Verne Dawson
Galerie Eva Presenhuber
It’s always fascinating to see how freely today’s painting deals with stories, including its own. Take, for example, Verne Dawson’s exhibition, in which various modes of painting combine to evoke a complex, inward-looking worldview, replete with layers of reference: In Venus (all works 2003), the goddess, born of foam, is painted as a figurine on a coastline. Venus appears next to Mars, a painting of the red planet on a black quadrant of interstellar night. Nearby are John Giorno, a portrait in profile; Vase, a still life of a richly ornamented little vessel against a bright sky; Three Rats, a