, and it was painted spontaneously, with no preparatory drawing.

2000 Dragons was first shown in its entirety at Track 16 Gallery in Santa Monica, CA in 2000, and has since been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver; the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco; and the Linekona Center for the Arts in Honolulu.

Concurrent with the exhibition at DiverseWorks, the Art Guys Museum of Whatever We Please is presenting Don Ed Hardy: Death or Glory. A diverse selection of paintings and drawings will be shown, much of it for the first time. The Art Guys Museum is located at 5757 Knox Street, Houston, TX 77019. For more information visit http://TheArtGuys.com/News.html.

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