STATEMENT

David Detrich is a conceptual artist that works in a variety of media. He creates situations in which objects are altered, detached and reordered from their initial intended manufacture and context. By applying specific combinations and manipulations, different functions and/or contexts are created. By focusing on techniques and materials, he creates work using creative game tactics.

The central content of the work takes on current social and environmental issues. Albeit serious, this content quickly becomes a subtext yielding to a quirky and humorous façade. The work questions the coerciveness that is derived from the more profound meaning by using artificial fake replicas which support superficial aesthetic appearance.

The politics of nature, industry, food source, and self are all at stake in an otherworldly small scale playing field.

BIOGRAPHY

Originally from East St. Louis, Illinois, David Detrich received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Kansas City Art Institute in Missouri and his Master of Fine Arts degree from Alfred University in New York. He has exhibited his work nationally and internationally including venues at the Tallina Kunstiulikool in Tallin, Estonia the American Cultural Center in Taipei, Taiwan, and most recently in a solo exhibition at the Contemporary Art Observatorium (CTAO) in Lavagna, Italy. His work is represented in public and private collections nationally and internationally.

EDUCATION

ALFRED UNIVERSITY, Alfred, New York. MASTER OF FINE ARTS

KANSAS CITY ART INSTITUTE, Kansas City, Kansas. BACHELOR OF FINE ARTS

SOUTHWESTERN ILLINOIS COLLEGE, Belleville, Illinois. ASSOCIATE OF ARTS

SELECTED PUBLIC EXHIBITIONS OF WORK

DAVID DETRICH - SYSTEM OF SIMULACRA - CON-TEMPORARY Art Observatorium - Lavagna, Italy (International Solo Exhibition)

EGOCRACY - CON-TEMPORARY Art Observatorium - Lavagna, Italy (International Juried Group Exhibition)

SCETV EXHIBITION- SCETV Headquarters, Columbia, SC (Invitational Group Exhibition)

“VISIBLE/INVISIBLE” – OSKALOOSA ART CENTER, Oskaloosa, IA (national curated invitational)

“ARTFIELDS 2017”, Lake City, SC - Regional 12 state competition. Created new interactive sculptural work constituting a 5-month building process leading to exhibition.

“GRAYSCALE”, 5&J / CHARLES ADAMS GALLERY - Lubbock, TX (national curated invitational)

“INDOOR PRO: MID-SOUTH SCULPTURE ALLAINCE EXHIBITION” – GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY, ERNEST G. WELCH SCHOOL OF ART AND DESIGN, Atlanta, GA (regional juried exhibition; by chief curator for the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, Joseph Antenucci Becherer

“MATERIAL WORLD” – GREENVILLE COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART, Greenville, SC (continuing exhibition Curated from the museum collection)

“DAVID DETRICH @ CUICAR – CLEMSON UNIVERSITY INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR AUTOMOTIVE RESEARCH, Greenville, SC (Solo exhibition)

“DAVID DETRICH” – SOUTH CAROLINA GOVERNORS SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES, Greenville, SC (Solo Exhibition)

“TOYS AND GAMES” – RIVERWORKS GALLERY, Greenville, SC (Invitational Group Exhibition)

“SCRIPTED SPACES” – MARTOS GALLERY, Los Angeles, CA (Group exhibition curated by Cecelia Stucker)

“MATERIAL WORLD” – GREENVILLE COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART, Greenville, SC (Curated from the museum collection)

SC ANNUAL COLLEGIATE EXHIBITION, Spartanburg Public Library, Spartanburg, SC (Invitational Group Exhibit; received Faculty Award))

“A SENSE OF PLACE”, THE GERTRUDE HERBERT INSTITUTE OF ART, Augusta, GA (national juried exhibition, Don Kimes, Artistic director in the visual arts for the Chautauqua Institution, New York, and a professor of art at American University, Washington, DC., juror)

CAROLINA’S GOT ART, Charlotte, NC (regional juried competition curated by Lance Esplund, art critic for Muse, the arts and leisure section of Bloomberg News)

“SC3D – An Exhibition of Three-Dimensional Art from South Carolina”, 701 CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, Columbia, SC (curated invitational)

"STATE ART COLLECTION: CONTEMPORARY CONVERSATIONS", SPARTANBURG ART MUSEUM, Spartanburg, SC (exhibition curated by Eleanor Heartney)

"6TH ANNUAL MAGNITUDE 7", MANIFEST GALLERY, Cincinnati, OH (national juried competition)

"PAIRS", RIVERWORKS GALLERY / GREENVILLE TECH, Greenville, SC (curated invitational)

"ART IN ACADEMIA", CLA GALLERY, Mobile, AL (juried competition in conjunction with SECAC conference)

"FUNCTION NOT FUNCTION, ARMORY GALLERY at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA (two-person invitational exhibition)

"STATE ART COLLECTION: CONTEMPORARY CONVERSATIONS" 701 CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ART, Columbia SC (exhibition curated by Eleanor Heartney)

