Daisy Patton

September 30, 2019

Daisy Patton's numerous bodies of work are all steeped in research and held together by a sincere concern for this planet and its inhabitants. Citing the influential 1973 book Wisconsin Death Trip, which juxtaposes 19th-century photographs and news reports to undermine notions of an idyllic past, Patton's paintings often address our collective rosy nostalgia for brutal histories. She is widely known for the series of paintings over vintage photographs, "Forgetting is So Long." The title comes from the idea of dying two deaths— first, when our heart stops beating and then when the last person to remember us dies. Those in the photographs are anonymous and are re-remembered (or quasi-remembered) through her brush. "I paint to disrupt, to re-imagine, to re-enliven these individuals removed from their space and time," she says. "They are monuments to the Forgotten."

Untitled (Family Portrait on Rocks), oil on photo print mounted to panel, 2019

In Patton's paintings over photographs, she has developed a painstaking process of mounting a large-scale photo print on panel. She then adds colorized flourishes and floral patterns to push the images toward the uncanny. "Family photographs are sacred relics to their loved ones," she says, "but unmoored the images become hauntingly absent."

Untitled (Week of Sept 7 - 57 RN), oil on photo print mounted to panel, 2019

Clara Bell Duval, oil on paper with embroidery, 2018

Would You Be Lonely Without Me is a series of portraits and accompanying biographies of women who have died as a result of unregulated abortions. They resurrect the memory of individuals without invoking the men around them. "In the 'bad old days' before abortion became legal in the United States," Patton writes, "thousands of women diead each year from botched abortions." It is a painful reminder that there is no utopic past that we can "make great again."

Josephine Fuller, oil on paper with embroidery, 2018

So Long, Farewell is a memory card game based on the popular children's activity. It is comprised of 320 different species designated as endangered or extinct. With over 600 cards, it is "unwieldy and virtually unplayable without deep concentration and focus— something desperately needed now to stave off calamity."

from So Long, Farewell: Extinction in the Anthropocene Era

So Long, Farewell: Extinction in the Anthropocene Era (install shot)

Daisy’s work will be part of the K Contemporary booth at Pulse during the Miami Art Basel fairs. And she will also be part of the opening of Seattle's J Rinehart Gallery coming up on Oct. 12 from 1-5pm She also has two solo shows opening in 2020. The first is March through June and will be the debut of a new series on forced sterilization in the United States that will be predominantly embroidered portraits of survivors, as well as painted text on hospital gowns and sheets that provide historical context. The tentative title is "Put Me Back the Way They Found Me." The second show will be more of the series "Forgetting is so long" at K Contemporary in Denver in September. That show will focus on women and female relationships, broadly defined, and will be titled "Burnt Hair Spun Gold." Give her a follow in Instagram to keep up! @daisy_patton

Untitled (Two Women Holding Hands with Cream and Blue Flowers), oil on photo print mounted to panel, 2019