A refurbished taxi cab garage really makes for a nice space to showcase art
Last Thursday, the Datuna Art Space in Long Island City opened up to showcase the exquisite art of artist and owner, David Datuna. The space is a repurposed taxi cab garage that now serves as one of the largest privately owned art centers in Long Island City. And to open up this space, Datuna showcased both new and historic pieces, including the installation ‘Cloning Eternity’ found in Washington Square Park, a piece from the Smithsonian recognized ‘Portrait of America’ flag series, as well as more of his signature and timeless portraits, some of which include portraits of Marilyn Monroe.
The majority of his work seems to rework glass and other glasslike objects into works of art. At this installation you would see pieces like the Marilyn Monroe portrait made with a frame of glass. Another work of art that was showcased at this opening was a collage made out of teacups. This was especially interesting at the angle in which the teacup was placed allowed for a different perspective to be shown and plays with the concept of depth a lot.
David Datuna focuses his art on the convergence of art and social awareness. His signature technique is a network of positive and negative optical lenses suspended over a large-scale layered, collaged and painted image, and he has exhibited at Art Basel Miami Beach, Lincoln Center, New York, Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.
