Stephen Dean is a French American artist based in New York City. His time-based works, installations and watercolors summon physiological and anthropological approaches to color. Often working from existing forms or events, Dean focuses on the immediacy of color and it’s ability to precede language and cultural codes. His contemplative and immersive works engage the chromatic spectrum as a spatial and social matter while pursuing structures, patterns and moments of chromatic intensity, in the everyday world.
A self-taught artist, Dean started exhibiting in NY at the Bronx Museum AIM program and at the Drawing Center Selection Spring in the mid 90s.
He has exhibited nationally and internationally; notable museum exhibitions include “Nel Tempo” Villa e Collezione Panza, Varese; “ Drawing as practice” National Academy of Design NY; “Art of Sport” Copenhagen Contemporary; “Le cours des choses” CAPC, Bordeaux; “The Beautiful Game” Perez Museum, Miami, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA; “Shock of the News” National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.; “Les Maitres du Désordre” Musée du quai Branly, Paris; “Double Down: Two Visions of Las Vegas” San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; "Living with Duchamp" at the Tang Teaching Museum at Skidmore college, NY.
His works have been featured in the Whitney Biennial, the Seville Biennial, the Istanbul Biennial, the 51st Venice Biennial, SITE Santa Fe Biennial, and the Moscow Biennial.
In 2010 he was a fellow at the Villa Medici, French academy in Rome. In 2014, Rice University Public Art commissioned him a permanent installation for the Anderson Clarke Center for Continuing studies. In 2017 Dean completed a 70' permanent wall installation, titled “Crosswords” commissioned by the Percent for Art/New York City Department of Cultural Affairs for a public school in Brooklyn, NY. The following year, he received the Peter S. Reed foundation grant. His early watercolors were the subject of a monograph published by Bandini Books in 2020 titled “Morning comes without warning”. In 2022, his sculpture Prayer Mill was part of the exhibition “Odd Convergences”, curated by Jean-Hubert Martin at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow.
His installation Crescendo is currently on view at Basilique Saint Denis until january 2025.
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Guggenheim Museum, New York, New York
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
The Phillips Collection, Washington D.C.
National gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut
Blanton Museum of Arts, Austin, Texas
Harvard University Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts
The Tang Museum, Skidmore college, Saratoga Springs, New York
The Benaki Museum, Athens
Elgiz Museum, Istanbul
Institut Valencia d'Art Modern, Valencia, Spain
Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Paris, France
Fond Regional d'Art Contemporain, Corse, France
Musée d'Art Contemporain de Vitry-sur-Seine, France
Coleccion La Caixa, Barcelona, Madrid
Israel Museum, Tel Aviv, Israel
La Fundacion Jumex, Mexico City, Mexico
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Greensboro, North Carolina
Musée des Abattoirs, FRAC Occitanie, Toulouse
Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, France
AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES
2018 Peter S. Reed foundation grant, New York, NY
2011 CEC Artslinks grant, Pro Arte Foundation, St Petersburg, Russia
2009/10 Rome prize, Académie de France, Villa Medici, Italy
2008 Tokyo Wonder Site Institute of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
2004 Altadis prize, Spain / France
2003 Travel grant, Diyarbakyr, Turkey - US Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs
1994 Artists in the Marketplace fellowship, Bronx Museum, NY
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 - 25 Crescendo, Basilique de Saint Denis - Noirmont art production / Centre des monuments nationaux
2020 Morning comes without morning, Mouvements/rue Visconti, Paris
2019 Rehearsal with Props, Casa Triangulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Enigma of Arrival, Hermès Iguatemi, Sao Paulo, Brazil
2017 Crosswords, NYC Percent for Art / Department of Cultural Affairs, PS/IS 338, Brooklyn, NY ( permanent installation )
