With In Bloom, Glendening presents selections from a body of recent paintings and sculpture. The pieces are composed of various floating signifiers including florals, skeletons, fragmented bodies, and iconography related to the branding of the Grateful Dead and various punk bands (Circle Jerks, Dead Kennedys, Green Day, Blink-182, Nirvana), often layered with partially illegible text forms articulating names of the entity Death. These works are, in broad strokes, about the struggle to create meaning in a flattened image-scape, and how we might still try to carve out spaces for beauty within a culture of death.
Daniel J. Glendening is an artist living and working on the lands of the Southern Pomo and Graton Rancheria in what is now known as Northern California. He believes in the abolition of prison, debt, and capitalism; that resources should be allocated from each according to ability and to each according to need; and that while art and art-making is inadequate as a sole response to fascism, it can provide a bulwark against despair. Past work has included the formation of a paranormal investigation team and search for UFOs; a radio-transmitter to outer space; a science fiction novel; and an art gallery in his garage. Recently, he has been making paintings, taking photographs at punk shows, and experimenting with sound-altering electronics.