Daniel Wiener
Daniel Wiener
Workspace Program Resident 2017
A Million Experiments
As I began my Dieu Donné Workspace residency, I had hoped to try a million experiments, but with the kind guidance of Tatiana Ginsberg, my Studio Collaborator, we decided on two paths. First we would find the paper pulp equivalent to my wall reliefs of faces. The plan was to press spontaneous patterns of colored paper pulp into pre-existing rubber molds, much like I do already in my studio with Apoxie Sculpt, self-hardening clay. We were confident that this path would work since it traversed familiar terrain.
Living Dangerously
For the second path, I had a hazy vision of paper pieces blending midway between my black and white drawings and my colorful sculpture. I wanted the playful ease of invention of my pen and ink drawings along with the vibrant color and wild form of my sculpture. The look and feel of paper was also paramount to the spirit of this project. Why simply recreate a Daniel Wiener sculpture in another material? Though I was a tad anxious pursuing the mere glimmer of an idea, I knew this was the raison d’être of the Workspace Program, so bravely, with the help of Tatiana, I forged on.
Clay TabletsTatiana and I tried several techniques that did not work, including mylar stencils and blow-outs, until I translated my drawings onto clay tablets. After pulling rubber molds from the clay drawings we painstakingly pushed pigmented linen and cotton into the carved lines and shapes. Voila: my inkling was fully realized. A rare experience. Kudos to Dieu Donné.
Breakthrough
The discovery of this method was a breakthrough. I continue to use it on a daily basis with Apoxie Sculpt rather than paper. It would have been gratifying enough to produce finished work at Dieu Donné. But this bonus of discovering a brand new way of working with an old (at least to me) material is like finding the golden ticket.
Shout Out
I loved working with Tatiana, a knowledgeable master papermaker. She was willing to experiment, trouble shoot, and problem solve when it seemed to me there were no more avenues to explore. Tatiana was so patient and inventive in helping me through trial and error to find the best way to transform my sketches into paper pulp sculptures, I would like to also thank the many interns—Suzi Ballenger, Cassie Taylor, Jessica Overmeyer, Tobyn Meyer, Gwen Miller, and Mai Ohana—who helped pack the pulp. Special thanks to my assistant, Maddi Seely for her diligence, reliability and hard work—and for liking my work even when I am less convinced it has the chops.
—Daniel Wiener, 2017
In the Studio
About the Artist
Daniel Wiener (b. 1954, Cambridge, MA) grew up in Los Angeles and studied at the University of California at Berkley before moving to New York in the early 1980s. He is a graduate of the Whitney Museum’s Independent Study Program. Awards and fellowship include a Guggenheim Fellowship (2012), Residency at Yaddo, an Alpert Award Ucross Residency, a Tree of Life Grant and a Dieu Donne Workspace Residency.
Wiener’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in both group and solo exhibitions, notably at Bravin Post Lee Gallery, New York; Acme Gallery, Los Angeles; Vadstrup & Bie, Copenhagen, Denmark; Barbara Farber, Amsterdam, Holland; The McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, Texas; and at the Stephen Wirtz Gallery in San Francisco. Recent exhibitions include Studio 10 in Brooklyn, New York; Lesley Heller Gallery, New York; Pocket Utopia, New York. Wiener’s work has been reviewed in Sculpture Magazine, Art in Americaand by Roberta Smith in the New York Times. Daniel Wiener lives and works in Brooklyn, New York and is represented by Lesley Heller Gallery. (Source: Lesley Heller Gallery)
For more information, please visit their website: https://danielwiener.com/