February 16, 2011

Native artist David Dockstader is sharing his mixed media exhibition The Absence of Conflict with the public for the first time in his 26 years of painting at The Arts Project.

Dockstader’s exhibit is filled with abstract and fragmented images. Each six-foot canvas reflects his dreams and Native spirituality. Dockstader notes that his dreams represent his reality and experiences at a subconscious level.

However, there is a sense of freedom with dreams that separates them from reality. Having experienced a life full of conflict, in his artist statement Dockstader says that dreams are “a kind of recollection, the light of inner happenings.”

While he acknowledges that his art is personal, Dockstader notes that each piece is highly subjective and will supply the viewer with images and emotions as influenced by their personal experiences. At this subjective level, each piece is a personal reflection of the viewer and each person sees something different in every piece.

While staring at one acrylic and graphite canvas, the painting summary notes Dockstader found it difficult to decide which way was up. As he studied his work, pieces of the image shifted, suggesting that these images were fluid and that they carried further meaning even after their first appearance in his dreams.

Dockstader experiments with different media including acrylics, graphite and airbrushing that bring dimension to his work. Black and white shades give the works depth and contrast. Dockstader says he only uses one colour—yellow—a colour that prompts people to slow down and think.

In 2009, Dockstader won the Award of Merit at the London Juried Art Show, as well as the Sale and the Cultural Diversity Award at the London Expressions in Chalk festival.

His art does not provide an easily framed object for the individual to focus on, but rather each piece challenges a conventional pattern of logic and digs deeper into the subconscious to bring out emotion in the viewer. As there appears to be multiple depths at play in Dockstader’s art, there are also multiple depths of experience at play in the viewer.

Dockstader’s “Absence of Conflict” will be on display in the gallery of The ARTS project from February 8 to 19. The Arts project is located at 203 Dundas St. in London.

*Originally published in The Gazette, University of Western Ontario (London, ON), March 8, 2011.