Daniel Giordano: Crystal Blue Persuasion Exhibit at the Hyde

The Hyde Collection
161 Warren St, Glens Falls, NY  12801

https://www.hydecollection.org/exhibitions/

JUN 22, 2024 - SEP 15, 2024

Daniel Giordano: Crystal Blue Persuasion

Daniel Giordano: Crystal Blue Persuasion will present new work by an artist who integrates ceramic processes, woodworking, assemblage, found objects, blown glass, and tactile surface treatments in ways that shock and seduce. At once alien and strangely familiar, Giordano’s sculpture ranges from table-top to parlor-sized evocations of his biography transmuted: family, Roman Catholic doctrine, Italian food, and action figures he played with as a youth are regular source material for work that redefines what it means to be a sculptor today. Giordano’s work has conceptual similarities to the alchemy-inspired sculpture of Tunga or the biomorphic, quasi-figurative abstractions of Barbara Chase-Riboud; but he will tell you his influences are Ren and Stimpy and good old-fashioned spaghetti westerns.

Giordano’s work is shaped by his experience growing up in Newburgh, New York—once a booming industrial hub, now a gritty husk of its former opulence. Seemingly dredged from the depths of the Hudson River, Giordano’s sculptures are almost always abstract yet possess an unsettling, figurative relatability compounded by titles referencing characters from his personal history. His work is grouped into series or typologies, each based on similar forms or material families. Crystal Blue Persuasion will include a combination of new work from these series, which Giordano has been developing over most of his career, and a large-scale installation created as part of his compelling My Scorpio series.

Recently, Giordano has had solo shows at MASS MoCA, Turley Gallery in Hudson, and JDJ in New York City. Reviews of his shows have appeared in The Brooklyn Rail, Sculpture Magazine, the New York Times, and many other prominent publications.