David Herbert (born July 16, 1977)
["David Herbert"]
Postmasters Gallery. Retrieved March 27, 2010. is an American sculptor. He remakes cultural icons such as
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...
,
Superman
Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...
and a
VHS cassette.
Life
David Herbert was born in Seattle, Washington. He gained a B.F.A. from the
Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle and an M.F.A. from
Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.
["Passport to the arts"]
, '' The New Yorker'', 2009. Retrieved March 27, 2010.
Art career
Herbert worked initially with video, before changing to sculpture.
In July 2006, Herbert's ''VHS'', a giant replica of a videocassete of ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' was exhibited at
Postmasters Gallery in New York City.
[Johnson]
"The Listings: July 7 - July 13"
'' The New York Times'', July 7, 2006. Retrieved March 27, 2010.
In December 2006, in ''The Bong Show'' at the Leslie Tonkonow Gallery in New York, Herbert's ''Creature from Bong Water Bog'', was a green head with scales, twice life-size, open mouth and partially underwater in a glass tank.
[Baker, R. C]
"Buzz-Worthy"
'' The Village Voice'', December 19, 2006. Retrieved December 27, 2010.
In January 2007, his solo show, ''I (heart) New York'', took place at the Postmasters Gallery in New York.
[ The center of the show was a 14-foot (4.2 m) tall sculpture of a decaying ]Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the st ...
.["I (heart) New York"]
, oneartworld.com. Retrieved March 27, 2010. Drawings included a depression era speaker and a burning flag with a KKK member.[
Herbert was included in Postmaster Gallery's installation at the 2007 Miami Pulse festival. In 2008, in the show ''Amerika: Back to the Future'' at the Postmasters Gallery, he exhibited a foam-core model of the "Starship ''Enterprise''",][ supported by a wooden framework and with Paleolithic markings all over it, and also a depiction of Mickey Mouse—"retro-primitivist sculptures hichreconfigure 20th century icons ... as crudely constructed stone-age totems".
In March 2009, his work appeared in the America festival ''Discover US!'' in Berlin, which presented 18 contemporary US artists. Herbert used American entertainment icons as a subject, transforming Superman into a skeletal figure of pain and Mickey Mouse into a feeble puppet, pointing to the reality behind the travesty of everyday life.
In June 2008, two works, ''Beautiful Superman'' and ''Western Model'', were included in ''Freedom'', the eleventh staging of ''The Hague Sculpture'' in The Hague, focusing that year on sculpture of American artists active since 1958. The exhibition took place in the Lange Voorhout avenue and was opened by the Mayor, ]Jozias van Aartsen
Jozias Johannes van Aartsen (. born 25 December 1947) is a retired Dutch politician who served as Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy from 2004 to 2006.
A native of The Hague, he attended the Christelijk Gymnasium Sorghvliet ...
; the theme of freedom was chosen for its particular association with the United States. Herbert was provided with accommodation and made his work in the Zijderveld studio in liaison with the carpentry workshop.[Roeththof, Guikje; Van Den Dikkenberg, Rutger]
"Zonder kunstenaar geen kunst"
Netherlands: ''PM'', p. July 25, 11, 2008. Retrieved March 28, 2010. ''Western Model'' is an object which fuses a wooden car with a house on top of it;[ the car is modelled on the ]Ford Model T
The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, which made car travel available to middle-class Americans. The relati ...
.
His solo show ''Nostalgia for Infinity'' took place at the Postmasters Gallery in May 2009,[Zegeer, Brian]
"David Herbert, 'Nostalgia for Infinity' "
''Time Out
Time-out, Time Out, or timeout may refer to:
Time
* Time-out (sport), in various sports, a break in play, called by a team
* Television timeout, a break in sporting action so that a commercial break may be taken
* Timeout (computing), an enginee ...
'' (New York), June 4, 2009. Retrieved March 27, 2010. and took as its starting point work by illustrators and animators to make "playful, mixed-media sculptures of architectural and pop cultural monuments in various states of deconstruction and dilapidation." He reconstructed out of chicken wire and spray foam a large version of Ridley Scott's alien, titled ''Monarch'', showing the alien with a butterfly on its hand and sitting in a rocking chair.[ He transcribed the first Mickey Mouse cartoon, ''Steamboat Willie'', in a stop-motion video, ''Séance for the Symphony'', with flatulent sounds in the background and crude cardboard characters, with the result that "The tension between the cartoon and its humble re-creation educes a drama that’s both sad and beautiful."][
In December 2009, ''Don't Flee the Artmarket'' was a group show at the Postmasters Gallery of nearly 300 works, one of the "quirky highlights"][ being Herbert's portraits in graphite of a sad lost R2-D2 and C-3PO.][McGarry, Kevin]
"Bazaar Gifts"
'' The New York Times'', December 16, 2009. Retrieved March 27, 2010. Herbert lives and works in New York.[
]
Collections
* 21c Museum"Current list of works"
, 21c Museum. Retrieved March 27, 2010.
* Saatchi Gallery["David Herbert:Biography"]
Saatchi Gallery. Retrieved March 27, 2010.
* Tacoma Art Museum[
]
References
Further reading
* Feireiss, Lukas and Klanten, Robert, ed. (2009). ''Beyond Architecture. Imaginative Buildings and Fictional Cities'', Berlin: Die Gestalten Verlag. , .
*Britt, Jaring Durst (2008). "David Herbert" in ''Freedom: American Sculpture'', exhibition catalogue, The Hague: The Hague Sculpture.
*Neiman, Carrie. "In the Studio", ''Style Weekly'', October 26, 2005.
External links
Official web siteImage of Herbert's ''Monarch''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herbert, David
American artists
1977 births
Living people
Cornish College of the Arts alumni