About
A mark is just a decision, a touch that can go in so many different directions. . . . There’s so much that you’re not seeing, so many decisions. That’s where the art happens. . . . The viewer doesn’t ever get to witness it, but they have to know that it was there and there has to be a space for the imagination.
—Dan Colen
Moving between diverse styles and subjects, Dan Colen investigates the conceptual stakes of materiality and mark making. Interested in how the physical properties of mediums dictate their specific forms and symbolic resonances, Colen oscillates in his work between rigorous artisanal technique and the aesthetics of chance. Alongside his works in oil on canvas, he has often employed unconventional materials such as chewing gum, flowers, and trash, relinquishing control of his work’s final appearance to their unpredictable surfaces. He also produces time-based and three-dimensional works, including animatronic sculptures and performances. With imagery adapted from popular culture, he explodes the boundaries between fine art and subculture, interrogating the dynamic between images and the materials from which they are composed.
Born in Leonia, New Jersey, Colen received a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2001. In his earliest works, Colen labored over precise oil renderings of banal interiors—a sloppy apartment bathroom, an adolescent bedroom, a camping tent—into which he introduced the presence of the supernatural—the Blue Fairy, Jesus Christ, twinkling cherubs, his deceased grandfather. A subsequent series, the Candle paintings (2003–10), drew inspiration from the Disney film Pinocchio (1940). In these works, Colen honed in on the moment in which artistic materials suddenly become alive and autonomous from their maker: the space of the canvas embodies Geppetto’s worktable—where Pinocchio becomes “real”—and a message appears in the smoke left by a just-extinguished candle flame. He has described the series as “an attempt at conversing with god or the infinite.”
Photo: Eric Piasecki
#DanColen
Exhibitions
Dan Colen: Sky High Farm
In this video, Dan Colen speaks about his inspiration in founding Sky High Farm as a way to address food insecurity and improve access to fresh, nutritious food for underserved communities in New York. Established in 2011, the 40-acre farm raises pasture-based livestock and grows organic fruit and vegetables exclusively for donation.
The Bigger Picture
Sky High Farm × Project EATS
Dan Colen and Linda Goode Bryant are both artists who have founded nonprofits devoted to food justice. Here they speak about art, food, and life, including how they arrived at farming and the urgency of their projects’ missions during the current health crisis.
A Single Moment: Dan Colen and Francesco Bonami
Dan Colen joins Francesco Bonami in a conversation about absence and nostalgia, decadence and decay, progress and failure—and about help, the theme of his most recent body of paintings.
In Conversation
Dan Colen with Hans Ulrich Obrist
Against the backdrop of his survey exhibition Sweet Liberty, Dan Colen speaks about his work with Hans Ulrich Obrist, starting with his earliest interest in art and continuing up to the recent Desert paintings (2015–19).
Dan Colen: Carry On Cowboy
Gagosian Quarterly presents Dan Colen’s Carry On Cowboy. This performance first took place during the exhibition Dan Colen: High Noon at Gagosian, Beverly Hills.
Dan Colen: At Least They Died Together
Gagosian Quarterly presents Dan Colen’s At Least They Died Together. This performance first took place during the exhibition Dan Colen: High Noon at Gagosian, Beverly Hills.
Gagosian Quarterly Talks
Dan Colen, Dimitri Chamblas, and Douglas Fogle
Douglas Fogle moderates a conversation between Dan Colen and Dimitri Chamblas following the premiere of Colen’s two performance pieces At Least They Died Together and Carry On Cowboy.
Work in Progress
Dan Colen
We visit the artist’s studio in Brooklyn, New York, to get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of his new series of Desert paintings while he prepares for an upcoming exhibition in Beverly Hills. Text by Ben Eastham.
The Bigger Picture
Free Arts NYC
Meredith Mendelsohn discusses the impact of Free Arts NYC and its mission to foster creativity in children and teens, on the occasion of its twenty-year anniversary.
In Conversation
Dan Colen and Ali Subotnick
Dan Colen speaks with Ali Subotnick on the occasion of his exhibition Dan Colen: Sweet Liberty, at the Newport Street Gallery in London.
The Bigger Picture
Rx Art
Derek Blasberg speaks with Diane Brown, president and founder of RxArt, and with contributing artists Dan Colen, Urs Fischer, and Jeff Koons about the transformative power of visual art.
Dan Colen: The Bowery School
In this video from the Louisiana Channel, Dan Colen sits down to talk about friends like Ryan McGinley and Dash Snow, and how his art developed to a place of celebration.
Fairs, Events & Announcements
In Conversation
Dan Colen, Aimee Meredith Cox, Hank Willis Thomas
Moderated by Ora Wise
Thursday, May 6, 2021, 5pm edt
In partnership with Dover Street Market, Gagosian will host an online conversation between Dan Colen, artist and founder of Sky High Farm, Aimee Meredith Cox, associate professor of Anthropology and African American Studies at Yale University and author of the award-winning monograph Shapeshifters: Black Girls and the Choreography of Citizenship, and Hank Willis Thomas, Conceptual artist and cofounder of For Freedoms. Moderated by Ora Wise, executive director of Sky High Farm, the group will explore the transformative power of art making, the politics of collaboration, and the role of creative expression within social justice movements. To join, register at eventbrite.com.
