Edwin Deen
Saturday, 12 November 2011
Work from his oeuvre
“Edwin Deen is an artist of comic relief in daily life. Displaying remarkable collections of combined natural and cultural objects which at first sight seem quite trivial, however with a closer look uncover a web of cross associations in shape, color, function and meaning. Using existing objects as mind triggers. Whether the objects are empty shampoo bottles, a juicer, a pressure cooker, parts of a freezer, Deen sorts, organizes and converts the objects stimulating a broad range of associations triggered by his manipulation. Because many of the objects have been stripped of their every day identity their definition becomes undetermined, hereby opening their reading to be interpreted anew.
Edwin Deen’s work and practice is very close to that of a scientific laboratory, with projects like Terra Incognita (2009) showing water and plastic’s ability to transform from solid to liquid to gas undergoing phases of melting and evaporation, his endeavors are of utmost focus however he deconstructs what we “know” as opposed to building on it. In science things are proven based on previously proven facts. Science needs imagination and intuition other wise there would be no progress just as in Edwin Deen’s homespun laboratory the search is into the unknown. In Deen’s work the facts are disappearing and the imagination is physical.” – TAG