DeWain Valentine
United States
b. 1936

Disc, 1970
Cast acrylic resin
34 in. diam. x 1 1/4 in.
Sweeney Art Gallery Permanent Collection
Gift of Cynthia S. Monaco
94.3.2

For twenty-five years DeWain Valentine was an established fixture in the Los Angeles art scene. Working out of his home/ studio in Venice, Valentine's name became synonymous with the Los Angeles "look" or "finish fetish" of the late sixties. These terms refer to two-and three dimensional abstractions, usually crafted from fiberglass or resins. Glossy and impersonal, with slick finishes suggestive of the machine-made, such work has often been compared to automobiles and surfboards, two icons of Southern California life. Disc in the Sweeney Art Gallery Permanent Collection, is cast polyester resin, a medium through which the artist sought to capture the sense of floating colors in depth and space. In a 1986 interview, Valentine looked back on his cast resin Circles series stating "the plastic I used in the sixties and seventies was a means of objectifying certain ideas and feelings I had about the sea and the sky."

© UC Regents and the artist.