Derek Sullivan

Derek Sullivan Studio view, Zig Zag chair, 2011	Derek Sullivan Peg Rail #3 (An idea folded into time. An idea folded into space.), 2011 wood rail, pine Rietveld Zig-Zag chair painted oxide green, laser cut fabric, cable on wooden form, rope weaving, unique artists’ book 60” wide x 71” high x 18” deep	Derek Sullivan Peg Rail #3 (An idea folded into time. An idea folded into space.), 2011 wood rail, pine Rietveld Zig-Zag chair painted oxide green, laser cut fabric, cable on wooden form, rope weaving, unique artists’ book 60” wide x 71” high x 18” deep
Installation view Walking and chewing the fat at the same time,2011	Installation view Walking and chewing the fat at the same time, 2011	Peg Rail #2 (walking and chewing the fat at the same time),2011 wood rail, pine Rietveld Zig-Zag chair with aluminum paint, 3 pieces of rope, laser cut fabric, unique artists' book
detail Fifteen Illustrations for (and/or from) the book that is (and/or will be) titled More Young Americans,2011 Coloured pencil, gouache and EPSOM print on paper 15 parts 13.7 x 10.7"each

Walking and chewing the fat at the same time

In this exhibition of new sculpture and works on paper, Derek Sullivan, a bibliophile in his own right, furthers his proposition that a book is a concept with its own generative and malleable capacity for meaning. Fifteen illustrations for (and/or from) the book that is (and/or will be) titled More Young Americans is an ambitious, multi-part work on paper that posits itself to be extracted illustrations from an absent book. Determining the subject of this book is an exercise in speculation; a narrative may perhaps be gleaned from the juxtaposition of abstract forms, images and missing pages. The panels consist of original drawings, collage and found images taken from an array of bibliographic sources that comprise histories of modernist design, abstraction and conceptual art. Sullivan’s illustrations for an absent book complicate the experience of finding and fixing meaning, suggesting that reading itself is act of interpretation that involves continual fluctuations of meaning.

Continuing his interest in the forms and legacies of modernist design, Sullivan has hand-fabricated three wood replicas of Gerrit Rietveld’s iconic De Stijl “Zig Zag” chair, which he displays hung on a wall-mounted wooden peg rail. Each chair also holds a single copy of a unique artist’s book, amongst an accumulation of various objects. Though now a ubiquitous home furnishing, the peg rail originated with the Shakers, a 19th to early 20th century American religious sect whose elegant and functional approach to craftsmanship later influenced modernist furniture designers. Through this anachronistic pairing, Sullivan speaks to the overlapping and contradictory nature of histories of art and design.

Albatross Omnibus, Derek Sullivan’s concurrent solo exhibition at The Power Plant continues until November 20. Recent solo exhibitions have been held at KIOSK, Ghent (2011); University of Waterloo Art Gallery (2010); Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge (2008); White Columns, New York (2008), and Tatjana Pieters/OneTwenty Gallery, Ghent (2008). His work has been included in group exhibitions at Oakville Galleries (2011); Casino Luxembourg Forum d’art contemporain (2008); Artists Space, New York (2007); the Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver (2007), and The Power Plant (2005 and 2006). Sullivan was nominated for The Sobey Art Award in 2009 and 2011.

Artists:
Derek Sullivan