William Shearburn Gallery is pleased to announce its representation of Washington, D.C.-based artist Dean Kessman.

William Shearburn Gallery is pleased to announce its representation of Washington, D.C.-based artist Dean Kessman.

Kessman’s interest in the swatches of colors and patterns in his series Utilitarian Abstraction developed out of the process of breaking down cardboard boxes to be placed into the recycling bin. The work continues an ongoing exploration of the materiality of mass-produced paper products and an interest in consumer culture as it reveals itself through product packaging and other methods of advertising goods and services. The original purpose of these utilitarian patches of colors and patterns is to enable printers to match the colors, text and images in registration throughout the printing process. Graphic designers and printers are familiar with this hidden imagery, but consumers rarely notice. The final pieces in Utilitarian Abstraction re-present this functional imagery in order to expose the ways in which the graphic design and printing industries have usurped the visual language of fine art, and vice versa.