Áquas de Março (Waters of March)
49 Old Country Road, Water Mill 11976
Biography:
Eric Dever’s paintings harken from experiences deep within his sensory memory, including growing up in California. “Los Angeles is subtropical, the sun is more intense and sets over the Pacific.” In Drive By, Dever paints his experience of plants that he cultivates in his Water Mill studio garden. Forms appear weightless and at times dematerialize reversing figure and ground. These sensations inform Dever’s work today here on the East End becoming examples of a type of compressed time. Dever developed his full spectrum visual language after years of studying white, black, and red, which the artist describes as like breaking a long fast, and continuing his inclusion of color, he arrived at his current work.
In January 2019 Dever’s exhibit Painting in a House Made of Air, at Berry Campbell in New York attracted a large audience. Dever’s 2017 exhibit Light, Energy and Matter at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles featured 45 works covering his visual interpretation of natural forces. At New York University’s Kimmel Galleries in 2015, Dever exhibited Clarity, Passion, and Dark Inertia, 29 works that spanned a decade.
Dever’s paintings are in a number of public collections including Grey Art Gallery, New York University, the Parrish Art Museum and Guild Hall. Dever’s paintings are currently on view in U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong and Macau as part of the United States Department of State, Art in Embassies exhibition program.
Dever earned a Master of Arts from New York University in 1988 and worked in the architecture firm, Pei Cobb Freed & Partners in New York, while continuing to exhibit his paintings. He moved to the East End in 2002 and became immersed in the artistic community. At Guild Hall his work, a 5 x 10 foot painting was placed on stage for Joseph Pintauro’s play, Cloud Life, as part of the “The Painting Plays.” Artist Robert Dash, invited Dever to teach the first painting classes at the Madoo Conservancy. Dever continues to present studio painting workshops at the Parrish Art Museum and the Andy Warhol Preserve-Visual Artist Workshop (September 2020). Dever is represented by Berry Campbell in New York.
artist statement:
For many, spring marks the beginning of the year. In the southern hemisphere the seasons follow in the opposite progression. I experience spring as a touchstone, a new beginning, a self awareness in nature which my paintings track. This season has been spent much closer to home. I find myself paying particular attention to spring as it unfolds, from a dim yellow or green in March, to pale pinks which build in intensity through April, followed in May by the return of the tree canopy first experienced as red and bright green hues.
about the pandemic:
I hope the Drive By exhibit might inspire and safely bring some relief to our community, region and possibly beyond, during this period of lockdown and the temporary closures of our favorite museum and cultural venues. On a macro level, Covid-19 as a pandemic, forces us to reconsider our choices more carefully. I hope we will globally come together as one and undo the damage, and that this spring IS the beginning of a renaissance of caring for each other, all living things and the planet.
www.ericdever.com
eric@ericdever.com
telephone: 212 879 0192