Dre Britton: Structural Integrity
Rosenberg Gallery
Dre Britton’s work is composed of found furniture and fractured objects culled from the city streets of Baltimore. Each object’s level of decay dictates the extent to which Britton formally intervenes in developing his sculptures, paintings, and hybridized three-dimensional works of art. The aesthetic choices of his studio practice are driven by methodically exploring these degrading structures, bolstering support mechanisms, and considering formal elements such as the weight, mass, volume, color, and texture of each object. Britton’s large-scale, nonfunctional sculptures and assemblages question the limitations of raw materials, functionality, and the value of objects we interact with daily. Most commonly found in his body of work is the couch frame, an object concealed in plain sight beneath luxurious upholstery. The process of deconstructing and recontextualizing these frames and scraps renders once functional apparatuses completely useless. Working with the detritus of a working-class city, Britton examines and reconciles the contradictions inherent in class differences and in the associative properties of various kinds of urban industrial waste.
COVER
Guillotine III, 2014 couch frames, marine vinyl, wood 8’ x 6’ x 4’ 1
Louise, 2014 couch arms, vintage French armchair, couch strap 4.5’ x 2.3’ x 2.9’ Photo by: Rarah 2
Floor Construction #2, 2014 wood, couch frame, furniture straps 6.3’ x 5.6’ x 0.8’ Photo by: Rarah 3
On the Brink, 2013
vinyl, wood, plexiglass 53” x 48” 4
Floor Construction #1, 2013 bed frame, recliner couch frame 5.7’ x 2.8’ x 4’ 1
2
3 4
Dre Britton Dre Britton was born and raised in Baltimore. He attended the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), where he received a B.F.A. in general fine arts. Influenced by architecture, sampled music, and deconstructive theory, Britton deconstructs and reconstructs found furniture and other found objects into larger forms that reference their previous states while finding a new life of their own. Britton has taken part in group exhibitions at local galleries, including Subbasement Artist Studio & Gallery, VisArt Gallery, and La Bodega Gallery. He recently completed a residency at AIRY (Artist in Residence Yamanashi), in Yamanashi, Japan. This will be Britton’s first solo exhibition outside of MICA. He is currently working at the American Visionary Art Museum while simultaneously maintaining his studio practice.
January 24 – March 26, 2017 (Please note, the gallery will be closed March 14-19, 2017, for spring break.)
Artist’s Talk & Reception:
Tuesday, March 7, 2017, 6-8 p.m. THE SILBER GALLERY
Sanford J. Ungar Athenaeum DIRECTIONS Baltimore Beltway, I-695, to exit 27A. Make first left onto campus.
GALLERY HOURS 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday – Sunday 410-337-6477
The exhibit is free and open to the public. The Silber Gallery program is funded with the assistance of grants from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency funded by the state of Maryland and the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Baltimore County Commission on the Arts and Sciences.
17319-5570 01/17
goucher.edu/silber