David Daigle's Punch-Cut Paper Works Deconstruct Commercial Imagery at Track 16

David Daigle's punch-cut paper compositions excavate commercial imagery through a method of décollage, building up surfaces then removing elements to reveal hidden meanings. His forthcoming exhibition "The Death of Beauty" at Track 16 in East Hollywood runs from July 18 to September 5. The show explores intersections of identity, consumer culture, and desire. Key works include "The Death of Venus," which overwhelms Sandro Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus" with hole-punched vignettes of eyes and mouths, reducing the Renaissance masterpiece to a mass-market object. Another piece, "Gaza City" (2026), uses a panoramic photograph of Gaza from around 2020, with buildings subsumed under a cratered surface, symbolizing devastation since the war began in late 2023. Daigle also incorporates deconstructed Artforum magazines and bus shelter advertisements. The artist states he is interested in "sublimating technical images designed to generate desire" and asks whether media can become so untruthful that it consumes itself and us.