DAVID DIAO - I lived there until I was 6 @Postmasters: January 17

DAVID DIAO
I lived there until I was 6
January 17 - February 21, 2009

David Diao, I lived there until I was 6, 2009, installation view.

David Diao left his home in China under extreme circumstances 59 years ago at the moment of the Communist takeover. The property was confiscated and made into the offices of the Sichuan Daily. By the time of his first visit back 30 years later, the house had been demolished. For years Diao has sought to render his charged feelings about this loss into a group of paintings. He finally did so for his first solo exhibition in China in March 2008 at the Courtyard Gallery. For his 10th show since 1985, Postmasters Gallery is proud to present this version with new and additional works. The subject has grown into an ongoing series.

In an essay David Diao's Da Hen Li House Cycle Philip Tinari writes:"Using his memory and those of his assorted aunts and uncles, and calibrated by the fixed dimensions of the tennis court that was the house's special feature, he conjectured his former reality back into existence. The resulting canvases brim with subtle references to the intertwined languages of architecture, painting, and Chinese, as well as to his project of reconstruction through imagination. (...) In this inherently futile act of seeking to reclaim a bygone space and time, Diao places his typical pictorial wit and skepticism into a new context of historical pathos."

David Diao was featured in High Times, Hard Times: New York Painting 1965-75 which traveled to numerous museums in the US, Mexico and Europe (2006-2008.) His first solo in Germany at Tanya Leighton in Berlin, Best Laid Plans is on view until mid-January 2009.

Diao's work is in the collections of, among others, MoMA, NY, Whitney Museum of American Art, NY, Brooklyn Museum, NY, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY, MOMA, San Francisco, CA, Blanton Museum, University of Texas, Austin, TX, FNAC, France, MOMA, Saint Etienne, France, FRAC, Burgundy and Brittany, France, Ontario Art Gallery, Toronto, Canada, Vancouver Art Gallery, Canada.

	David Diao I Lived There Until I Was 6...(English version) 2008 acrylic and vinyl on canvas 36 x 28 inches (91.5 x 71.5 cm)
	David Diao I Lived There Until I Was 6... 2008 installation view
	David Diao I Lived There Until I Was 6...(Chinese version) 2008 acrylic and vinyl on canvas 16 x 28 inches (41 x 71.5 cm)
	David Diao Nation, Province, City 2008 acrylic on canvas 29 x 36 inches (74 x 91.5 cm)
	David Diao Map of Chengdu, Circa 1950 2008 Laser print on paper on canvas 30 inches square, (76.5 cm square)
	David Diao Plot Plan 2008 Laser print on paper, marker on acrylic on canvas 30 x 28 inches (76.5 x 71.5 cm)
	David Diao Door 2008 Laser prints on paper on acrylic on canvas 31 x 19.5 inches (79 x 49.5 cm)
	David Diao Deed 2008 Silkscreen and acrylic on canvas 36 x 24 inches (91.5 x 61 cm)
	David Diao To Construct - small 2008 Acrylic and marker on canvas 16 x 18 inches (41 x 46 cm)
	David Diao Timeline 2008 Acrylic, marker, spray on canvas panels butted together @ 42 x 78 inches (107 x 198 cm) Overall, 42 x 156 inches (107 x 396 cm)
	David Diao Demolish - small 2008 Acrylic on canvas 20 inches square (51 cm square)
	David Diao One Suitcase Per Person 2008 Acrylic and marker on canvas 18 x 28 inches (46 x 71.5 cm)
	David Diao Ginko (Fall) 2008 Acrylic on canvas 24 x 36 inches (61.5 x 91.5 cm)
	David Diao Return to Sender 2008 Laser prints on paper and acrylic on canvas 78 x 42 inches (198 x 107 cm)
	David Diao Balls 2008 Acrylic on canvas 18 x 28 inches (46 x 71.5 cm)
	David Diao Standard Measurement 2008 Acrylic and marker on canvas 36 x 28 inches (61 x 41 cm)
	David Diao From My Memory 2008 Acrylic and crayon on canvas 42 x 78 inches (107 x 198 cm)
	David Diao From Aunt, She Remembered the Roses 2008 Laser print on paper and acrylic on canvas 28 x 36 inches (71 x 91.5 cm)
	David Diao Ginko (Green) 2008 Acrylic on canvas 36 x 26 inches (91.5 x 66 cm)
	David Diao From Architect Uncle 2008 Acrylic and silkscreen on canvas 36 x 78 inches (91.5 x 198 cm)
	David Diao First Sketch 2008 Laser print on paper on acrylic on canvas 24 x 16 inches (61 x 41 cm)
	David Diao From Nonagenarian Uncle 2008 Acrylic and silkscreen on canvas 40 x 36 inches (101.5 x 91.5 cm)
	David Diao Streets I Recall 2008 Acrylic and marker on canvas 46 x 42 inches (111 x 107 cm)
	David Diao I Lived There Until I Was 6... 2008 installation view
	David Diao Masthead 2008 Acrylic on canvas 16 x 24 inches (41 x 61 cm)
	David Diao Confiscated 2008 Acrylic and marker on canvas 18 x 28 inches (46 x 71 cm)
	David Diao Death on Tennis Court 2008 Acrylic and marker on canvas 18 x 39 inches (41.5 x 99 cm)
	David Diao Wild Swans 2008 Acrylic and marker on canvas 18 x 39 inches (41.5 x 99 cm)
	David Diao Sichuan Daily 2008 Acrylic, marker and paper on canvas 36 x 78 inches (91.5 x 198 cm)
	David Diao Not to Scale 2008 Acrylic and vinyl on canvas 36 x 78 inches (91.5 x 198 cm)
	David Diao Red Star Over Tennis Court 2008 Acrylic and marker on canvas 36 x 78 inches (91.5 x 198 cm)
	David Diao Elevations, Perspectives, Models 2008 Acrylic and marker on canvas 16 x 36 inches (41 x 91.5 cm)
	David Diao Demolish - large 2008 Acrylic and spray on canvas 28 inches square (71.5 cm square)
	David Diao To Construct - large 2008 Acrylic and marker on canvas 30 inches square (76.5 cm square)
	David Diao The Good Earth-Google 2008 Laser print on paper and acrylic on canvas 60 x 36 inches (152.5 x 91.5 cm)
	David Diao Now and Then 2008 Laser print on paper and acrylic on canvas 16 x 28 inches (44 x 71 cm)
	David Diao A Chinese Without Chinese Education 2008 Acrylic and marker on canvas 60 x 42 inches (152.5 x 107 cm)