Roman De Salvo | Split, Splice, Splay, Display: Quint Contemporary Art: 7739 Drury Lane

Quint Contemporary Art is pleased to exhibit new works by artist Roman de Salvo. This will be the artist's fifth solo exhibition at Quint. The exhibition opens on September 17th and will continue through October 17 , 2009. There will be a public reception on Thursday, September 17th from 6-8PM.

Roman de Salvo’s art has been described as both conceptual and humorous. The sculpture and installations he creates are witty, deadpan observations of culture and aesthetics. Employing materials normally associated with construction and decoration, de Salvo fashions art and anti-art objects that continually question the meaning of things. Fireplaces made of combustible wood, electrified conduit mazes, and home furnishings altered slightly and hilariously; all these describe a restless, curious intellect, fused with impeccable craft and technical skill.

Pulling from the structure and maze forms created in his previous conduit works, the new body of work presented in this exhibition explores de Salvo’s fascination with wood and the natural patterns found in its structure. As with the Tinkertoy-like approach to building the conduit works, the branch works are systematic constructions. But unlike the conduit works, the branch works are not comprised of pieces that were designed to fit together. The painstaking fitting- together of these works is a negotiation of the fluid contours of their organic parts with network patterns and the artist's system of joinery.

De Salvo received his Masters of Fine Arts from the University of California, San Diego. His installations and sculpture have been exhibited nationally and internationally. He was a participant in the 2000 Whitney Biennial and has been represented in San Diego/Tijuana’s inSITE in 1994 and 2000. Public commissions include the San Jose Community Center, the California Department of Transportation Headquarters, San Diego, San Diego Trolley Alvarado Medical Center, San Diego, the City of San Diego, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego. De Salvo’s work belongs in several museum collections including the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, the Orange County Museum of Art and the California Center for the Arts Museum, Escondido.