The intricate, large-scale cut paper assemblages in The Shape of Relics are created from unused product labels that artist Troy Dugas collects. The shredded or cut source material is meticulously arranged to create mesmerizing compositions that appear woven. The purpose of the original label is obscured through the use of repetition, pattern, symmetry, precision and scale. New meaning is created by the reinterpretation of color, shape and line.

This exhibition, the artist’s third with the gallery, features the familiar mandala-like compositions, as well as a new series of portraits loosely based on Egyptian and Roman mummy depictions and online arrest reports. Working from imagination and reference, the artist attempts to create a kind of abstraction, unique stylization and synthesis. Similar to Picasso’s portraits influenced by African masks and the portrait of Madame Matisse, “The Green Stripe,” Dugas creates something continuous yet new. Influenced by ancient art, his subjects are flattened and covered in invented pattern reflecting a state of vulnerability, acceptance and sexuality.