Chris Dean: Modern Warfare for Men
BIOGRAPHY
Chris Dean is one of a handful of artists worldwide with a studio practice dedicated to lenticular imagery. Born in Detroit in 1968 Dean became interested in stereoscopic work as a student at San Jose State in the 90s. In a time when advocates of of virtual reality forecast a future of “deep immersion” into synthetic worlds Dean was exploring a century old technology with a history of commercialism and novelty. This fact remains in his work. “There is no escaping the commercial history of lenticular art, from CrackerJack prizes to pinup girls, lenticular has appealed more to advertisers as a trick than to serious fine artists. It is not a bad thing, and I often like to poke at lenticular’s commercial history.” While this certainly happens there is much more to the picture.
Nostalgia gives way to subversive commentary as Dean wraps his images in a disarming cloak of humor. The force of the work is perhaps most strongly felt in the way imagery and medium work together compelling the viewer to look deep into its hypnotic interior. In this place Dean delivers, not with a product this time but with intrigue and acute artistic vision.
Dean’s first solo exhibit was at Detroit’s CPOP gallery in 2006. The show nearly sold out opening night and forcast Dean’s success in the exhibits across the US that followed. In 2007 Dean’s work was featured at the Art Gallery of Windsor’s Biennial show in Canada and in 2008 he was selected by Proximo Spirits for a national campaign using his work in print ads, on billboards and silk screened on limited edition bottles of 1800 Tequila. As for the future Dean plans on exploring the photographic potential of the medium at deeper levels and moving away from the computer. “Now that technology has made lenticular photography of motion subjects possible I see a whole new range of possibilities.
Blowing things up in 3D has a stranglehold on my imagination right now, as do a few other less dramatic time-based scenarios. I have an ever growing list of things to do when I am bored.” Looking at Dean’s work it is hard to imagine he is ever bored and the calisthenics required to view Dean’s lenticular work guarantee the audience will never be. A new series for 2009, Live From Detroit, proves the point with late night pub crawls producing a head spinning assortment of 3D lenticular photographs that document the region’s indy-rock culture. With such a range of work behind him and plans for the future Dean might just make the word “lenticular” an accepted part of the fine arts vernacular.
Chris Dean is represented in the UK by Mauger Modern Art
Prints in situ
