ARTIST STATEMENT
My work focuses on material exchange, immediacy, world building and aesthetic dialogue.
I've come to think of new and old work all belonging to an invented reality. Each painting, drawing, and analog collage is a further examination of this elseworld and its constructs, citizens, religions and history. Some hold depictions of broad landscapes and the way these spaces are carved up and shared between natural and man-made elements and their varying agendas. Other's hold intimate investigations of the populous and the relationships within.
Deletion is a critical step in my creative process. I typically utilize paint and mixed media collage elements and work quickly and instinctively on many different pieces at once so that the body of work grows together. From there I identify and isolate the moments I found to be successful and delete what I consider to be irrelevant. The deletion is often achieved by building small and large bodies of unmodulated color fields. Resting these next to other fields allows me to create honest, sculptural lines and forms by pinching paint together. I work to maneuver these spaces with soft narration and derelict symbols to further their connectivity to one another.
BIOGRAPHY
Derek Meier received a BFA with a focus in Studio Painting from the University of South Dakota. He has work in both the University’s Visual Arts Department Permanent Collection and the University President Collection.
Recent solo exhibitions include Memory Palaces at Red Garage Studio (Minneapolis, MN), There is No One New Around You at Exposure Gallery (Sioux Falls, SD), and Detecting Broader Patterns at MacRostie (Grand Rapids, MN).
Recent group and juried exhibitions include Be. Long. at Dutoit Gallery (Dayton, OH), The Figure Show at Minnetonka Center for the Arts (Minnetonka, MN), Bright Side at Gamut Gallery (Minneapolis, MN), White Ribbon at IPSO Gallery (Sioux Falls, SD), and the traveling exhibit Fiction (With Only Daylight Between Us) at Divisible Projects (Dayton, OH).
Recent curatorial projects include Groundswell at Artspace Jackson Flats (Minneapolis, MN), and an upcoming group show in fall 2020 at Gamut Gallery (Minneapolis, MN).
Meier has worked as a teaching artist previously at Edina Art Center (Edina, MN), Rum River Art Center (Anoka, MN), and as an Artist-in-Residence at the Mississippi Creative Arts School (St. Paul, MN).
Upcoming community/fundraising efforts include Art 4 Shelter 2020 at the Fillmore (Minneapolis, MN). Previous community/fundraising efforts include Feeding South Dakota Food Drive, Washington Pavilion Arts Night and Artists Against Hunger (Sioux Falls, SD).
He is currently based in St. Paul, where he works with artists with disabilities as a Client Service Coordinator and Art Educator at Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts (St. Paul, MN) and as an Art Outreach Educator through Artistry (Bloomington, MN).
My work focuses on material exchange, immediacy, world building and aesthetic dialogue.
I've come to think of new and old work all belonging to an invented reality. Each painting, drawing, and analog collage is a further examination of this elseworld and its constructs, citizens, religions and history. Some hold depictions of broad landscapes and the way these spaces are carved up and shared between natural and man-made elements and their varying agendas. Other's hold intimate investigations of the populous and the relationships within.
Deletion is a critical step in my creative process. I typically utilize paint and mixed media collage elements and work quickly and instinctively on many different pieces at once so that the body of work grows together. From there I identify and isolate the moments I found to be successful and delete what I consider to be irrelevant. The deletion is often achieved by building small and large bodies of unmodulated color fields. Resting these next to other fields allows me to create honest, sculptural lines and forms by pinching paint together. I work to maneuver these spaces with soft narration and derelict symbols to further their connectivity to one another.
BIOGRAPHY
Derek Meier received a BFA with a focus in Studio Painting from the University of South Dakota. He has work in both the University’s Visual Arts Department Permanent Collection and the University President Collection.
Recent solo exhibitions include Memory Palaces at Red Garage Studio (Minneapolis, MN), There is No One New Around You at Exposure Gallery (Sioux Falls, SD), and Detecting Broader Patterns at MacRostie (Grand Rapids, MN).
Recent group and juried exhibitions include Be. Long. at Dutoit Gallery (Dayton, OH), The Figure Show at Minnetonka Center for the Arts (Minnetonka, MN), Bright Side at Gamut Gallery (Minneapolis, MN), White Ribbon at IPSO Gallery (Sioux Falls, SD), and the traveling exhibit Fiction (With Only Daylight Between Us) at Divisible Projects (Dayton, OH).
Recent curatorial projects include Groundswell at Artspace Jackson Flats (Minneapolis, MN), and an upcoming group show in fall 2020 at Gamut Gallery (Minneapolis, MN).
Meier has worked as a teaching artist previously at Edina Art Center (Edina, MN), Rum River Art Center (Anoka, MN), and as an Artist-in-Residence at the Mississippi Creative Arts School (St. Paul, MN).
Upcoming community/fundraising efforts include Art 4 Shelter 2020 at the Fillmore (Minneapolis, MN). Previous community/fundraising efforts include Feeding South Dakota Food Drive, Washington Pavilion Arts Night and Artists Against Hunger (Sioux Falls, SD).
He is currently based in St. Paul, where he works with artists with disabilities as a Client Service Coordinator and Art Educator at Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts (St. Paul, MN) and as an Art Outreach Educator through Artistry (Bloomington, MN).