"UNFAMILIAR GROUND", GALLERY RFD, Swainsboro, GA (national juried competition; Paula Katz, assistant curator Columbus Museum)

"ROLE CALL", (MCAC) MACON CONTEMPORARY ARTS CENTER IN THE CAE GALLERY, Macon, GA. (curated regional exhibition)

NATIONAL JURIED SHOW, MARIN SOCIETY OF ARTISTS, Ross, California (national juried competition; juried by René de Guzman, Director of Visual Arts programming at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA; received 2nd place Sculpture award)

DAVID DETRICH, RECENT WORK, ZONE GALLERY, Kansas City, Missouri (solo exhibition)

STATE ART COLLECTION EXHIBITION AT THE SUMTER GALLERY OF ART, Sumter, SC (curated group exhibition)

“IN AMERICA NOW”, DON O’MELVENY GALLERY, West Hollywood, California, (national juried competition; juried by Peter Frank, art critic for L.A. Weekly)

“DAVID DETRICH”, SHEFFIELD WOOD GALLERY @ THE FINE ARTS CENTER, Greenville, South Carolina (solo exhibition; 13 works exhibited)

NATIONAL JURIED SHOW, MARIN SOCIETY OF ARTISTS, Ross, California (national juried competition; Richard Shaw, juror)

“DESIGN & ART IN PUBLIC PLACES”, ANDERSON COUNTY ARTS CENTER, Anderson, South Carolina (regional invitational; 10 works exhibited)

FROM THE COLLECTION”, GREENVILLE COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART, Greenville, South Carolina

“TO HOLD AND TO HAVE”, GREATER RESTON ARTS CENTER, Reston, Virginia, (curated invitational)

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASHEVILLE, “NCECA PRE-CONFERENCE INVITATIONAL”, Asheville, North Carolina, (regional invitational, 5 works exhibited)

GALESBURG CIVIC ART CENTER, “GALEX 35 NATIONAL EXHIBITION AND COMPETITION”, Galesburg, Illinois, (national juried competition; received The Sculpture Award)

73rd ANNUAL JURIED EXHIBITION, ART ASSOCIATION OF HARRISBURG, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, (national juried competition; juried by Susan Cross, curator, Guggenheim Museum, New York; one work accepted; received 1st Prize; Sculpture)

THE FOOTHILLS ART CENTER, “NORTH AMERICAN SCULPTURE EXHIBITION”, Aurora, Colorado, (national juried competition; Alison Saar, juror; two works accepted)

72nd ANNUAL JURIED EXHIBITION, ART ASSOCIATION OF HARRISBURG, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, (national juried competition; Elizabeth Levine, curator, Museum of Modern Art, New York juror; one work accepted)

LUMP GALLERY, un/ACCEPTABLE, Raleigh, North Carolina (national juried competition; one work accepted)

UNIVERSITY ART MUSEUM, THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHWESTERN LOUISIANA, “4 FROM 3: THE SOUTHERN AESTHETIC INSTALLED”, Lafayette, Louisiana (invitational; ten works)

SOUTH CAROLINA STATE MUSEUM, TRIENNIAL 98, South Carolina Arts Commission, Columbia, South Carolina (juried competition; five works accepted)

ART WORK IN COLLECTIONS PUBLIC / PRIVATE

CTAO - Contemporary Art Observatorium, Lavagna, Italy

GREENVILLE COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART, Greenville, South Carolina

SOUTH CAROLINA STATE MUSEUM, Columbia, South Carolina

ALFRED UNIVERSITY, Alfred, New York

WILLIAM T. WILEY, Artist / collector (through Morgan Gallery, Kansas City, Missouri

REFERENCES IN PUBLICATIONS

CTAO (Contemporary Art Observatorium) “David Detrich - System of Simulacra”, June 2022 https://www.calameo.com/read/005720893427d4046bb4c

AMUSE MAGAZINE, "10 South Carolina Artists You Need to Know", March 12, 2017 https://amuse-i-d.vice.com/10-south-carolina-artists-you-need-to-know/

THE ROANOKE TIMES, Christiansburg, Virginia, Exhibition Review by Amy Matzke-Fawcett

COLLEGIATE TIMES, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, September 8, 2009, Exhibition Review by Dan Waidelich

ACADEMIC KEYS Who's Who in Fine Arts Higher Education (WWFAHE): Included in the 2003 edition

THE REGISTER-MAIL, Galesburg, Illinois, March, 15,2001, Exhibition Review

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, Denver, Colorado, June 23, 2000, Exhibition review by Mary Voelz Chandler

THE CHAPEL HILL NEWS, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, December 5, 1999, Exhibition review by Julia Morton

WHAT’S UP, Raleigh, North Carolina, December 10, 1999, Exhibition review by Max Halperen
THE SPECTATOR, Raleigh, North Carolina, December 22, 1999, Exhibition review by Michele Natale