Dion Laurent

Dion Laurent was born in 1965, raised in Houston, Texas, and is a fourth generation artist. Hehas exhibited extensively internationally including solo and group exhibitions in England,France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Japan, Australia, Thailand, China, Brazil, Turkey and theUSA. Dion’ s work has been shown around the world in such diverse venues as The Art CarMuseum in Houston, Texas, Texas A&M University Visual Arts Gallery, Art Forum Montreux,the Florence Bienniale, The Texas Biennial, Diverse Works, The Tennessee State Museum,performances inside and outside the Tate Modern, the Serpentine Gallery, Palais de Tokyo,Art Basel, Art Basel Miami Beach, Art Chicago, the Louvre, and Espace d’Animation desBlancs-Manteaux, Paris.

His new media works are featured on Furtherfield.org and archived on the Rhizome.org database of the New Museum, NY,NY. The “Golden Age of Barcodes” was among the video selections for FILE 05, SESI Gallery, Sao Paolo, Brazil, and FILE Rio 2006. Dion has lived,traveled and painted in Europe, Southeast Asia, the U.S. and Caribbean. He oftenintermingles the works from many countries with his studio works, and concentrates forseveral years on the development of various series, exhibits and installations. His exhibitsgenerally are interdisciplinary installations.
Dion attended Texas A&M University in College Station and Belmont University in Nashville. He spent 7 years traveling the world with a backpack of supplies and painted, created andexhibited all along the way. He has lived and had studios around the world, including 6 yearsin Tokyo, across Asia, and on a small southern Japanese island in the Pacific. Laurentcurrently lives and works in his Central Texas studio, and in his hometown of Houston.

One Person Exhibitions:
2016 Big Medium Gallery at Canopy , Austin, Texas
2015/May-Sept Art Car Museum, Houston, Texas
2011-2012 AirPlane 1, 1940 Air Terminal Museum, Hobby Airport, Houston
2010/Jun-Dec AirStation 1 Site-specific evolving installation in the 1930’s Art Deco Gas Station building adjacent to the Station Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston
2008/Jul Espace des Blancs Monteaux 48 rue Vielle du Temple, Paris 75004 du 4 au 20 juillet Invited for Installation, and for performances throughout Paris

Artist statement:
I feel strongly that it is in an artist’s nature to reflect upon the here and now as well as to envision the future. It comes naturally to me to create the meat on the bones, biting sort of art, but with a sense of humor that lightens the experience for me and others. Rather than reacting with anger and discontent about our current environmental situation and other global dilemmas, I choose to respond with optimism and idealism. I love oil painting, and I love working with a wide and open range of mediums that comes in part from the survivalist and widely-traveled artist attitude, using at times, any available medium where resources vary. I am most inspired out of doors, rely on nature for color and form, love the impressionists, pop, surrealists, and NASA, and twist all of that together.
I combine the nature of our environment with the nature of humanity and other times I create a strange science from the structured chaos of our dependence upon nature. The problem solving aspects of experimentation inherent to my work combine with the visual and aesthetic qualities to present not only the problems related to our interference with the natural world but also to suggest and create solutions to those dilemmas – however fantastic and idealistic such remedies may be.