STEPHEN DEAN - RECENT WORK
September 9 – October 23
Mon-Sat 10–6

Marcel Sitcoske Gallery presents the first solo exhibition of Stephen Dean in the U.S.

Stephen Dean takes ordinary objects and transforms them into extraordinary works of art. He disengages such objects as shirts, newspapers, and books from their everyday connections, and allows us to see and experience them in a new way. His painting of newspaper weather maps and flannel shirts transforms these seemingly mundane things into distinctive objects. Through the act of painting, he takes them out of the realm of the common and into that of the unique. Dean’s work often features objects that are already structured by formal systems such as newspaper crossword puzzles or abacuses. As Carmen Zita writes in her catalogue essay, “In his work there is thus hope in the prospects of discovery, to an escape from the jaded – from the every day, but through the every day…”

His new work includes life-size crossword puzzles that have been hand painted in primary colors. Across from these works hang stark black and white answer grids, select squares of which have been painted silver. These works engage us on a number of levels. From afar, they appear to be ordered by a complex system that does not readily reveal itself. The answer grids appear almost apparition like, their gray palette interrupted by traces of silver. When one approaches them, however their familiar nature becomes apparent.

The work of Stephen Dean resides in an impressive number of collections including the Fonds National d’Art Contemporaine in France and the Collection de la Banque Société Générale in Paris. This exhibition will be presented in conjunction with the Côte Ouest Project which will take place on the entire West Coast this fall. Its goal is to offer American audiences the opportunity to see the wide range of work that contemporary French artists are creating.