No. 17: Dylan Rose Rheingold
Party Girl & The Daytrippers, Gorky, All About Love, Mother’s Last Word to Her Son and decorating the home
Dylan Rose Rheingold is a visual artist born & based in New York City. Her work primarily comes to life in the form of paintings that feel rooted in drawing. She got her MFA in painting at the School of Visual Arts in NYC & a BFA in Illustration from Syracuse University. She has been featured in Office Magazine, Dazed, ArtNet, HyperAllergic, Hamptons Magazine & more. Her last solo show was recently in LA at M+B — it explored “the realm of girlhood and the narrative of young women at a crossroads, teetering between the formative remnants of childhood and the emergent realities of womanhood.”
Dylan is prepping for her next solo presentation during Expo Chicago with Jupiter Contemporary this spring & at Public Service Gallery in Stockholm this summer. But in the meantime, from Dylan –
I. a film (actually 2 films)
Parker Posey blessed us in both the films Party Girl, directed by Daisy von Scherler Maye, and The Daytripper’s, directed by Greg Mottola. Both are late 90’s independent dark comedy/indie films shot in Manhattan & Long Island. Both are shamelessly chic in different sorts of ways. They showcase such contrasting big ass personalities that somehow interact in very mundane & relatable manners. Comforting spectacles filled with old New York along with suburban nostalgia & familial dysfunction. Originally I was only going to list The Daytrippers when I thought of a film bringing me joy right now because it is laugh out loud alone funny, but I had to include Party Girl too because of Parker Posey’s iconic style & unapologetic attitude throughout her whole journey from NYC’s underground club scene to the public library.
II. a painting
This is Last Painting by Arshile Gorky, made in 1948. This painting was found on the artist's easel the day he hung himself in his barn studio in CT. Gorky escaped the Armenian genocide as a young boy & fled to the states with his family where he later pioneered american abstraction & surrealism, blending it in a totally new way post WWII. Gorky did a lot of “automatic drawing” which is an exercise I follow in my drawing practice as well. It’s a surrealist practice of unplanned drawing where you follow your stream of consciousness & truly tap into the forms of your subconscious. Although the circumstances of this painting are saddening, the work itself fills me with light & makes the uncertainty & chaos of everyday life somehow feel like it makes a bit more sense. His visual vocabulary feels like a comforting universal language.
III. a book
I just finished All About Love: New Visions by Bell Hooks. This was my last read of 2023 and I couldn’t be more grateful for the specific day I decided to finally pick it up off of my bookshelf where it had been collecting dust since the spring. This has probably been the weirdest year of my life thus far, with some milestone highs that I am so grateful for along with some heartbreaking lows. Navigating selfhood while taking leaps into adult life can feel super turbulent at times. Like I’m taking 10 steps up this invisible ladder just to fall back down again. Reading All About Love filled me with so much comfort & new perspective. To feel like you are truly being seen or heard is the magic scale by which I measure success or attraction for any art form. During my time with Bell Hooks’ words, I was actively using my own, in that little cupid love letter looking journal as well. The past couple of months I have been trying to write every day. I don’t like to look back on what I have written, but just the act of getting your present thoughts out is a brave act to take part in. Even though neither this book nor the pages in my own journal are the first thing that comes to mind when I think of “Joy”, they are both empowering & impactful to me with my own self-growth & overall happiness.
IV. a song
This song is called “Mother’s Last Word to Her Son” by Washington Phillips. It’s a beautiful hypnotic gospel blues song recorded in Texas back in 1928. I have no recollection of where or how I first discovered this song, but every time it comes up on my shuffle it makes me feel warm inside. If you really listen to the words- he’s preaching. I’m not a religious person & I’m also jewish, but this song about Jesus fills my cup in the best way. I think he also plays the zither on this, which is a really cool old folk instrument.
V. a home aura
Recently I have been in interior design mode decorating my apartment & I’ve been super intentional about all the aspects of curation. Right after I moved into my apartment, unfortunately my Obachan passed away. She left me with some very special objects & art from her family back in Japan. I’ve been following her influence in my space and have learned how important lighting & tone is for a space's energy and overall aura. Last week I went to the Noguchi Museum again, the old studio/workspace for the artist Isamu Noguchi, in Long Island City, Queens. I got the final Akari light sculpture to complete my space. All of his lights are made from handmade Japanese washi paper & bamboo ribbing. As of now, my apartment is very open, natural & minimal. I’m always around color, mess & clutter in my art studio…so when I am home I really want to create a clean & calm sanctuary like setting. Right now my home is filled with hundreds of books, a handful of these light sculptures in all different organic shapes, dark walnut woods, and natural sisal woven rugs/runners. The only color in my space right now is what comes from my books, artwork, flowers & plants. I am also super fascinated by ikebana floral arrangements (the photo below is of my great aunt with one of her own arrangements in Okinawa).
~ bulletin ~
los angeles
Open: Fashion still life photographer Sheila Metzner’s From Life at The Getty. Hannah Taurin’s Issues at Chateau Shatto. Jonas Woods’ Drawings 2003-2023 at Karma.
new york
Open: Colleen Herman’s A longed-for bed at Olympia. Women Dressing at The Met. Tracey Emin’s Lovers Grave at White Cube. Jenna Gribbon’s The Honeymoon Show! at Levy Gorvy Dayan. Ed Ruscha’s NOW THEN at MoMA. Robert Ryman 1961 - 1964 at David Zwirner. Henry B Taylor’s B Side and Ruth Asawa’s Through Line at The Whitney. A Glorious Bewilderment: Marie Menken’s ‘Visual Variations on Noguchi’ at the Noguchi Museum.