2016 Ameringer McEnery Yohe, New York, NY
2015 How Far Is Red, SWATCH, Zurich Flughafen, Switzerland
2014 Ladder descending a staircase, Anderson-Clarke Center for Continuing Studies, Rice University, Houston, TX ( permanent installation )
Jugglers, AmeringerMcEnery Yohe, New York, New York
Chaos of color, McClain Gallery, Houston, Texas
Jugglers, Casa Triangulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
2013 Works on Paper and Edges, Baldwin gallery, Aspen, Colorado
2011 Fever, Centro Cultural Koldo Mitxelena, San Sebastian, Spain
2010 Fever, Le Chateau d'Eau, Bourges, France
Trampolines, Ecole Superieure d'Art et Media, Caen, France
2009 Watercolors & videos, Baldwin gallery, Aspen, Colorado
Sara Meltzer gallery, New York, NY
Obra Reciente, Galeria Max Estrella, Madrid, Spain
2008 Countdown, Casa Triangulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Miniature, Tokyo Wonder Site institute of Contemporary Art, Japan
2007 Angle of bending, Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, CO
Silent Pictures, Sara Meltzer gallery, New York, NY
No More Bets, Galeria Max Estrella, Madrid, Spain
2006 VOLTA, Miami Art Museum, FL
Grand Prix, Galerie Xippas, Paris, France
Exit Contemporary Art Institute, Peja, Kosovo
2005 Stephen Dean, Museum of Fine Arts of Santander, Spain
2004 Galerie Xippas, Athenes, Greece
2003 VOLTA, Henry Urbach Architecture, New York, NY
Galerie Xippas, Paris, France
2001 PULSE, Henry Urbach Architecture, New York, NY
PULSE, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Greensboro, NC
Marcel Sitcoske Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2000 Galerie Xippas, Paris, France
1999 Hales Gallery, London, England
Marcel Sitcoske Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1998 Galerie Xippas, Paris, France
1997 Galerie Cohn-Edelstein, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1995 Galerie Xippas, Paris, France
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 Nel Tempo, Villa e Collezione Panza, Varese
Il était une fois les stades, Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine, Paris
Crosswords, Works from the Panza collection, Osart gallery, Milan
Nikos Alexiou. The Collection, Benaki Museum, Athens
I am the bridge between what is and what coule be, curated by Y. Melike Yürekli, Elgyz Museum, Istanbul
Art of the Terraces, curated by Pauline Rushton, Walker Art gallery, National Museums Liverpool
Building the beautiful gameDesign, Design Museum, London
2021 Affinités Insolites, curated by Jean Hubert Martin, Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow
Humano más humano, curated by Nimfa Bisbe, La Fundación “La Caixa” @ Fundación Barrié, La Coruna
Art of Sport, curated by Marie Nipper, Copenhagen Contemporary
Inner space / other space, curated by Simon Watson The Bunker Artspace, Miami
Fantastic Voyage, Peter Piper Pictures, Redhook, NY
2019 Selection from the permanent collection, The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC
Remake - Quand la video rejoue le cinema, FRAC Normandie Rouen
Projection of Presence, Elgyz Museum, Istanbul
Imagetica Hot, curated by Henrique Menezes, Galeria do DMAE, Porto Alegre
2018 The World's Game, curated by Franklin Sirmans, Perez Art Museum Miami, FL
Rose Ocean: Living with Duchamp, curated by Ian Berry, Tang Museum at Skidmore college, NY
Naturel pas Naturel, curated by Anne Alessandri and Philippe Costamagna, Palais Fesch Musée des Beaux-Arts d' Ajaccio
En voiture, artistes de la collection des Abattoirs, Musée/FRAC, Lézignan-Corbières
2017 Zoo Machine, curated by Thierry Ollat, Musée d’Art Contemporain, Marseille
Round Colors, Monteverita, Paris
Sans Réserve, Parcours de la collection du MacVaL, Vitry sur Seine
Smell of Malaga, Perceptiones olfativas de coleccion olorVISUAL, Museo Municipal de Malaga
Fever, MOVIMENTA / Facade du Theatre National de Nice
Slow Dimwitted Carnage, Coustof Waxman gallery, New York, NY
Radiant Space, McClain gallery, Houston, TX
Matin Midi Soir, curated by Laure Flammarion, Honoré Visconti , Paris
Black & White & Red All Over, curated by Sara Reisman, Galerie L'Inlassable, Paris *
Tropicalia, L'Inlassable Museum, Paris
2015 The Museum Imagined, curated by Lilly Wei, Danese Corey gallery, New York, NY
Nature/Nurture, curated by Ron Platt, Grand Rapids Art Museum, MI
