From "The Asphalt Jungle": Prints and Drawings by Dawn Latané

Marsh Art Gallery

Sunday, October 3 to Sunday, December 5, 2004,

On October 3, 2004, the Marsh Art Gallery, University of Richmond Museums, will open From “The Asphalt Jungle”: Prints and Drawings by Dawn Latané. Remaining on view through December 5, 2004, the exhibition will include more than 25 works – drawings made with charcoal and conté crayon or ink wash, and etchings that combine drypoint and aquatint. Latané (American, born 1953) is an adjunct assistant professor of art in the University of Richmond’s Department of Art and Art History.

Latané’s recent artwork is loosely based on the 1950 movie classic The Asphalt Jungle. The sparse, gritty, and tense mise-en-scéne of director John Huston’s naturalistic film noir is the artist’s departure point for the narrative elements of her prints and drawings.

The works focus on a five-minute sequence at the end of the movie when Doc Riedenschneider, the mastermind of a diamond heist, stops at a roadside restaurant and is mesmerized by a teenage girl dancing to music from the jukebox. When the girl’s young companions run out of coins for the jukebox, Doc hands her some nickels and she proceeds to dance for Doc, in a joyous swaying of her hips with a smile on her face. After the music ends, Doc leaves and is captured by two police officers who watched him from outside the diner.

To create these images, Latané slowed down a videotape of the film to make rapid gestural drawings of Doc and the girl. Rather than simply copying the film stills, the artist interpreted the scenes in her sketches to create her own compositions.

In describing these works, Latané states, “These images, to me, are like musical variations from a song or classical theme.” Throughout this series, the artist strove to make drawings and prints, “with both a feeling of dynamism balanced with a classical sense of form and dark and light values.”

Latané received her B.F.A. from the University of Vermont, Burlington, and her M.F.A. from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She has had numerous one-person exhibitions, including recent shows at the Flippo Gallery at Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, Virginia, and at Main Art Gallery and Artspace, both in Richmond. Her artwork is in several prestigious permanent collections, including Bank of America in Norfolk, Virginia, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Federal Reserve Bank, and SunTrust Bank, all in Richmond.

From “The Asphalt Jungle” was curated by Richard Waller, Executive Director, University of Richmond Museums, in collaboration with the artist