DANIEL B. DIAS:
Let’s Make Slurping Sounds
November 4 - December 10, 2022
Public reception: November 4, 5:30 – 8 pm
Fine Dining (Green), 2021, acrylic and canvas thread on canvas, 24x24 inches
Boston, MA—Steven Zevitas Gallery is pleased to present Let’s Make Slurping Sounds, an exhibition of new paintings by Daniel B. Dias. The exhibition will run from November 4 – December 10, 2022 with a reception on Friday, November 4 from 5:30 – 8:00 PM.
Each work in Let’s Make Slurping Sounds is an exploration of interpersonal relationships and the threads that connect us. A common romantic trope is often present: two individuals entangled in a newly formed romantic relationship eating a single noodle from either end, meeting in the middle, and ultimately culminating in a kiss. The journey to the center is not a quick or easy one. Dias’ subjects contend with obstacles: a malevolent force that threatens to cut ties, an innocent bystander who is soon to be enmeshed, a single noodle which tangles into a web, or a lone figure that is trapped behind a congregation of witnesses.
One of the paintings, Fine Dining (Yellow), shows two imagined figures in the midst of sharing their dinner. They bite a noodle, which Dias has constructed using a canvas thread pulled from the same fabric on which the painting was made. The central figure is painted with thin, layered glazes of purples and blues that contrast it with the figure on the left, which is painted using an impasto technique. As we follow the thread from the impasto figure’s lips, their adoring partner devours his food, seemingly oblivious of his own strangulation.
Connections extend outside of 1:1 relationships in works such as Manifestação, where a crowd of people, all exhibiting various emotional states, join thought bubbles to form a collective consciousness above, or as the translation of the title points to, a manifestation. Though the title of the exhibition references the pairings previously described, it is also a nod to this larger web of human connection. Let’s Make Slurping Sounds is linked to a Chinese phrase, "呲溜一吃面条要自下而上," which translates to “eating noodles from the bottom up.” This is an expression often used to describe revolution starting from the lower class and moving into the upper class. Though Dias’ work is not overtly political, a holistic view of human connection in itself can act as revolutionary thought.
Born in São Paulo, Brazil, Dias moved to the United States with his family at the age of 10. After graduating from college he moved again, this time to China, where he has predominantly lived and worked for more than a decade. The amalgamation of these cultural shifts composes a hybrid of societal values. Dias questions these contradictions of identity and spirituality where cultural lines blur.
