Preview + Studio Visit : Dabs Myla — ‘The Best of Times’ (8.13)

Australian duo Dabs Myla celebrate and give whimsical, playful, and  dynamic visual form to their two-year (and counting) adventure in the USA for ‘The Best of Times’, opening @ Thinkspace on Saturday (8.13).  In anticipation of what is without-a-doubt their most accomplished collection of work, here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the paintings and  some of the nearly 100 painted installation pieces (drawers, tables, pitchers, ash trays and more) in their studio as well as the 2nd half of the preparation – the ongoing show installation and painting of multiple wall murals within the gallery itself.

While their previous shows have focused on a particular locale such as Los Angeles or Tokyo, Dabs Myla have focused on memorable spots visited in California.  Hence, the modern yet majestic ski lodge and reoccurring appearances of Smokey the Bear.  Each of the paintings features their signature mix of extremely detailed, photorealistic architecture be it gleaming skyscrapers or turn of the century apartment buildings, alongside a cast of  cute characters including in many cases, themselves.  While their paintings have always been eye-catching, and well-done, the new work feels a notch-above both in terms of technical execution, composition and emotion.  The works are crisp, colorful, playful celebrations of life.

Starting with their first LA solo, Golden Age, in November of 2009  Dabs Myla made it clear that their shows would be much more than merely a collection of new work. For that first show, the duo created an immersive multi-room installation featuring multiple floor to ceiling murals that enveloped the viewer in their world and vision.   With each new show, their appetite for increasingly complex, time consuming and amazing installations has grown.   The March 2010 ‘Tokyo Deluxe’ installation added charming paper cut-outs (clouds, burgers and more) to their repertoire.  For ‘Double Diamond’ in February of this year, Dabs Myla  transformed every-day kitchen objects into a crew of painted characters from a 3D-glasses wearing milk bottle to a wide-eyed, cheerful old-school 2-slice pop-up toaster.

For ‘The Best of Times’, Dabs Myla have turned up the Installation Detail Dial about as far as it goes.  This one features multiple, intricate wall murals, hanging cut-out pieces made this time from wood, as well as a dizzying number of hand-painted found/vintage objects including  plenty of wood furniture — drawers, tables, chairs and more as well as smaller objects including a mix of kitchen items.  Beyond increasing the range of objects to paint on, the level of decoration and detail has increased as well.  For instance, rather than simply painting a character on the top surface of a set of drawers, Dabs Myla have taken the time to paint characters inside the drawers as well.    Each of the nearly 100 painted objects will be available for sale some at very affordable prices.

In talking with both artists, it’s clear that they enjoy the creation of their ever-growing installations almost as much as the work on their paintings and drawings.  Even though the amount of work increases each time, they seem to relish that push, working in the gallery right up until opening day. So it’s perhaps not too surprising that upon seeing a curious wood chair/cabinet combo discarded in front of her, Myla promptly added it to the work queue, destined for paint and a character transformation just two days prior to Saturday’s opening.

If you can, definitely check out Saturday’s  (8.13, 5-9 PM) opening of ‘The Best of Times’ @ Thinkspace in Culver City and explore the world Dabs and Myla have created.