MOLLY DIERKS
Statement
I am inspired by the shapes, lines, and language in industrial society that convey information about identity and desire. On my phone, computer, and in my studio, I have an ever-accreting collection of samples of mass-distributed media, ranging from weathered bits of trash I find in medians or parking lots, to gumball-machine baubles purchased at the grocery store, to phrases from advertisements. The process of manipulating and recombining my collection of language, objects, and forms is part of an ongoing quest to deconstruct and distill the formal and linguistic qualities of desire, conformity, and love.
My work makes use of digital media, performance, and traditional sculpture – taking shape around investigation into the way identity is shaped during the interaction between bodies and designed objects - particularly as this interaction relates to gender, sexual reproduction, and motherhood. I rely on memory and personal experience to explore the emotional, sociological, and physical space that exists between the binaries of function/dysfunction.
Biography
Molly Valentine Dierks explores the expanding field of sculpture through her work across media (performance, installation, and digital media). Dierks received her BA in Behavioral Psychology from Dartmouth College, a Post Baccalaureate degree in Sculpture and Extended Media from Virginia Commonwealth University, and her MFA in Art and Design from the Penny W. Stamps School of Art and Design at the University of Michigan. She has participated in exhibitions nationally (including in New York City, Detroit, and Los Angeles) and internationally. Her work has been included in exhibitions by such prestigious institutions as the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, University of Michigan Museum of Modern Art, the Kunsthalle Detroit Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Fort Worth Community Arts Center. Dierks' sculptures and installations have been featured in Southern Magazine, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit's 'Post Industrial Complex', the University of Michigan's site on digital media artists, and the Czong Institute for Contemporary Art's Art Yellow Book. In addition to past residencies in the US and Japan, she will be a participant in the Arteles Residency in Finland and the Redgate Studio Residency in Beijing, China in 2017. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Art at Tarleton State University, and lives and works in the Fort Worth, Texas area.
Learn more about the artist at www.mollyvdierks.com.
Follow the artist on Instagram @mvdierks.