Colin Deland: American Fine Arts
powerHouse Books
Colin Deland was a central figure in the art world in the 80s and 90s and up until his death from cancer in 2003. He founded American Fine Arts gallery, which showed big artists like John Waters, Mariko Mori, Cady Noland, Jessica Stockholder, and Alex Bag, along with tons of group shows and performances featuring lesser-known and way weirder young artists. Anything went. Like, for one show, an artist decided to just shut down the gallery for one month to critique art’s commercialism. Stuff like that.This book doesn't offer much in the way of context, or of a cohesive history of the man. All the texts and photo credits are smooshed together in a rather reader-unfriendly way in the back of the book. But maybe that's the point. Much like the downtown art scene, it’s wary and unwelcoming to outsiders. This is a scrapbook for friends and acquaintances who were there and who can point to the photos and say, "Oh yeah, I remember that night. That was bonkers." For outsiders, it’s more like a found object—the scrapbook of a dead man who looks like he was really cool and knew a lot of weird people.
MEGAN SNOOD
powerHouse Books
Colin Deland was a central figure in the art world in the 80s and 90s and up until his death from cancer in 2003. He founded American Fine Arts gallery, which showed big artists like John Waters, Mariko Mori, Cady Noland, Jessica Stockholder, and Alex Bag, along with tons of group shows and performances featuring lesser-known and way weirder young artists. Anything went. Like, for one show, an artist decided to just shut down the gallery for one month to critique art’s commercialism. Stuff like that.This book doesn't offer much in the way of context, or of a cohesive history of the man. All the texts and photo credits are smooshed together in a rather reader-unfriendly way in the back of the book. But maybe that's the point. Much like the downtown art scene, it’s wary and unwelcoming to outsiders. This is a scrapbook for friends and acquaintances who were there and who can point to the photos and say, "Oh yeah, I remember that night. That was bonkers." For outsiders, it’s more like a found object—the scrapbook of a dead man who looks like he was really cool and knew a lot of weird people.
MEGAN SNOOD