We are excited to present Dan Peterman's new body of work, which insistently explores the intersection of art and ecology. He employs a wide variety of strategies for developing projects and installations that include social and economic considerations and an array of ecologically complicated material and situational choices. While not overly didactic or prescriptive, his work touches upon the complex linkages of cause and effect, fluctuating values, material transformations and our evolving attempts to make sense of our material impact on the world.
In the suite of projects presented here, Peterman launches a speculative ecological dialogue that links a diverse set of materials, processes and references. A wood framed recreation of a Han dynasty funerary object entitled Pigsty/Latrine explores a 2,000 year old model of sanitation and nutrient conservation while simultaneously referencing the contemporary marketing of western wood frame housing to China's growing middle class. In My Sky, a throwaway tidbit of paper- a flight boarding pass- chronicles a pattern of travel and personal impact on carbon emissions.
Things That Were are Things Again is a running wall frieze of fluid and imprecise open-poured metallic elements. Generated by way of a simplified foundry process that melts down and recasts scrap aluminum objects, this pragmatic recycling exercise has resulted in a collection of "artifacts" that reference museological structures and a desire for clear historical placement and interpretive strategies.
While maintaining a rigorous art practice, Peterman also founded and runs the Experimental Station, a non-profit organization that provides support for innovative cultural and small enterprise initiatives. The Experimental Station and Peterman's studio were destroyed by a fire in 2001. This will be his first body of studio-based work presented in the United States since rebuilding both.
Dan Peterman was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1960. He lives and works in Chicago, Illinois.
For more information and images please contact Jeremy Lawson in our press department at j.lawson@rosengallery.com or 212.627.6000.
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