Statement
The preface to Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray is a series of aphorisms about art and beauty, including the declaration that “all art is at once surface and symbol.” If all art is at once surface and symbol, I create symbolic surfaces. Through the use of photo-collage, still life, and re-photography, my pictures collapse figure and ground into surface. Drawing from a range of references – my personal life, literature, art, pop culture – and cultural signifiers, these surfaces are loaded with symbols. The viewer is invited to decode these symbols, or at least to try. The symbols in my images often function as homages to the people and things that I love or admire: LGBTQ-identified creative figures, gay icons, and personal relationships. In one instance, this manifests as a room constructed of cyanotypes inspired by John Dugdale; in another, a grisaille room winks to George Platt Lynes’ black-and-white male nudes that remained hidden until after his death; rose wallpaper hints at the titular setting of James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room. This series of homages is held together by an aesthetic that strips away any sense of hierarchy among cultural signifiers. In my fabricated spaces, there is no distinction between highbrow and lowbrow, personal or famous, historical or contemporary. The resulting photographs are layered, symbolic works that simultaneously speak to contemporary art and culture, while questioning classic ideas of taste, sensuality, and beauty.

Project Statement
As this project has progressed, my studio constructions have grown more elaborate: I have been creating photographic “rooms.” This began with Blue Room (2019), constructed from re-photographed cyanotypes in homage to John Dugdale. Another photograph, titled Rose Room (2019), was loosely inspired by the haunting descriptions of the titular setting of James Baldwin’s novel Giovanni’s Room. Yet another (Grey Room [2019]) winks to George Platt Lynes’ black-and-white male nudes, which remained largely hidden until after his death. These rooms play with classic tropes of beauty and decor while also layering in various personal and cultural references.

Bio
b. 1994   —   Dylan Everett (b. 1994 in New Jersey) is an artist/photographer working with still life and photo collage. He received an MFA in Photography from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2019, and a BA in Visual Art from Brown University in 2016. In 2020 he was a recipient of the West Collection LIFTS Grant and Acquisition Award; he was previously awarded the Digital Silver Imaging Portfolio Prize in 2018, and was named second place for the 2019 Lenscratch Student Prize.

CV
Education
2019 MFA, Photography, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI

2016 BA, Visual Art, Brown University, Providence, RI

Exhibitions
2021 Photography is Dead – Candela Gallery, Richmond, VA

2020 Fear Environmental Mayhem Ahead – The Icebox Project Space, Philadelphia, PA

2019 The Curated Fridge Autumn 2019 Show – The Curated Fridge, Somerville, MA

In Close Range – ClampArt, New York, NY

Graduate Thesis Exhibition – Rhode Island Convention Center, Providence, RI

2018 New Photography – Sol Koffler Gallery, Providence, RI

2017 Photography Triennial – Woods Gerry Gallery, Providence, RI

2016 2nd PULP Showcase – FotoFilmic, Bowen Island, BC, Canada

Vanitas – LoosenArt LAB-A, Cagliari, Italy

Performing Decay – The Open Aperture Gallery, Newport, RI

Spring Arts Festival – Granoff Center for the Creative Arts, Providence, RI

36th Annual Juried Student Exhibition – David Winton Bell Gallery, Providence, RI

2015 Accretion/Avulsion (solo) – Granoff Center for the Creative Arts, Providence, RI

35th Annual Juried Student Exhibition – David Winton Bell Gallery, Providence, RI

2013 Rising Waters 2.0: More Photographs of Sandy – Museum of the City of New York, NY

Grants/Awards
2020 LIFTS Grant and Acquisition Award – West Collection

2019 Lenscratch Student Prize, Second Place

2018 DSI Portfolio Award – Digital Silver Imaging

Graduate Student Project Grant – Rhode Island School of Design

Graduate Fellowship – Rhode Island School of Design

2017 Graduate Fellowship – Rhode Island School of Design

2016 Seventh Annual Manifest Prize Semi-Finalist – Manifest Gallery

Minnie Helen Hicks Award for Excellence in Visual Arts – Brown University

Round 4 Juried Showcase Winner – ArtSlant

Acquisition Award Shortlist – The Annex Collection

Marlene Malik Award – Brown University

Julie Sloane Memorial Fund Award – Brown University

Creative Arts Council Grant – Brown University

2015 Creative Arts Council Grant – Brown University

Publications and Press
2021 Photography is Dead, Candela Gallery

“LIFTS Recipient: Dylan Everett,” West Collection

“Portfolio Feature: Dylan Everett,” Float Magazine

“Dylan Everett,” Yolanda Josef  Projects

2019 “2019 Lenscratch Student Prize: Second Place,” Lenscratch

2018 Manifest Exhibition Annual, Season 13 – Manifest Gallery, v.1 – Rhode Island School of Design

View Dylan Everett’s Website