Brooks Dierdorff

Brooks Dierdorff https://brooksdierdorff.com Brooks Dierdorff Sun, 17 Jul 2022 16:57:07 +0000 https://brooksdierdorff.com en Galpin Essay https://brooksdierdorff.com/Galpin-Essay Sun, 17 Jul 2022 16:57:07 +0000 Brooks Dierdorff https://brooksdierdorff.com/Galpin-Essay ︎︎︎ ︎︎︎ Brooks Dierdorff’s The Soft Wreckage of Paradise Landscapes have emotive power; moreover, they reflect and reverberate economic and cultural difference. Brooks Dierdorff examines the complexity of landscape in his series, The Soft Wreckage of Paradise. He deconstructs imagery and material culture associated with the outdoors, from sunsets and leafy paradises to Styrofoam coolers and the eclectic office spaces of public park employees. Moreover, Dierdorff’s use of stock photography reinforces his interest in the ubiquitous subject matter of the often romanticized natural environment. The works belonging to The Soft Wreckage of Paradise raise questions about how and why we represent nature in this age of Anthropocene. In his artist statement, Dierdorff writes, “The human impacts of this [Anthropocene] on the environment, and new relationships with the environment, are evident everywhere yet in many of our available models for visualizing and understanding them are very abstract.”[1]  While his work resonates with a multitude of meanings, the artist interrogates notions of respect and admiration for the natural world. As tangible organism and ubiquitous representation, nature is a part of our everyday lives and as a result we must ask: why don’t we treat it better? In The Jungle, 2017, Dierdorff presents leafy environs that align with preconceived notions of a tropical paradise. In selecting this type of imagery, he travels territory previously explored by varied artists such as Thomas Struth (German, b. 1954) and Henri Rousseau (French, 1844-1910). Contemporary photographer Thomas Struth began his highly regarded New Pictures from Paradise series in 1998 producing evocative depictions of dense vegetation in China and Australia, and later Latin America. This extensive project resulted from thorough investigation of jungles and rainforests. In 2007, Struth worked nearby, producing images of New Smyrna Beach. The painter Henri Rousseau, working at the turn of the century, also produced images of “paradise.” Rousseau’s Jungle was inspired by the Paris Botanical Garden and the knowledge he gleaned working as a tax collector. Indeed, Rousseau’s constructed paradise, is just the type of paradise that might intrigue Dierdorff. After all, while Dierdorff produces his own images, he is also drawn to the vernacular around depicting nature. He manipulates both found imagery and his own. In The Junglethe sourced photographic image is printed on vinyl mesh—the type of material one might locate at a construction site. Dierdorff states, “The contexts for images of nature have become detached from the image itself. Most images of nature have become empty signifiers, yet nonetheless are ever-present in daily life.”[2]In Jungle, the wood backing references faux façades and staged background imagery. As our natural surroundings are continually threatened, perhaps empty signifiers will be the only tangible remains. In W. J. T. Mitchell’s “Theses on Landscape,” the fourth declaration reads “Landscape is a natural scene mediated by culture. It is both a represented and presented space, both a signifier and a signified, both a frame and what a frame contains, both a real place and its simulacrum, both a package and the commodity inside the package.”[3]The diverse media, from found objects to video and photography, utilized by Dierdorff in his The Soft Wreckage of Paradise series relate to Mitchell’s recognition of the way in which culture shapes both physical landscapes and material representations of the natural environment. In this particular moment, Dierdorff’s approach resonates as we must urgently consider how we are affecting nature and our ability to ignore this calamitous intervention while simultaneously surrounding ourselves with ubiquitous representations of the “great outdoors.” Dierdorff’s work deconstructs lofty notions of the physical environment and leads viewers to confront their experiences of its mimetic forms.   -Amy Galpin, Ph.D., Chief Curator, Frost Art Museum [1]Artist Statement. [2]Artist Statement [3]W.J.T. Mitchell, “Imperial Landscape” Landscape and Power, edited by W.J.T. Mitchell (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002), 5.