Dan Devine
Tundra
2022
My sculptures explore interior and exterior spaces, their related physical and conceptual volumes, and most importantly their reversal, to outline the collision of technology and nature, a collision which often leaves us wedged in between. Sometimes what is within becomes the outside. Accordingly, a frequent presence in my work are motor vehicles which operate as both cultural artifacts and as a symbol for our relationship to nature. I frequently pair metal parts with softer, fluid materials such as leather. I work with my hands using basic tools and techniques to produce human scaled contemplative objects constructed from simple and often found materials.
Material selection is driven by the concepts in the work and the physical needs of the site.
The plaster and white cement castings are records of the impacts of cars accidently coming together. Things crash. But crashes can only be understood backwards. During a crash, we are too involved to understand or see what is happening. And in the immediate heat of a collision, we rush to mediate and triage the effects as if in an effort to erase the result of our actions. The resulting pieces are thus remnants of remnants, formed by the slow flow of suspended plaster or cement seeping into the crucible formed by the folds and crevasses between the damaged car parts. These remnants recall how glaciers break off and fall into the sea, the passive results of a warming atmosphere colliding with the leading end of a creeping glacier. Themes concerning the relationship between technology, the human made and natural systems inform my practice.
About the Artist
Dan Devine (b. 1940, Derby, CT) creates sculptures, installations, drawings, and photographs that explore the relationship between interior and exterior spaces. As a former motorcycle racer, Devine combines a fascination for vehicles and machine parts with a reverence for the natural world. Dan Devine is Chair of the Sculpture Department at Hofstra University, where he was also the Director of the Rosenberg Gallery for over twenty years. He serves on the Artist’s Residency Board and the Board of Trustees at Art Omi in Ghent, NY. He received an MFA in Sculpture from Bard College.
Devine’s work has been exhibited internationally in galleries and museums for over four decades and has been reviewed in major publications. Notable projects include Inside-Out Car (1998), Inside-Out NASCAR (2006), and Sheep Farm (2007-17). His 2019 one-person exhibition titled Impact at Thompson Giroux Gallery, Chatham, NY, was accompanied by a catalog with an essay by Peggy Cyphers. The exhibition was reviewed in Hyperallergic by Stephen Maine. His 2022 one-person exhibition, The Fifth Revolution at Thompson Giroux Gallery, was accompanied by a catalog with an essay by Charlotta Kotik. In addition, Devine’s work has been exhibited at Pierogi Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; Tanja Grunert Gallery, Hudson, NY, and LABSpace, Hillsdale, NY. Institutions include: the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale, the Davis Museum at Wellesley College, the Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota, the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, the American University Museum in Washington D.C., the Brooklyn Museum, and the Palm Beach Institute for Contemporary Art. He participated in the Sharjah Biennial in the UAE. Dan Devine has attended residencies at Art Omi, Ghent, NY, and Pocoapoco in Oaxaca, MX. Devine lives and works in Columbia County, New York.