FAKE A Practical

Project Space

Exhibition Dates:
November 4 - December 23, 2022

Opening Reception:
Friday, November 4, 2022, 5:00-9:00pm

With great excitement, Rivalry Projects is sharing a new exhibition, Dylan James Nelson: Fake a Practical, on view in our Project Space and in tandem with Homecoming: Joerg Dressler + Billy Frolov. This exhibition is on view November 4-December 23, 2022, with an Opening Reception on First Friday, November 4, 2022, from 5:00-9:00 PM.

Dylan James Nelson: Fake a Practical is an exhibition of the artist’s photographs and sculpture from the series of the same name. In these artworks Nelson operates in the illusory space of built environments, basing images on past experiences within his editorial and commercial photography career. The work from his fine art practice is deeply concerned with emphasizing the built environment, pointing toward a desire for an image to be understood in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional space. In doing this the artist offers us images, but also vignettes of armature and lighting which when flattened fake their own built-ness. The idea of “faking a practical” comes from movie making wherein props and sets would be built to be used, rigged, and staged in service of crafting a believable environment  within which the action of the movie occurs. 

Beyond highlighting its own artificiality, Dylan James Nelson’s photographs from Fake a Practical are interested in re-enactments of shared memories springing from folklore, social knowledge, and the magic of practical tricks that exist divorced from virtual reality and AI generated images. The pictures then are meant to evoke a specific strangeness and a simplicity mediated by the artist’s interest in “how things get made”. In this, Nelson has worked with fabricators and sculptors to realize his installation piece within this exhibit, and has worked collaboratively with models and set designers in realizing additional photographs within this exhibit. Dylan James Nelson: Fake a Practical revels in the architecture of edifice and the artwork therein highlights moments of isolated strangeness within that architecture.

WORKS

ARTIST BIO

Dylan James Nelson is an artist and commercial photographer based in New York City. His work has been presented in publications including the British Journal of Photography, Mossless, Thisispaper, and others. He has been most recently exhibited at Maharishi International University, the Satellite Art Show, Miami Beach as well as Yeah Maybe Gallery in Minneapolis, MN. His photo book Amber Gambler is held in the collection of the Walker Art Center and Pier 24. Dylan is also co-founder of the publishing company Houseboat Press.

While maintaining an artistic and studio practice he has worked for a number of commercial and editorial clients including, Nestle, Target, Business Insider, The Walker Art Center and others. His work has appeared in It’s Nice That, Wired, GQ, and numerous other publications.