On Your Way Back From Capistrano?

So much of the city goes away for the summer, but after a vacation, it's time to fly home. So on September 12th, 2008, Like the Spice is pleased to present Dean Goelz: Migrations featuring the artist's socially astute drawings and sculptures. The works depict the slightly odd ways we interact with each other and our environment and the tenuous grip society and culture have on our gentle animal natures. Using a kind of reverse anthropomorphism, the characters depicted in the show evoke to protective instincts usually reserved for cute animals and babies while being all too human.

Lifelike, the sculptures of humanoid and human-hybrid forms embody the awkward everyman, They form herds, do their best to get along and end up as slightly creepy, slightly funny, complex characters that evoke our sympathy and compassion. Cosmic underdogs and nerds, Goelz's human/duck hybrids in particular are both disturbing and familiar, reminding us of the razor's edge distinctions between instinct, personality, and society. Other sculptures in the exhibition include a self-portrait bust frosted like a birthday cake wearing a crown of unlit candles and cut away at the shoulders to reveal the layers inside and a large man in a monster costume with his face coming protruding from the monster's mouth.

Dean Goelz graduated from The Maryland Institute College of Art in 2001 where he earned his Bachelor in Fine Arts degree. He works as a freelance artist doing design work and commissioned sculptures while operating a successful mural and faux finishing business. His work has shown nationally and internationally and is included in private collections in the US, France, and the Czech Republic. He lives and works in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. A veteran of several group shows, this will be Dean Goelz's first solo show at Like the Spice.

Plus! Join us on September 19th at 8:00pm for Foul Play, the latest in our Monthly Dinner series. Reservations are required, so act fact. Click here for more!