Preview: “Tacos & Beer” Dale Dreiling and Billy Kheel ~ Opens September 5th at Fifth Floor Gallery

Fifth Floor Gallery is pleased to present Tacos & Beer, a two person exhibition of recent works by Los Angeles-based artists Dale Dreiling and Billy Kheel. Hand-made and painted using different mediums, these sculptural and 2-D works are reminiscent of the murals that adorn the sides of many Mexican markets seen around Los Angeles. For taco afficionados, Los Angeles is ground zero and in addition, there is a burgeoning craft beer culture. This show proudly celebrates these communities and cultures.

The stuffed sculptural and flat felt works by Billy Kheel are reminiscent of both the soft sculptures of Claes Oldenburg and quintessential folk art painting traditions. Each intentional imperfection and detour from exact reproduction adds to the playfulness of his chosen material and subject matter. In a similar manner, the hyper- color cast sculptures and gestural panel paintings of Dale Dreiling pay direct homage to the works of both Jasper Johns and Robert Arneson. The deliberate dismissal of precise execution of craft underlines the emo- tional nature of his approach.

Billy Kheel graduated with a BA in studio art from Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. His work has been shown at La Luz De Jesus Gallery (Los Angeles, CA), GATE Projects (Glendale, CA), and PØST Gallery (Los Angeles, CA). He has also been featured in the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Magazine, KCRW's DNA and KCET's Artbound.

Dale Dreiling is a graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute with a BFA in painting. He is an Art Director for Studio Number One and has shown his work at 381g (San Francisco, CA), CB's 313 (New York, NY), One Grand Gallery (Portland, OR), and Subliminal Projects (Los Angeles, CA).