Born Nashville, Tennessee, 1972
Dane Carder’s art continues in the tradition of anonymous Tantric paintings of the 17th century. He does this by creating works he calls “Meditations.” In these pieces, he seeks to both dissolve ego and bring into focus our shared humanity and (holy) Spirit. Using symbols, subtlety and “imperfection,” his process-based paintings lean into poetic nuance (Carder is also a poet) to express both a quiet and powerful life energy. He sees these works as visual haikus, where each work takes a vast, universal concept, and distills it down to its essential elements. The titles of his pieces serve as essential gateways to larger ideas, and with a little irony and levity, he intends them to whisper hints about what he is trying to convey.
For example, in painting titled “Make Waves,” Carder is suggesting we should get out and go live. In “The Effect of Drips,” he makes reference to how a continual drip can have a huge effect, from flooding a house to building a huge enterprise.
Carder begins his pieces by building the backgrounds, layering paint, stains, washes and writing. The oval comes next and its shape serves as a sign of completion. Like a mandala, it has no beginning and no end. It’s also reminiscent of a face, thus a reference to humanity, and the egg, thus to birth. The oval also exists in opposition to the rectangle or square in which it is held. In the end, Carder wants his pieces be a focal point on which to meditate and stand in opposition to the current crazy state of the world. This is because stillness is essential to our mental and emotional health. In speaking of himself, he says he has finally found a way to overcome himself and the hell of emptiness, addiction, and depression. His art is representative of this.
Selected Solo Exhibits
2020 Fragments of Man The Red Arrow Gallery, Nashville, T
2018 The Healing Game Customs House Museum, Clarksville, TN
2017 Better Angels The Red Arrow Gallery, Nashville, TN
2015 Paintings The Morris Museum, Augusta, GA
2015 War Wounds The Parthenon Gallery, Nashville, TN
2014 Memory of Wounds The Browsing Room, Nashville, TN
2013 Ghosts and Hopes Customs House Museum, Clarksville, TN
2013 Proof of Ghosts Leu Gallery, Belmont University, Nashville, TN
2010 In The Studio Chestnut Square Studio w/ Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
2007 Abstracts B/G Gallery, Nashville, TN
2007 Civil War Art For Humans Gallery, Chinatown, Los Angeles, CA
Selected Group Exhibits
2019 Gallery Group Modfellows Art & Design, Nashville, TN
2018 New Abstracts The Arts Company, Nashville TN
2017 Art Nashville 17 Haynes Gallery, Nashville, TN
2015 200 Miles Away David Lusk Gallery, Memphis, TN
2015 Mashup/Artists Do Cardboard David Lusk Gallery, Nashville, TN
2014 Small Things Considered Laurence Miller Gallery, NY, NY
2013 Price Is Right David Lusk Gallery, Memphis, TN
2012 Small Packages Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
2011 Small Packages Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
2011 Art Chicago Chicago, Ill
2011 Exchange Tanner Hill, Chattanooga, TN
2010 Art Chicago Chicago, Ill
2010 The Painter’s Eye Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
2010 The Food Show Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
2010 Young Turks Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
2009 Green Show Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
2008 Small Packages Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
2008 Perennials and New Growth Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
2006 Annual Juried Show Rawls Museum Arts, Courtland, VA
2005 A Prayer For Clean Water St. Edwards University, Austin, TX
2001 Home, Ruby Green, Nashville, TN
2000 A Cold Empty Feeling, Ruby Green, Nashville, TN
Publications
2018 New American Paintings
2017 Nashville Arts Magazine
2015 Burnaway, Atlanta, GA
2014 Garden and Gun
2014 Native, Nashville, TN
2013 The Tennessean, Nashville, TNshville Scene
2007 Chattanooga Times, Chattanooga, TN
2002 N Focus, Nashville, TN
1999 In Review, Nashville, TN
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