PASADENA, CALIF.- ArtCenter College of Design is presenting Dancing in the Dark—the first major solo exhibition at a nonprofit institution dedicated to the work of Los Angeles artist and ArtCenter alumnus Devin Troy Strother. Spanning two locations, ArtCenter’s Hillside Campus (March 22 – July 26) and South Campus (March 22 – June 21), the exhibition offers an unprecedented and comprehensive look at Strother’s adventurous body of work.
Visitors to the exhibition will see a selection of major works produced during the past decade, including large scale paintings featured in the spacious Williamson Gallery (Hillside Campus); recent and new video works presented at the Mullin Gallery (South Campus); and installations that also serve as platforms for performances to be staged throughout the run of the exhibition.
Speaking about the exhibition, Strother writes: “The title of this exhibition is inspired in part by Bruce Springsteen’s song ‘Dancing in the Dark’ and in part by Bruce Nauman’s video performance ‘Walking in an Exaggerated Manner Around the Perimeter of a Square.’ While I wouldn’t call myself an avid Springsteen fan, I am a huge admirer of Nauman, and the title resonates deeply with me and my artistic practice on multiple levels.
Dancing in the Dark serves as a metaphor for my ever-evolving creative journey, one that has endured and transformed over the past 15 years. Although I was formally trained as a painter and illustrator, my practice has expanded to include film, performance, book publishing, and sculpture. Nearly 20 years after graduating from ArtCenter, I feel incredibly humbled to be invited to participate in this exhibition at the very institution that provided me with the foundational knowledge and tools I’ve relied on to build my career.
It has been a journey during which I have sustained myself solely through creating and selling my work in galleries. To this day, I remain astonished that I have been able to make a living by selling images and objects. A reality that continues to fuel my exploration and artistic evolution.
While I am deeply aware of the privileges and opportunities I’ve been afforded, the life of an artist remains one of struggle, hustle, and constant self-reflection. As I look back on the surfaces and structures I’ve created—assembled over time with curiosity and persistence—I feel both satisfaction and embarrassment. These emotions coexist, churning within me, leaving me uncertain which one holds more weight.
My work is often recognized for its humor, irony, bold color palettes, and a playful yet thought-provoking examination of themes such as race, identity, pop culture, and art history. My ever-expanding practice incorporates an eclectic mix of materials and extends beyond traditional mediums to include video, performance, publishing, and even cooking as a form of relational aesthetics.
Most recently, my work has been centered on communication. Language has always played a fundamental role in my practice—particularly slang, minority vernacular, code-switching, and the ways in which marginalized communities and younger generations reinterpret past and present expressions. Through a process of social osmosis, phrases, descriptions, and everyday language continuously evolve, morphing into new forms that become embedded in contemporary conversation and interaction.”
Devin Troy Strother was born in 1986 in West Covina, California. He received a BFA in Design from ArtCenter College of Design in 2009 and completed a residency at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2010. His work has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions across the United States and internationally. His work can also be found in the collections of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and in prominent private collections. In addition to working as an artist, Strother founded Coloured Publishing in 2015 with designer Yuri Ogita. The joint project has published dozens of editioned works, including artists’ books, print sets, zines, T-shirts, buttons, and more.
