Artist statement
My latest artwork explores the dynamic inter-relationship between shape, form, colour, pattern, and perception, to reveal the nature of the underlying form. The development of a cast 3d “structured canvas” is the foundation of these abstract, formalist works.
I have sought to revise with a fresh approach the “shaped canvas” and reinterpret the Minimalist, post-Painterly approach to flat, solid areas of colour. My approach to painting is predominantly rationalist and conceptual, where a cool minimalism is borne from warmly stylised geometries.
The physical canvas itself is integrally a 3-dimensional rectilinear array of alternating, truncated convex and concave square modules. I use the grid’s primary allure of inherent order and structure as a visual anchor for the overlying pictorial elements.
The harmony and neutral rationality of the grid's structure is a conduit for contemplation. By employing the grid as a foundational structure, I explore underlying themes of order, chaos, abstraction, and objectivity, inviting viewers to engage in a contemplative dialogue with the artwork.
Onto this undulating surface are painted a variety of ready-made graphical elements to construct the painting. Using reductive finite palettes, the eclectic colours are sourced from my experiences of nature's flora and fauna, foreign travel, and/or the salutary pop palette of the supermarket. Applied to ready-made geometric motifs and systemic compositional devices, I seek to create dynamic tensions derived from visual gestalts that are energised by scale, offsets and juxtapositions.
Pictorial concepts are developed and expressed by discrete systems of artist-defined rules and permutations to produce unique compositions. The chosen abstract motifs against the grid's ability to create an illusion of control seek to convey through aesthetics the human need to impose order on a universe determined by chaos and entropy, reflecting the fundamental dichotomy of existence.
With an underlying irreverent subtext of conceptual ideas and social narratives my paintings explore underlying themes of disorder, chaos, and entropy through abstraction and objectivity, inviting viewers to engage in a contemplative dialogue with the artwork on a deeper level.
In exploration of formal issues, I work in series spanning a variety of pictorial themes. Striving to be celebratory and disruptive, my work pays close attention to the formal processes of painting as well as the legacies of constructivism, minimalism, systemic, and concrete art, working in the generative space between painting and sculpture.
Through the use of colour and nominal geometric forms, I employ abstraction to transcend boundaries and speak to the universal human experience. Sometimes the artwork is purely pictorial, while others convey a social narrative or commentary, irreverently explored through series of variations on themes.
My intention for the viewer is to offer an emotional tenor often absent from the formal severity of historical minimalist work, and experience instinctive, physical responses to the artwork’s orthogonal gridded physicality, impactful colour, and surrounding space rather than with overly interpretive examination. Not seeking to provide definitive answers, my art embraces circumspection to pose questions and engage the viewer in a dialogue about the complexities of human existence and our abilities to shape the world around us.
Biography
Dana Church studied Fine Art at various art colleges in the USA and UK in the 1980s. He chose not to immediately pursue fine art as a full-time profession.
For five years he worked in the marine sector as a sailmaker and boatbuilder. He was fortunate to have worked with talented people on high profile campaigns for various America’s Cup, Round-the-World races, international Olympic sailing campaigns, and other high-profile clients. It was in these production environments that he learned to use tools, understand materials, and basic engineering principals applied to making objects.
Moving to London, England Dana Church supported himself as a post-grad art student working as a commercial sculptor producing work for TV productions, advertising, and theme parks (notably Disney-Paris and Seville Expo).
From the 1990s into the 21st century he worked in video games, television, and film - mostly developing 3d animated content, and a BAFTA-nominated producer.
From 2008 he worked in product design with his own practice and for consultancies. For 7 years up to April 2021, he worked at Nottingham Trent University as a design researcher for computational design and additive manufacturing.
Over these 30 years he considered himself an artist/sculptor, comfortably working in the realms of fine art & design, spanning physical and digital domains. After 3 decades working in creative-technological industries, he began a full-time fine art studio practice based in Nottingham, England.
A general repository of work can be seen at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/devereux_design/albums
Exhibitions
ArtBoxy – Miami Artweek
1 December – 10 December 2022
2 works exhibited:
'The Bright Lights of Lost Wages'
'Roll of the Dice'
ArtBoxy – Lelie Galerji - Amsterdam
1 December – 23 December 2022
1 work exhibited:
'Broken Target : Coming Storm'
Artstonish Magazine 26th Issue September 2022
1 work published:
'Broken Target : Coming Storm'
Diversia 27th Online Group Exhibition UN Calendar 2022
1 September – 30 September 2022
Exhibizone, Canada
1 works exhibited:
'Democracy'
Textures, Shapes, Patterns, or Forms 2022
1 September – 30 September 2022
Las Laguna Art Gallery
577 South Coast Highway, Suite A1
Laguna Beach, CA 92651
1 work exhibited:
'Broken Target : Coming Storm'
Visual Artists Association, London, England UK
‘VAO2022’ (Open Call Art Awards)
2 works submitted:
'Democracy'
'Twist of Fate'
Longlisted
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2022
2 works submitted:
'Field of Pluses:Moor'
'Broken Target : Coming Storm'
Shortlisted
Surface Gallery, Nottingham, England UK
‘Abstract 2022’ (Open Call Group exhibition)
Exhibition Dates: 25th March – 9th April 2022
2 works exhibited:
'Field of Pluses:Moor'
'Broken Target : Coming Storm'
Education
Post-grad Diploma ‘Interactive Computer Graphics’ at London Polytechnic, London 1990
‘Advanced Studies in Sculpture’ at St. Martins School of Art, London 1987-1988
Post-grad Diploma ‘Sculpture’ at Sir John Cass School of Art, London 1988
BFA Fine Art (major) & Mathematics (minor) at UMass/Amherst USA 1985
Multiple accredited courses in Ceramics at Richmond Adult Community College, London 2004 - 2008
Post-grad Diploma ‘16mm Film’ at South Thames College, London 2003
Residencies
‘Artist-in-Residence’ at London Metropolitan University 2008 – 2012
