RENTAL in cooperation with Marc Selwyn Fine Art, is pleased to present Test Site, an exhibition of new paintings by New York-based artist Chris Dorland.

For Dorland’s first solo exhibition in New York, much of the work samples a single image of a crowd of people gathering around a typical public space that could be found in any mid size American city circa the 1970’s. The repeated image is altered through resolution, clarity and color treatment; but each piece retains its similar composition. Neither entirely realistic nor abstract, these works depict spaces, which oscillate between representation and abstraction. Dorland has become increasingly interested in the capacity to break an image down and test the threshold of its visibility while at the same time referencing image producing devices and tools such as the camera, Xeroxes and Photoshop.

The distinct surface of Dorland’s work is created using a varied technique that involves brushing, rolling and removing paint; a technique which lends the work it’s unique mechanical look. Dorland has continued to limit his palette for this exhibition. Normally pairing jarring and hostile reds, he has shifted his colors to more acidic and neutral hues. Dorland’s painting and collage motifs call to mind Andy Warhol’s early silk-screens, as well as the sparse digital glow found in many of director Michael Mann’s neo-noir films.