This talk is part of a tribute, organized by Frieze New York, honoring the Vision & Justice Project and its founder Sarah Elizabeth Lewis. The Vision & Justice Project is dedicated to examining art’s central role in understanding the relationship between race and citizenship in the United States.
Left to right: Dan Colen. Photo: Andrew Zuckerman. Aimee Meredith Cox. Photo: Frederick Williams. Hank Willis Thomas. Photo: Andrea Blanch. Ora Wise. Photo: Stephen Vixjo
Art Fair
FIAC Online 2021
Printemps oublié
March 2–12, 2021
Gagosian is pleased to present Printemps oublié for the first online edition of FIAC. This curated presentation reflects the dual character of springtime as a reminder of past trials and the harbinger of a vibrant new season to come.
All the artworks will appear on the Gagosian website and a rotating selection will appear in the inaugural FIAC Online Viewing Rooms, from March 4 to 7.
Jeff Koons, Bluebird Planter, 2010–16 © Jeff Koons
Partnership
Dan Colen × Dover Street Market
Twelve brands create exclusive merchandise to support Sky High Farm
Following their February 2020 partnership, Sky High Farm and Dover Street Market are launching an ambitious yearlong project featuring merchandise collaborations across the industries of fashion, art, film, food, and design. For the first iteration, Sky High Farm founder Dan Colen has selected twelve independently minded brands allied by a shared sense of civic responsibility to create exclusive garments or accessories bearing the farm’s signature artwork—created by Joana Avillez—to be sold online and at Dover Street Market’s New York and Los Angeles locations. Raising both funds and awareness, the collaboration will support Sky High Farm’s commitment to standing up against inequity in our food systems and to providing sustenance, nutrition, healing, and new opportunities for underserved communities.
Sky High Farm T-shirts with illustrations by Joana Avillez. Photo: Quil Lemons
Museum Exhibitions
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Reflections
Matt Black × Gana Art
November 1, 2019–January 5, 2020
Gana Art Center and Gana Art Hannam, Seoul
ganaart.com
In collaboration with filmmaker Matt Black, this exhibition is centered around his short film series titled Reflections, which features conversations with contemporary artists. Through his interviews, Black paints a picture of the rapidly changing contemporary art scene, revealing the stories behind the artworks. Following the film’s theme, Gana Art has curated this exhibition to feature works by these artists, which include Dan Colen, Rachel Feinstein, Jeff Koons, Harmony Korine, Sterling Ruby, Taryn Simon, and Blair Thurman, among others.
Installation view, Reflections: Matt Black × Gana Art, Gana Art Center and Gana Art Hannam, Seoul, November 1, 2019–January 5, 2020. Artwork © Sterling Ruby
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Dan Colen
Works from the Astrup Fearnley Collection
May 24–September 15, 2018
Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo
www.afmuseet.no
This exhibition of works from the Astrup Fearnley Collection will bring together a corpus of Dan Colen’s paintings (made from oil, chewing gum, confetti, flowers, and lemon juice) as well as sculpture, photographs, and film. Embodiments of moments that have taken on aesthetic form, the works present fragmented stories told in the first person about the artist and his immediate environment. They are dialogues with society and commentaries on art history that often reference political issues, mixing high and low cultural values.
Dan Colen, No Way Jose, 2008–09 © Dan Colen. Photo: Christopher Burke
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Dan Colen
Sweet Liberty
October 4, 2017–January 28, 2018
Newport Street Gallery, London
www.newportstreetgallery.com
This exhibition is Dan Colen’s first major solo exhibition in London and spans more than fifteen years of his art making. The show features new works, including large-scale installations, alongside significant early pieces.
Installation view, Dan Colen: Sweet Liberty, Newport Street Gallery, London, October 4, 2017–January 28, 2018. Artwork © Dan Colen. Photo by Prudence Cumings Associates Ltd © Victor Marta Ltd.
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Dan Colen in
Ryan McGinley: The Kids Were Alright
February 11–August 20, 2017
Museum of Contemporary Art Denver
mcadenver.org
Featured in this survey of Ryan McGinley’s early work is Dan Colen’s Secrets and Cymbals, Smoke and Scissors (My Friend Dash’s Wall in the Future) (2004–06/2016). This massive sculpture––the artist’s first––is also a monumental painting. Spanning almost ten feet, the freestanding work is comprised of hundreds of small oil paintings on paper or foam, each a 1:1 trompe l’oeil representation of a corresponding photograph, newspaper clipping, or object that hung in an identical position on Dash Snow’s apartment wall in the early 2000s. The apartment was a gathering place for friends and artists, among them Colen’s childhood friend Ryan McGinley.
Dan Colen, Secrets and Cymbals, Smoke and Scissors (My Friend Dash’s Wall in the Future), 2004–06/2016
Press
Sky-high ambition: the New York artist on a mission to beat hunger by Ajesh Patalay
Financial Times
December 8, 2020
Online
PDF
Dan Colen Is Using Streetwear to Support Food Banks by Andrea Whittle
W
November 10, 2020
Online
PDF
Studio visit: Dan Colen draws the connection between Wile E. Coyote and the never-ending chase by Ann Binlot
Document Journal
November 16, 2018
Online
PDF