MICHAEL DEAN

Dean’s sculptures are irrevocably tied to language–both his own writing, as well as the systems and symbols we use to communicate. Dean abstracts, and warps familiar typographies into new configurations, which are then materialised into solid forms using cement, sand, water, and rebar—readily available materials that in turn form their own vocabulary as a reference to a post-industrial, urban environment. Throughout his work, references to the human body recur, both in their scale, and the traces left from the physical process of the sculptures’ making. These references create another textual layer, as our bodies often act as the most immediate form of communication, allowing for new narratives to result from the viewer’s experience with the work.

Michael Dean (b. 1977, Newcastle Upon Tyne, U.K.) lives and works in London. Past solo exhibitions include Kiss Emitting Die Odes, Progetto, Lecce, 2020, Tu texto aquí, Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, 2019, Michael Dean: Laughing for Crying, St CarthageHall, Lismore Castle Arts, Lismore, Ireland, 2019, Having you on, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, United Kingdom, 2018, Teaxths and Angeruage, Portikus, Frankfurt, 2017, Sic Glyphs, South London Gallery, London, 2016 and Lost True Leaves, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, 2016, among others. In 2016, Dean was shortlisted for the Turner Prize. Dean’s work is held in the collections of The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, the Tate, London, Arts Council Collection, London, The Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield, Henry Moore Foundation, Hertfordshire, and S.M.A.K., Ghent, Belgium.