︎︎︎ ︎︎︎ Ditch Install https://brooksdierdorff.com/Ditch-Install Mon, 20 Dec 2021 16:04:37 +0000 Brooks Dierdorff https://brooksdierdorff.com/Ditch-Install home / bio / contact <img width="1500" height="1000" width_o="1500" height_o="1000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c54ca2fd749b6c147ccb4ce2d99dc4ecd79a6a5cc0e0c7febcc22fc1692341d1/dierdorff_9.jpg" data-mid="127856246" border="0" data-scale="46" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c54ca2fd749b6c147ccb4ce2d99dc4ecd79a6a5cc0e0c7febcc22fc1692341d1/dierdorff_9.jpg" /> Installation view, Harvest, Ditch Projects, Springfield, Oregon ︎︎︎ fieldoffice1 https://brooksdierdorff.com/fieldoffice1 Wed, 27 Oct 2021 15:28:30 +0000 Brooks Dierdorff https://brooksdierdorff.com/fieldoffice1                             home / bio / contact                  <img width="1013" height="1500" width_o="1013" height_o="1500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c54035769af4a875cec4fbc896ac8a4a364f3248d8f0afd26f765bc7dc0bc717/fieldoffice.jpg" data-mid="122841430" border="0" data-scale="25" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c54035769af4a875cec4fbc896ac8a4a364f3248d8f0afd26f765bc7dc0bc717/fieldoffice.jpg" />                   Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Corvallis Research Lab, Inkjet Print, 36” x 24”                   ︎︎︎ workcougar https://brooksdierdorff.com/workcougar Mon, 02 Aug 2021 03:14:25 +0000 Brooks Dierdorff https://brooksdierdorff.com/workcougar                                  home / bio / contact                   <img width="1200" height="799" width_o="1200" height_o="799" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/dd7c0297859fdf07663574f2da456905d2110a39ff5eae142916f1ce50e44136/dierdorff_1.jpg" data-mid="115169909" border="0" data-scale="41" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/dd7c0297859fdf07663574f2da456905d2110a39ff5eae142916f1ce50e44136/dierdorff_1.jpg" />                    Cougar, Inkjet Print, 4” x 6”                   Cougar is part of a larger series titled Trophy. The series Trophy examines the prevailing visual codes within hunting culture by manipulating trophy photographs found online.                   Link to curatorial statement by Maxim Schmidt from the Ely Center for Contemporary Art                     ︎︎︎ workwashinstall https://brooksdierdorff.com/workwashinstall Sun, 08 Aug 2021 00:45:39 +0000 Brooks Dierdorff https://brooksdierdorff.com/workwashinstall ︎︎︎ ︎︎︎<img width="1500" height="1000" width_o="1500" height_o="1000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/85f2469e1ed774cf03b29e508ec2652eaeceb985424d95261323f74b7154a909/_E7A0864-Edit-2.jpg" data-mid="115637121" border="0" data-scale="42" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/85f2469e1ed774cf03b29e508ec2652eaeceb985424d95261323f74b7154a909/_E7A0864-Edit-2.jpg" /> <img width="1200" height="800" width_o="1200" height_o="800" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f7ccae24ede252fd0c6e35f9255c91848b0d2762c5d8ee42e1544736ae388cd9/_E7A0866-Edit.jpg" data-mid="115637736" border="0" data-scale="42" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f7ccae24ede252fd0c6e35f9255c91848b0d2762c5d8ee42e1544736ae388cd9/_E7A0866-Edit.jpg" /> <img width="1200" height="811" width_o="1200" height_o="811" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/434add7fc323edb836aeedf4a9816820260403c6fb29a5d3324357eda2bb370d/_E7A0872-Edit.jpg" data-mid="115637167" border="0" data-scale="42" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/434add7fc323edb836aeedf4a9816820260403c6fb29a5d3324357eda2bb370d/_E7A0872-Edit.jpg" /><img width="1200" height="800" width_o="1200" height_o="800" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/bcc72e8b889fd0ae5bceebce5025f58bc28eacb65de609aac186e4bdb8f3b6e6/_E7A0899-Edit-2.jpg" data-mid="115637168" border="0" data-scale="42" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/bcc72e8b889fd0ae5bceebce5025f58bc28eacb65de609aac186e4bdb8f3b6e6/_E7A0899-Edit-2.jpg" />Installation Views of Already Always︎︎︎ ︎︎︎ workwash1 https://brooksdierdorff.com/workwash1 Sun, 08 Aug 2021 00:38:06 +0000 Brooks Dierdorff https://brooksdierdorff.com/workwash1 home / bio / contact<img