Dennis Mukai
p a s s a g e

New Paintings
June 21 - July 19, 2008
Opening Reception: Saturday, 21, 2008
6:30 - 8:30 pm
Gallery C2

Robert Berman Gallery presents a solo art exhibition from Dennis Mukai titled “Passage,” a collection of new paintings that personify workings of memory and inner awareness through his ability to blur the delicate balance between reality and illusion.

Often mistaken for photographs, Mukai’s new works are painstakingly created using only sandpaper to remove layers of paint to gradually reveal the white of the original surface, a technique developed and perfected through experimentation and trial & error.  Inspired by primitive photos from the advent of photography, Dennis’ realistic yet distressed images trigger the emotions of recollection. 

Renowned art critic, Peter Frank, expresses, “Mukai’s pictures manifest a reality that exists within our minds, a reflection, not on what we see or know, but how we see and know it”

Dennis Mukai was born in Hiroshima, Japan.  He currently lives and works in Los Angeles, California.




Selected Images:
Sexy Bitch, 2007, Acrylic and oil on masonite, 46 x 46 inches