Devin Farrand

Ibid Gallery is pleased to present Heft, a solo show with American artist Devin Farrand. This will be the artist’s first solo show in Los Angeles and with the gallery.

Devin Farrand was raised in a family of builders. Growing up in rural Oregon, he quickly became part of a tradition rooted in generations of exploring craftsmanship and manufacturing processes. Exposed to a diverse range of mechanics from an early age—from cars and boats to airplanes and furniture— Farrand’s art pays tribute to this lineage while also building his own distinctive vernacular. Inspired by the intersection of aesthetics and production, shop equipment and industrial materialsare transformed into streamlined minimal objects.

This intersection also reveals a collision between the handmade and the industrial, as Farrand’s work contrasts the physicality of laborious materials such as Carrara marble with the immediacy of steel and industrial plating. The resulting dichotomy is where Farrand’s dexterity with sculpture and painting is employed to create new dialogues between disparate materials. From the fabric drapery in painting to the chiseled realism of sculpture, Farrand has incorporated elements of each. Tank and Jacket consists of a meticulously hand-carved marble welding jacket casually sitting atop a sleek steel tank, an almost incidental gesture that belies the transformation of the marble block. Between the emblematic sheen of the American muscle car and the seductive curves of the marble that artists have labored over for centuries lies the key: the material landscapes of the quarry itself and the protective covers on our fading American industry.

In this manner, Farrand continues to explore objects and the material landscape of space, place, and time. Through investigation and excavation one can learn the history of a place and experience its weight. Painting isn’t simply about rendering, it’s about feeling the material weight of space. Through subtractive sculpture he finds form but also reveals the inherent qualities of a material shaped by time.

Devin Farrand was born in Salem, Oregon in 1986. He received his B.S. in Art from Eastern Oregon University (2009) followed by a residency at the Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts with a focus on sculpture. Farrand received his M.F.A. from Cranbrook Academy of Art (2011). He lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.