Danielle Dean
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Danielle Dean, Look, the Future of Force, 2014Sketch for Training. Courtesy of the artist. -
Danielle Dean, No Lye, 2012HG video, color sound and mixed media. 10:00 min. 48 x 70 x 50 in. (121.92 x 177.8 x 127 cm). Courtesy of the artist. -
Danielle Dean, No Lye (detail), 2012HG video, color sound and mixed media. 10:00 min. 48 x 70 x 50 in. (121.92 x 177.8 x 127 cm). Courtesy of the artist. -
Danielle Dean, No Lye (still), 2012HD video, color, sound. 10:00 min. Courtesy of the artist. -
Danielle Dean, No Lye (still), 2012HD video, color, sound. 10:00 min. Courtesy of the artist. -
Danielle Dean, No Lye (still), 2012HD video, color, sound. 10:00 min. Courtesy of the artist. -
Danielle Dean, No Lye (still), 2012HD video, color, sound. 10:00 min. Courtesy of the artist. -
Danielle Dean, Training, 2014Two-channel video, color, sound. 11:16 min. Source texts: Nike advertising campaigns, 1988–2014; Abraham Lincoln, speech in New Haven, Connecticut, 1860; W.E.B. DuBois, speech to members of the Niagara Movement, 1906; Gil Scott-Heron, Small Talk at 125th and Lenox, 1970; Milton Friedman, found on Becker Friedman institute website; bell hooks, Reel to Real: Race, Sex and Class at the Movies, 1996; David Cameron, speech on public service reform, 2011; Michelle Obama, speech at the Democratic National Convention, 2012; David Cameron, speech at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet, 2013; Barack Obama, “Remarks by the President on Economic Mobility,” 2013. Courtesy of the artist. -
Danielle Dean, Traning, 2014Two-channel video, color, sound. 11:16 min. Source texts: Nike advertising campaigns, 1988–2014; Abraham Lincoln, speech in New Haven, Connecticut, 1860; W.E.B. DuBois, speech to members of the Niagara Movement, 1906; Gil Scott-Heron, Small Talk at 125th and Lenox, 1970; Milton Friedman, found on Becker Friedman institute website; bell hooks, Reel to Real: Race, Sex and Class at the Movies, 1996; David Cameron, speech on public service reform, 2011; Michelle Obama, speech at the Democratic National Convention, 2012; David Cameron, speech at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet, 2013; Barack Obama, “Remarks by the President on Economic Mobility,” 2013. Courtesy of the artist. -
Danielle Dean, Training, 2014Two-channel video, color, sound. 11:16 min. Source texts: Nike advertising campaigns, 1988–2014; Abraham Lincoln, speech in New Haven, Connecticut, 1860; W.E.B. DuBois, speech to members of the Niagara Movement, 1906; Gil Scott-Heron, Small Talk at 125th and Lenox, 1970; Milton Friedman, found on Becker Friedman institute website; bell hooks, Reel to Real: Race, Sex and Class at the Movies, 1996; David Cameron, speech on public service reform, 2011; Michelle Obama, speech at the Democratic National Convention, 2012; David Cameron, speech at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet, 2013; Barack Obama, “Remarks by the President on Economic Mobility,” 2013. Courtesy of the artist.
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Danielle Dean
Born 1982 in Huntsville, Alabama
Danielle Dean creates videos that unravel language in an effort to examine culture, forcing the viewer to connect seemingly disparate phrases and disjointed conversations. Echoing her videos, Dean’s installations often contain fragments of a whole—implications of scenes, pieces of furniture, some commercial products, or an empty stage. Dean is interested in using these fragments to draw out the effects of colonialism on the cultivation of identity. Born in the United States but raised in England, she processes the values and peculiarities of our culture as an outsider by quoting advertising, news media, film, and music.
The characters in Dean’s work speak using partial quotations from politicians, commercials, and popular texts to defy the viewer’s attempts to make sense of a story. Conversations become largely abstract, forcing the audience to take meaning from the tone of voice, as if from a foreign language. Working in tandem with Dean’s use of fragmented language, mundane fashion products are recast as ominous markers of revolution and ruin—beauty products are used to make bombs and athletic shoes become markers of identity. By examining the images and social cues respected at different cultural levels, Dean puts a sharp focus on the material values socially engendered in us all.