width="1500" height="1000" width_o="1500" height_o="1000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f32b65934387e0743c8ae02d7b46de9195c674c14a10dcb41a9102580dfb153a/_E7A0864-Edit-2.jpg" data-mid="115636429" border="0" data-scale="48" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f32b65934387e0743c8ae02d7b46de9195c674c14a10dcb41a9102580dfb153a/_E7A0864-Edit-2.jpg" /> Installation View, Already Always, Washington and Jefferson College, Washington, Pennsylvania Images in the exhibition depict natural disasters and are sourced from the archive of the U.S. Geological Survey. Since the late 19th century, the USGS has surveyed U.S. landscapes, producing knowledge regarding its natural resources and the hazards that threaten them. The wood structure is a scale model of the Olin Fine Art Gallery at Washington and Jefferson College.  (additional installation views) ︎︎︎ workdh https://brooksdierdorff.com/workdh Mon, 02 Aug 2021 03:06:11 +0000 Brooks Dierdorff https://brooksdierdorff.com/workdh home / bio / contact<img width="1000" height="1500" width_o="1000" height_o="1500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cbd00007f4acd27d826c441b3d9165921b8f409b088070d2bcabc04d84ab5ac3/_E7A0515.jpg" data-mid="115169738" border="0" data-scale="25" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/cbd00007f4acd27d826c441b3d9165921b8f409b088070d2bcabc04d84ab5ac3/_E7A0515.jpg" /> Direct Hit, C-print on dibond, 39” x 41” Image appropriated from the archive of the U.S. Geological Survey ︎︎︎ worksunset https://brooksdierdorff.com/worksunset Wed, 04 Aug 2021 23:33:18 +0000 Brooks Dierdorff https://brooksdierdorff.com/worksunset home / bio / contact <img width="800" height="533" width_o="800" height_o="533" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b7ad9db438a2896ad67026834ed485372cd6fc9dc696a6e144923d6569be4a40/deep_15.jpg" data-mid="115428460" border="0" data-scale="43" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/800/i/b7ad9db438a2896ad67026834ed485372cd6fc9dc696a6e144923d6569be4a40/deep_15.jpg" /> Sunset, video, 5’53” The video depicts a Google-sourced photograph of the sun being printed with an inkjet printer as itdescends into the lower edge of the video frame.  https://vimeo.com/95458819 ︎︎︎ worktallest https://brooksdierdorff.com/worktallest Wed, 04 Aug 2021 23:05:13 +0000 Brooks Dierdorff https://brooksdierdorff.com/worktallest home / bio / contact<img width="1500" height="960" width_o="1500" height_o="960" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/071fd160392a46801db7478e4598b30206e5b2900c885aa0891e55d0ac8b26c4/_E7A1183-Edit_straighten-Edit-Edit.jpg" data-mid="115427019" border="0" data-scale="43" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/071fd160392a46801db7478e4598b30206e5b2900c885aa0891e55d0ac8b26c4/_E7A1183-Edit_straighten-Edit-Edit.jpg" /> Tallest of the Tall, Inkjet print, 28” x 40” ︎︎︎ work12a https://brooksdierdorff.com/work12a Thu, 22 Jul 2021 03:34:57 +0000 Brooks Dierdorff https://brooksdierdorff.com/work12a ︎︎︎︎︎︎<img width="3148" height="2100" width_o="3148" height_o="2100" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/049a26405868362c8d7a31312ec81f6aa7d3b0ec1c107c5517699a52b1ee4573/dotfiftyone_1.jpeg" data-mid="114379016" border="0" data-scale="32" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/049a26405868362c8d7a31312ec81f6aa7d3b0ec1c107c5517699a52b1ee4573/dotfiftyone_1.jpeg" /> <img width="3148" height="2100" width_o="3148" height_o="2100" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6ef1b7f7cd89945000c0c6e59998ed94eeb7846bb91e56d9de45144693e8578c/dotfiftyone_2.jpeg" data-mid="114379005" border="0" data-scale="32" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6ef1b7f7cd89945000c0c6e59998ed94eeb7846bb91e56d9de45144693e8578c/dotfiftyone_2.jpeg" /> <img width="3148" height="2100" width_o="3148" height_o="2100" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/329d31a2a4fba26dbc13ef208f80fe5e3f4347172874e62d5de806106c039ba4/dotfiftyone_3.jpeg" data-mid="114379006" border="0" data-scale="32" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/329d31a2a4fba26dbc13ef208f80fe5e3f4347172874e62d5de806106c039ba4/dotfiftyone_3.jpeg" /> <img width="3148" height="2100" width_o="3148" height_o="2100" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3da3206df4f84e3118820fc08525c8360a481da435d3fece5be8b653b50dc693/dotfiftyone_4.jpeg" data-mid="114379007" border="0" data-scale="32" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3da3206df4f84e3118820fc08525c8360a481da435d3fece5be8b653b50dc693/dotfiftyone_4.jpeg" /> Installation Views at Dot Fiftyone Gallery ︎︎︎