Bio

Dashiell Manley (b. 1983 Fontana, California) uses language both as a framework and as a starting point for the construction of videos and objects that appear both visually dense and layered with content. Often Manley puts into place complex sets of rules or systems of translation to abstract the language, thereby forcing it away from its descriptive origin and opting instead for it to function on a poetic level. At play across the breadth of Manley’s practice are ideas of originality and reproduction, the visible and the unseen, and the active and the static. His site-specific installation includes a translation of his studio floor into the gallery space that recalls the ways in which objects are often recycled in his larger practice: a piece of furniture for a performance becomes a frame for a painting. Here the floor becomes a stage for new objects, including an absurdist bathtub in the form of an oyster shell that will be activated during the run of the exhibition.