Arquitecturas y Espacios en la Collecion RAC, Centro Cibeles, Madrid, Spain
IRIS Time, L' Inlassable Museum, New York, NY
(647912), L' Inlassable galerie, New York, NY
2014 Futbol: The Beautiful Game, curated by Frankin Sirmans, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA
FAIRPLAY, curated by Cristina Perrella, Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI secolo, Rome
Art=Text+Art, Works from the Kramarsky Collection, UB Anderson gallery, University of Buffalo, NY
LIGHT3, curated by Lilly Wei, Fridman gallery, New York, NY
Honoré, curated by Laure Flammarion & Pauline Leveque, Rue Visconti, Paris
Rumor...decolonials, curated by Suset Sanchez, Collecion La Caixa, Barcelona, Spain
Casa Triangulo No Pivo, Copan Building, Sao Paolo, Brazil
2013 Junkies' promises, curated by Ivan Navarro, Paul Kasmin gallery, New York, NY
Art=Text=Art, Works from the Kramarsky Collection, The Hafnarfjordur Center of Fine Art, Iceland
Celestial, McClain Gallery, Houston, Texas
2012 Shock of the news, curated by Judith Brodie, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
Audience as Subject, curated by Betti-Sue Hertz, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Art=Text=Art, Works from the Kramarsky Collection, Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick, NJ
Targets, curated by Claude d'Anthenaise, Musee de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris,
Les Maitres du Désordre, curated by Jean de Loisy, Musee du quai Branly, Paris
2011 Contemporary Art in the Traditional Museum, Pro Arte foundation / Russian Ethnographic Museum, St.Petersurg
Art=Text=Art, Works from the Kramarsky Collection, Richmond University Museum, VA
Car Fetish, I drive therefore I am, curated by Roland Wetzel, Tinguely Museum, Basel, Switzerland
Mary Poppins is a junkie, ShowRoom Gallery, New York, NY
Grande Image Lab, curated by Christophe Domino, Nuit Blanche, Paris, France
L’ Art est un sport de combat, curated by Jean-Marc Huitorel, Musée des Beaux Arts de Calais, France
2010 The Jewel Thief, curated by Jessica Stockholder & Ian Berry, Tang Museum, Saratoga Springs, NY
I Mutanti, curated by Eric de Chassey, Villa Medici, Rome, Italy
Coleccion Premios Altadis, curated by Maria and Lorena Del Corral, La Lonja, Alicante, Spain
Cromocronias, Centro José Guerrero, Granada, Spain
One Shot, curated by Pierre-Olivier Rollin, B.P.S.22 Charleroi, Belgium
2009 Against Exclusion, curated by Jean Hubert Martin, 3rd Moscow Biennial, Garage for Contemporary Culture, Moscow
Talking Pictures, curated by Laura Steward, SITE Santa Fe, New Mexico
Wintry, Magazzino d' Arte Moderna, Rome, Italy
AUTO, Dream and Matter, curated by Alberto Martin, Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo de Madrid, Spain
2008 Double Down: Two Visions of Las Vegas, curated by Henry Urbach, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Into the trees, curated by Lilly Wei, Art OMI, Ghent, NY
Plus de realité, Le Hangar a Bananes, Nantes, France
Landerspiel, Museum Moderner Kunst Kaernten, Klagenfurt, Austria
2007 Mouth Open, Teeth Showing, Major works from the True Collection, Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, Washington
20th anniversary show, Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, New York,
Esquiador en el fondo de un pozo, curated by Michel Blanc-Sube, La Coleccion Jumex, Mexico
Building Spills and Spins Past Midnight, Galerie Les Filles du Calvaires, Brussels
2006 Stillpoints of the Turning World, curated by Klaus Ottman, Site Santa Fe Biennial, New Mexico
New York Interrupted, curated by Dan Cameron, PKM gallery, Beijing, China
Ball the Wall, David Risley Gallery, London, England
The Beautiful Game, curated by Franklyn Sirmans & Trevor Schoonmaker, Roebbling Hall Gallery, New York, New York
La Force de l'art, Grand Palais, Paris, France
Human Game, curated by Francesco Bonami and Stefano Tonchi, Fondazione Pitti, Florence, Italy
L’ Inde dans tous les sens, curated by Hervé Mikaeloff, L’Espace Culturel Louis Vuitton, Paris
Art and Football, curated by Alfons Hug, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2005 Always a Little Further, curated by Rosa Martinez, Arsenal, 51st International Venice Biennial, Italy
Facade projections, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
