This week we spoke with Louisville native but Brooklyn resident Dean Christensen about his new solo exhibit at Galerie Hertz opening on July 18. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM or stream on Artxfm.com Thursdays at 10 am to hear Keith Waits talk with artists.
“Smile” New Work by Dean Christensen opens July 18 at Galerie Hertz with a reception from 1-4 pm and runs through September 5th.
N. Dean Christensen (aka Deansace, b. 1992, Louisville, KY) is a figurative painter living and working in Brooklyn, NY. Christensen's body of work is an ongoing commentary on the influence of the smartphone in our lives.
Using satire, social media iconography, and techniques that mimic in-app editing tools, he compels us to examine online persona, the human need for connection and approval, the inescapable pervasiveness of advertising, and the hidden constraints of social media.
"Ed Reimann Visitation" by Shane Smith, Windows & mirrors & projector & screen & fake flowers & paint on wood, 12x24x16ft, 2016, NFS
It is a misnomer that visual artists are less articulate, that a talent for expressing themselves in visual terms somehow comes at a price: the inability to verbally engage intellectually or socially. It is as hoary a cliché as the notion that great art comes from madness – Van Gogh, or that Monet painted as he did because of his failing eyesight.
So when Shane Smith offers the following as his most recent artist’s statement:
Preachin' to the choir, just a liar vyin' for retention.
"Learning Curve" by Shane Smith, Chair and table and bed slats and nails, 17x3x5 ft, 2016, NFS
We should take care to assume he has no more to say. In a 2017 interview with Not Random Art, the Interdisciplinary Artist refers to his own mental health issues as, “…more helpful than hindrance…but really, this, film and design are what help form my aesthetics.” Smith has a lot he can say about his work, beginning with this honest appraisal of where it comes from.
Smith’s work is rustic and playful, polished and serious. “Learning Curve” suggests that we should climb the ladder, but it also feels as if you might be positioned at the bottom of a roller coaster. Are we to think that getting ahead in life puts us at risk at being crushed by the weight of responsibility? In the installation entitled “Ed Reimann Visitation” we encounter a tableau that touches upon themes of mortality and remove through media that reach beyond the deceptively simple yet highly evocative objects placed before us.
The Wilmore, Kentucky native has recently returned to Kentucky after several years in Pennsylvania, and in 2017 exhibited at Pilot Projects and AUTOMAT in Philadelphia, and the Petzel Gallery in NYC.
The artist in the basement.
Hometown: Wilmore, Kentucky Education: BA, Asbury University/NYCAMS (New York Center for Art and Media Studies); MFA-PAFA (Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts) Website: www.shaneallansmith.com Instagram: @shane.smith.art
Scroll down for more iimages
"Pretty Pretty" by Shane Smith, Paint on socks and five pocket organizer, 1x2.5ft, 2017
"Caskpit" by Shane Smith, Paint on wood on wood, 8x3.5x3.5ft, 2016, NFS
"This Ain't Water" by Shane Smith, Paint on colander, jug, hose spray nosel, funnel, 3x1.5x1.5 ft, 2017, NFS
