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Drake Deknatel was an abstract painter, based in Seattle for over 20 years, who also maintained a studio in Berlin, Germany for the last several years of his life. Though mostly known in the Northwest for his abstract expressionist-style paintings, Deknatel's late work demonstrates a distinctly European influence, marked by his intense examination of a single concept and image. In this case, Deknatel created a series of over 20 very small (most are 6 x 4") paintings of a figure, perhaps a soldier, standing alone in an undefined space. The unrelenting repetition of this imagery (not only in this body of work, but throughout many of Deknatel’s later paintings) turns these recognizable forms into abstracted shapes, asking the viewer to examine the possibility of a larger, less concrete, narrative.
Born in New York City in 1943, Drake Deknatel grew up in Chicago, and attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, followed by the University of Arizona. The Elizabeth Leach Gallery has represented Deknatel since 1991.
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