Shaker Peg Painting by Dan Rees

Shaker Peg Painting by Dan Rees

Dan Rees (b.1982) was born in Swansea, UK and lives and works in Berlin. He studied at Camberwell College Of Arts, London Institute (2001-2004) and at Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste Städelschule, Frankfurt (2007-2009). He is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work spans a variety of different mediums. He works as a photographer, in performance through video, as a sound artist and as a painter.

Recently, Rees has become well known for abstract paintings that tend to be conceptually oriented and often work in dialogue with sculptural installations/configurations that he has created specifically for them. For example, the artist created series of monochromatic canvases mounted on shaker pegs at various heights around a gallery as well as a set of paintings united as single installation threaded together by sprayed black line. Rees’ painting also reacts to environments outside the paradigmatic white cube such as in 2012 when he transformed the architecture of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Venice by creating a series of paintings integrated into various church archways to produce a trompe l’oeil effect of stained glass windows.

Oftentimes, Rees collaborates with other artists, such as Simon Starling and Jonathan Monk, and/or uses their work as the medium with which to express his ideas. In another series of paintings, titled  A Good Idea is a Good Idea (2009) Rees reproduced works by his favourite artists in his own style atop the cover of the Beatles vinyl, The White Album. In his own words, “I understand viewing work as a constant form of conversation or communication, using other artists or their work directly is an attempt to be open about that process.”