Krustallos Cluster Melt Daniella Dooling August 22 - 28, 2021
Reimagining the organic process and formation of quartz crystals, Dooling’s “Crystal Melts” series replicates these natural forms into post-natural melting resin crystals as a reflection upon the growing consumer demand on healing crystals and global warming. Clear quartz crystals are believed by many to have healing properties, absorb negative energy, stimulate positive energy, and balance the immune system. Perhaps not so ironically, the global market for healing crystals has revealed both questionable working conditions for those mining crystal specimens and a depletion of this natural resource. In Dooling’s work, the artificial becomes a synthetic copy of the original crystal - disappearing its healing properties and creating a duplication system through the process of casting. This disappearance is furthered in the installations of crystals melting into clear puddles of resin, becoming miniaturized and vanishing glacial landscapes.
Daniella Dooling’s work resists genre definition. Her recent projects are activated through sculpture, collage, archival practice, and installation. Solo exhibitions include The Esther Massry Gallery, Albany, N.Y.; Michael Steinberg Fine Arts, New York, N.Y.; Anna Kustera Gallery, New York, N.Y.; and Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo, N.Y. Her work has also been shown in numerous group exhibition venues, including Tweed Museum of Art, Duluth, MN; Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, New Paltz, NY; Seager Gray Gallery, Mill Valley, CA; Re Institute, Millerton, NY; PAN/Palazzo delle Arti Napoli, Italy; American Academy of Arts & Letters; Chelsea Art Museum; Kerry Schuss Gallery; and Exit Art, all in New York. Dooling received her BFA from the School of Visual Arts and MFA from Yale University. She has taught in the Studio Arts Program at Bard College since 2003.