EBEN DUNN is an Atlanta-based, mixed-media artist. His work, which combines elements of collage, assemblage and painting, plays with our sense of reading and understanding. Through clever use of wordplay and juxtaposition, Dunn subverts the logics of socialized morality and philosophies by highlighting ironies and inconsistencies in various political, religious and social dogmas. Combining what he calls “mathematical backgrounds”, found objects and collaged elements, he creates powerful images that unify us all and remind us to be stronger individuals.
Eben began making mixed media art in his teens. While he is "more or less a self-taught artist", he did receive some classical art training when he studied glass blowing in New Orleans for a few years. Eben has a passion that evokes the rich images he creates in his mixed media pieces. His composition of these bold objects using a more mathematical element creates images that are diametrically opposed yet reflect a meeting point that the artist feels is universal and is a direct reflection of his experiences.
Frequency series #4, mixed media on wood panel, 36x72 in.
artist statement:
My work considers the irony of man’s conflicts with his own society. These conflicts can be seen in how we as humans both identify and dis-identify with one another. Similarly, these conflicts are performed in our social, moral and even spiritual ideologies. My practice includes collecting objects and ephemera that may hold deep and reverent meaning in one setting while being perceived as banal or insignificant in another. I begin each work by carefully mapping out a composition using these found and collected objects. I then layer them with my own textual or visual iconography as a way of highlighting the often unseen or overlooked inconsistencies between the juxtaposed ideas. By combining these objects and materials and subverting them with contrasting words, phrases and images, I ultimately challenge the viewer’s perspective. My work is committed to stoking conversations between object and subject, practice and philosophy, as well as between the work itself and the viewer. Through my work I interrogate how key forces in our lives affect our narrative vs. the reality of these forces’ impact in our current circumstances.
More images and info coming soon...
My work considers the irony of man’s conflicts with his own society. These conflicts can be seen in how we as humans both identify and dis-identify with one another. Similarly, these conflicts are performed in our social, moral and even spiritual ideologies. My practice includes collecting objects and ephemera that may hold deep and reverent meaning in one setting while being perceived as banal or insignificant in another. I begin each work by carefully mapping out a composition using these found and collected objects. I then layer them with my own textual or visual iconography as a way of highlighting the often unseen or overlooked inconsistencies between the juxtaposed ideas. By combining these objects and materials and subverting them with contrasting words, phrases and images, I ultimately challenge the viewer’s perspective. My work is committed to stoking conversations between object and subject, practice and philosophy, as well as between the work itself and the viewer. Through my work I interrogate how key forces in our lives affect our narrative vs. the reality of these forces’ impact in our current circumstances.
More images and info coming soon...