pierogi 2000 press: dan devine

Art in America

Dan Devine at Pierogi 2000

When Dan Devine decided to turn his 1979 Volkswagen Rabbit inside out, he may have created one of the wittiest and unpretentiously smartest works of the last gallery season. The automobile occupies a privileged spot in the American imagination and Devine is simply the latest in a long line of artists, including John Chambrlain, Chris Burden, Vito Acconci and Nari Ward, to transfer its highly charged semiotic overtones from the realm of popular appeal to the gallery space. Devine's wonderfully absurd vehicle draws much of its appeal from the intellectual friction generated by this relationship. His endearingly deadpan (and esthetically savvy) sense of humor is just as important. Not content to merely transform this everyperson's vehicle into an everyperson's work of art, he has also provided an amusing and somewhat unlikely manual called "How to turn your car inside out" that functions like the instructions for the re-creatable works of Sol LeWitt and other Conceptual artists.

Devine literally deconstructed the VW Rabbit, carving the vehicle into its basic parts and reassembling them (and, in the process, remaking the whole idea of the car). Once done, the headlights, grill, wipers, gas-tank cap and hood have traded places with the steering wheel, brake and gas pedals, dash and glove compartment. Leather interior coverings, door handles, rearview mirror and carpeting have ended up outside, and the engine, power train and seats have disappeared; there doesn't seem to be a trunk, either. The resulting "car" is roofless and, like the Flintstones' foot-powered roadster, floorless. Back is forward and left and right are reversed. And while the car won't actually start, it retains some functionality: the wheels turn and the clock works.

Devine's zany conceptual hotrod happily exploits every subliminal reaction we've ever had to the symbolic history of the automobile. An idiosyncratic version of the classic artistic verities, it displays its own strange sense of precision, taste and technical facility, all the while alluding to social class, sex, individualism and the vast cultural storehouse of American consumer capitalism. (2/99)

CALVIN REID

P I E R O G I 2 0 0 0
177 north 9th street brooklyn, ny 11211 718.599.2144
noon to 6p friday through monday and by appointment
pierogi 2000 is an innovative art gallery in williamsburg, brooklyn, new york

	dan devine 12 september - 13 october 1997 Art in America Dan Devine at Pierogi 2000 When Dan Devine decided to turn his 1979 Volkswagen Rabbit inside out, he may have created one of the wittiest and unpretentiously smartest works of the last gallery season. The automobile occupies a privileged spot in the American imagination and Devine is simply the latest in a long line of artists, including John Chambrlain, Chris Burden, Vito Acconci and Nari Ward, to transfer its highly charged semiotic overtones from the realm of popular appeal to the gallery space. Devine's wonderfully absurd vehicle draws much of its appeal from the intellectual friction generated by this relationship. His endearingly deadpan (and esthetically savvy) sense of humor is just as important. Not content to merely transform this everyperson's vehicle into an everyperson's work of art, he has also provided an amusing and somewhat unlikely manual called "How to turn your car inside out" that functions like the instructions for the re-creatable works of Sol LeWitt and other Conceptual artists. Devine literally deconstructed the VW Rabbit, carving the vehicle into its basic parts and reassembling them (and, in the process, remaking the whole idea of the car). Once done, the headlights, grill, wipers, gas-tank cap and hood have traded places with the steering wheel, brake and gas pedals, dash and glove compartment. Leather interior coverings, door handles, rearview mirror and carpeting have ended up outside, and the engine, power train and seats have disappeared; there doesn't seem to be a trunk, either. The resulting "car" is roofless and, like the Flintstones' foot-powered roadster, floorless. Back is forward and left and right are reversed. And while the car won't actually start, it retains some functionality: the wheels turn and the clock works. Devine's zany conceptual hotrod happily exploits every subliminal reaction we've ever had to the symbolic history of the automobile. An idiosyncratic version of the classic artistic verities, it displays its own strange sense of precision, taste and technical facility, all the while alluding to social class, sex, individualism and the vast cultural storehouse of American consumer capitalism. (2/99) CALVIN REID cnn.com "You've heard of cars ending up upside down. But, how about inside out?" this is an external link and will open in a separate browser window pierogi 2000 is not responsible for the content or availability of external web sites



	P I E R O G I 2 0 0 0 177 north 9th street brooklyn, ny 11211 718.599.2144 noon to 6p friday through monday and by appointment pierogi 2000 is an innovative art gallery in williamsburg, brooklyn, new york

dan devine

Art in America

cnn.com