Roundleather world, curated by Harald Szeeman, Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin, Germany
War is over, Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo, Italy
Paris in Shanghai, curated by Jean-Luc Monterosso, Shanghai Museum of Fine Art, China
Parilla, curated by Ivan Navarro, Centro Cultural Matucana 100, Santiago, Chili
Airborne, Henry Urbach Architecture, New York, New York
Double Vision, curated by Maria Rosa Sossai, Magazzino d'Arte Moderna, Rome, Italy
2004 The Joy of my Dreams, curated by Harald Szeeman, 1st International Biennial of Sevilla, Spain
Open House, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York
Prix Altadis, Galerie Anne de Villepoix, Paris / Elba Benitez, Madrid, Spain
The Human Condition, The Dream of a Shadow, Museo d’Historia, Barcelona
Multitudes, Fond Regional d'Art Contemporain Corse, France
2003 Poetic Justice, curated by Dan Cameron, 8th Istanbul Biennial, Turkey
Living with Duchamp, curated by Ian Berry, Tang Museum, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York
The Stadium, Muro Sur: Contemporary Art Gallery, Santiago, Chili
Post-Impact, curated by Georges Armaos, Collection Portalakis, Athenes, Greece
Nuit Blanche, curated by Noelle Chabert, Musée Zadkine, Paris, France
2002 Whitney Biennial, curated by Larry Rinder, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York
The Theory of Leisure, curated by Dan Cameron, La Coleccion Jumex, Mexico
Nao e cinema, nao e televisao e nem e video, Capacete Entertainments, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Déplacements, curated by Dominique Abensour, Le Quartier, Quimper, France
Exotisme, vu d'ici, vues d'aileurs, Fond Regional d'Art Contemporain Corse
2000 Finely Drawn, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Greensboro, North Carolina
1998 Wall paper, Nicolas Davis Gallery, New York New, New York
Hales Gallery, London, England
1997 Paolo Baldacci Gallery, New York, New York
Oeuvres du FNAC, Musée de Grenoble, France
1996 Walk on the Soho Side, curated by Marc Pottier, New York, New York
Guillaume Galozzi Gallery, New York, New York
Autour de Cercle et Carré, Maison des Arts Georges Pompidou, Cajarc, France
1995 Selection Spring' 95, The Drawing Center, New York, New York
Avant-garde Walk in Venezia, curated by Marc Pottier, Venice
1994 Crash, curated by Tom Zummer, Thread Waxing Space, New York, New York
Friends, 55 Mercer St. Gallery, New York, New York
Possible Things, curated by Vik Muniz, Bardamu Gallery, New York, New York
Artists in the Marketplace, Bronx Museum for the Arts, New York, New York
FESTIVALS AND SCREENINGS
2016 ARTE Video Night, Maison Européenne de la Photo, Paris
2015 Videos d' Artiste #8, Stephen Dean & Anne Deleporte, Maison Européenne de la Photo, Paris
2012 ARTE Video Night, Palais de Tokyo, Paris - ARTE TV, Germany / France
2011 Stephen Dean painter/film-maker, ARTE TV, Germany / France
Initiation to Mystery, Soirées Nomades, Fondation Cartier, Paris
2010 ARTE Video Night, Petit Palais, Paris - ARTE TV, Germany / France
2009 Cutting the edge, Miami international film festival, , Florida
2006 Histoires courtes, France 2 TV , France
2005 L'experience metisse, Auditorium du Louvre, Musée du Louvre, Paris, France
2004 In Progress, Locarno International Film Festival, Locarno, Switzerland
Situations construites, Attitudes, Geneva, Switzerland
Festival Art Rock, Saint Brieuc, France
Exhibition, ARTE TV Germany/France
2003 Edinburgh Film Festival, Scotland
Rencontres International Paris/Berlin, Arsenal, Berlin, Germany
2002 Corto Circuito, Short-film festival, Naples, Italy "Best European short film"
Festival du court métrage en plein air de Grenoble, France "Jury's special mention"
International Film Festival, Athens, Greece
Festival du Film d'Aubagne, France "Best documentary"
Filmvideo, Festival de Montecatini, Pistoia, Italy "Best photography"
International Art Film Festival, Bratislava, Slovakia "Golden Key - Artefacts"
International Film Festival, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
International short film Festival, La Ciotat, France
International Film Festival of Fine Arts, Szolnok, Hungary
Bilbao International Film Festival, Spain "Best documentary"
2001 Festival International du Film d’Art, Montréal, Canada
© 1994 - 2023 Stephen Dean. All rights reserved.