Delano Dunn

Artist-In-Residence 2019/20

Arts + Public Life (APL) and the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture (CSRPC) are proud to present projects by their 2019/2020 Artists-in-Residence. This virtual exhibition features new works, current projects, and interviews with one of our artists, Delano Dunn.

Delano Dunn (he/him) was born in Los Angeles. Through painting, mixed media, and collage, Dunn explores questions of racial identity and perception through various contexts, ranging from the personal to the political, and drawing from his experience growing up in South Central L.A. He has had solo exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles, among others. In 2017 he received the Sustainable Arts Foundation Individual Artist's Grant. He was the 2016 recipient of the College Art Association’s Visual Arts Graduate Fellowship. Group exhibitions include The Wassaic Project, ArtSpace in New Haven, Spring/Break Art Show, Project for Empty Space, PULSE New York, The Delaware Contemporary, La Bodega Gallery, and more. Dunn has been featured in The New York Times, PBS News Hour,  VICE Media’s The Creators Project, and Hyperallergic, amongst others. Other awards include the Delaware Contemporary’s Curator’s Choice Award, and SVA’s Edward Zutrau Memorial Award and Alumni Thesis Scholarship Award. Residencies include The Wassaic Summer Artist Residency, Project for Empty Space in Newark, NJ, and SPACE at Ryder Farm. He is represented by Lesley Heller Gallery in New York, and is a Teaching Fellow at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He lives in Chicago with his wife and two children.

Rue

“Gumbo, of all other products of the New Orleans cuisine, represents a most distinctive type of evolution of good cookery under the hands of famous Creole cuisiniéres of the old New Orleans...They [gumbo recipes] need only to tried to prove their perfect claim to the admiration of the many distinguished visitors and epicures who have paid tribute to our Creole Gumbo:”

-The Picayune Creole Cook Book

Rue explores the Black culinary traditions within my own family—great-grandparents who moved from Mississippi and Louisiana to southern California as part of the Great Migration—and the struggle to preserve Black domestic histories. The holy ingredients of our family’s gumbo recipe emerge from clouds of silver tar, hovering amidst rays of color and mirrors. Sentry beasts protect the culinary figures as men reach for them, thwarting their attempts to claim and appropriate the family’s culture and joy of being together. 

Arts + Public Life curatorial team and Delano Dunn discuss his practice, upcoming projects and what it means to be an artist in 2020.

APL: What are some of the recurring themes found in your work?​​​​​​​

DD: Race, gender, social issues and mental health are recurring themes within my work. These are all topics that are really important to me so I tend to operate within these worlds. I like to examine current events through the gaze of the past. I find that there is a lot we can learn about present situations when we look at the successes and failures of those who came before.

APL: What do you hope a viewer will leave with after experiencing your work for the first time?​​​​​​​

DD: All I can hope for is that the viewer, after experiencing the work, comes away having formulated an opinion about the work. Whether it’s positive or negative, I just want the viewer to have a reaction to the work. What I don’t want is for the viewer​​​​​​​ to be indifferent about the work. Indifference means I’ve failed as an artist. I think as artists it's our job to evoke a reaction from viewers. To make them think or reexamine whatever topic or idea an artist is trying to express. So for me if I don’t give them that opportunity then I have not succeeded at what I set out to do.

APL : Can you walk us through a typical day of your studio practice ?

DD: Before I head into the studio a lot of pre-planning has happened. I’ve spent quite a bit of time thinking about the steps I’m going to take in the space, so that when I get in the studio I can hit the ground running. I have two kids so every second counts. There really can't be any lollygagging in the studio. Once I’m in the studio there are a few minutes where I get reacquainted with the space. I take a few minutes to see if my vision for the day is really practical. Then it’s off to the races. It’s frantic and it feels quick when I work. If I'm smart I will take some time to eat lunch but usually I don’t. I step back to get out of the tunnel vision as I work. As the day winds down I’ll sit and look at the progress that's been made and think about next steps. Usually I’ll take a picture so I can study it until the next time I’m back in the studio. After that it’s off to my home and I will probably think about the day's work for the rest of the evening.

APL: Are there any rituals that have found their way into your practice?

DD: There are quite a few. I would say the most prominent is music and singing. I love to have music on in the studio while I work. Usually the music sets the pace for how I work that day. So I’ll listen to slow music when I need to do detailed work and some with a faster beat when I’m working more spontaneously. There is also the need for candy! There must be some candy in the studio. Redvines, Jelly Belles, or some other soft chew confection. Having candy around makes things more fun!

APL: How do you make a distinction between just an interesting idea and something that needs to be produced, and shown? What tips that scale?

DD: There are always tons of ideas. I know an idea is worth exploring when I get a feeling that I can’t wait any longer​​​​​​​ to get started. Usually it all goes well and I proceed with the project as normal. But sometimes in the early stages of working/planning the idea starts to fall apart, and that usually is a bummer. You always hope that an idea is solid enough to make to fruition. What causes it to fall apart, I can't really say. But you just know it when it happens. Sometimes I try to press through it because I think I can salvage the idea, but when that happens it's a difficult experience. I usually feel overwhelmed and don’t want to return to the studio to work. So I do my best to make sure the idea is worth pursuing before I begin work.

APL: How can the arts community remain authentic and connected in our current climate?

DD: You stay connected as best you can. Talk with your friends that are in your art community. Share ideas that are peaking your interests. Continue to make work about the topics you find intriguing. Try not to follow the curve. Make the work you want to make.

APL: Are there any artists or art projects bringing you joy right now?

DD: I’m really enjoying the work of Marvin Toure and Susan Luss. They both make really strong work. Work that's challenging and demands audience participation to really grasp the concepts they are putting forth. I would really encourage folks to take a look at what these two are up to. I’m also finding a lot of joy in reading...COMIC BOOKS! Don’t look down on the comic book. You can find some great stuff in them. Amazing arts operate in between the covers of these books. I get a lot of joy from reading them these days.

Paradise

Paradise explores love, infatuation, fear and stereotypes through simple paper collage. Each work is comprised of images from three sources: Les Fleurs Animee illustrations by J.J. Grandville, Walt Disney’s Uncle Remus Stories, and How To Paint Landscapes instructional catalogues. Stereotypes of white women and black men interact in idyllic but colorless landscapes. The minimalist approach to the works is a response to the COVID-19 pandemic and my lack of resources due to shelter in place. Sharing a “studio” with my wife and our two children, the works were made with urgency and spontaneity, with only materials available in our home. Titled after lyrics from the song “Paradise” by Sade, these works directly reflect how this song became a therapeutic counterbalance to the frantic nature of a home with four humans unable to escape one another.

APL: What project are you super excited to produce?​​​​​​​

DD: There are so many things floating around my brain, it's hard to say. Right now I’m working on an artist book called “Paradise”. It explores objectification of women based on race; how social status determines the form that objectifying plays out.

There is also a project about Uncle Tom and his escape to freedom. That might be the one I’m most excited about. It’s pretty grand in scale: large panels with lush colors and vibrant backgrounds.

EXPLORE WORKS BY

Ben LaMar Gay | Anna Martine Whitehead

VIRTUAL PROGRAMMING

Sui Generis: Live Gumbo Social in the Kitchen with Delano Dunn, air date May 15, 2020 on Facebook Live.