Daniel Colen (born 1979) is an American artist based in New York. His work consists of painted

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

s appropriating low-cultural ephemera, graffiti-inspired paintings of text executed in paint, and installations.

Early life and education

Born in 1979 and raised in

Leonia, New Jersey Leonia is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 8,937,Sy Colen Sy is a given name, nickname/hypocorism (often of Seymour (given name), Seymour) and surname which may refer to: Surname In arts and entertainment * Brigitte Sy (born 1956), French actress and filmmaker * Latyr Sy (born 1972), Senegalese sing ...

, a wood and clay sculptor, was a participant in the 2006 reality TV show '' Artstar''. Colen attended Solomon Schechter Day School, and was raised

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. Colen graduated with a B.F.A. in Painting from the

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...

in 2001. After graduation he moved to the East Village in Manhattan, and by June 2006 he became a known artist. Colen was close friends with artists

Dash Snow Dashiell A. Snow (July 27, 1981 – July 13, 2009) was an American artist based in New York City.Roberta Smith"Dash Snow, New York Artist, Dies at 27" ''The New York Times'', July 14, 2009. Snow's photographs included scenes of sex, drugs, viole ...

and Ryan McGinley. In 2007, Snow and Colen shredded phone books in Jeffrey Deitch’s SoHo gallery for an installation called ''Nest'' or ''Hamster Nest''. He was described by

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

as a "bad boy of post-pop New York". When Snow died in 2009 of a heroin overdose, Colen was greatly impacted and said he was determined to end his own addiction.

Work

Colen’s work has been exhibited at galleries including

Deitch Projects Jeffrey Deitch (pronounced ''DIE-tch'';Mike Boehm (January 12, 2010)L.A.'s MOCA picks art dealer Jeffrey Deitch as director''Los Angeles Times''. born 1952) is an American art dealer and curator. He is best known for his gallery Deitch Projects ...

Gagosian Gallery Gagosian is a contemporary art gallery owned and directed by Larry Gagosian. The gallery exhibits some of the most influential artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. There are 16 gallery spaces: five in New York City; three in London; two in P ...

(2006) and Gladstone Gallery in New York, Peres Projects in

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, as well as Venus and OHWOW in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. He has shown work internationally in many exhibitions including “Potty Mouth, Potty War, Pot Roast, Pot is a Reality Kick” at

in New York, “USA Today” at the Royal Academy of Arts in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, the 2006

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, United States. The event began as an annual exhibition ...

in New York, “Fantastic Politics” at the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

and “No Me” at Peres Projects in

. In 2011 he had a solo show at the Astrup Fearnley Museum in Oslo, Norway. In his work, ''Secrets and Cymbals, Smoke and Scissors: My Friend Dash’s Wall in the Future'' (2004), Colen built an exact replica of a section of poster, photo and flyer-covered wall from friend

's apartment. Each piece of visual material was handmade and attached to a Styrofoam copy of the wall. His works are held in the collection of the

Saatchi Gallery The Saatchi Gallery is a London art gallery, gallery for contemporary art and an independent charity opened by Charles Saatchi in 1985. Exhibitions which drew upon the collection of Charles Saatchi, starting with US artists and minimalism, mov ...

, the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...

, and the

Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art The Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art is a privately owned contemporary art gallery in Oslo in Norway. It was founded and opened to the public in 1993. The collection's main focus is the American appropriation artists from the 1980s, but it is ...

References

External links

*
Dan Colen on ArtFacts.Net''What to look for in the Whitney Biennial'' artnet.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colen, Dan 1979 births Sculptors from New York (state) 21st-century American painters 21st-century American male artists 21st-century American sculptors American male sculptors Living people People from Leonia, New Jersey Rhode Island School of Design alumni 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American male artists