{"id":8743,"date":"2025-08-19T06:18:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T06:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/8743\/"},"modified":"2025-08-19T06:18:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T06:18:16","slug":"artist-preserves-the-past-and-future-with-layered-glass-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/8743\/","title":{"rendered":"Artist Preserves the Past and Future With Layered Glass Work"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u201cThe Consequential Nature of the Simultaneous,\u201d 2025, glass, epoxy, collage, acrylic paint (Photo: Martyna Szczesna)<\/p>\n

There\u2019s something ancient about Dustin Yellin<\/a>\u2019s sculptural work. Crafted from laminated glass embedded with layered imagery and paint, the artist\u2019s signature sculptures conjure scenes frozen in time, an archive that\u2019s as pristine as it is precarious. These \u201cthree-dimensional collages,\u201d as Yellin calls them<\/a>, foreground If a bird\u2019s nest is nature, what is a house?<\/a>, his first solo exhibition at Almine Rech Gallery<\/a> in New York.<\/p>\n

Held at the gallery\u2019s Tribeca location, the exhibition journeys through the forces of space, time, nature, and technology all at once. At its core are five new glass-layered sculptures, each of which exude a quiet sense of gravity through their futuristic narratives. The Consequential Nature of the Simultaneous, for instance, reveals two parallel stories, juxtaposing technological advancement and historical memory. On one side, alien astronauts swarm around a NASA spacecraft and a particle accelerator, dangling their legs off the metallic edge as birds circle in the air above them. On the other side is an ancient Etruscan ceremony, unfolding against an earthy backdrop of towering trees and blooming flowers. Between these two poles is a stiff rope, pulled on either end, miming a game of eternal tug-of-war.<\/p>\n

Keeping with the tone of Yellin\u2019s practice, it\u2019s clear that The Consequential Nature of the Simultaneous is speculative, staging dramatic encounters and a level of continuity between two contrasting and at times unexpected impulses. Pliny the Younger is similar in its subject matter, yet again tracing conflicting narratives across its composition. Here, a volcano erupts on the sculpture\u2019s left side, its lava seeping down into the lush grass and trees covering the hill below. On the right side is a massive cliff face with a civilization that seems at once classical and futuristic, combining Greco-Roman columns with red, industrial beams. As with The Consequential Nature of the Simultaneous, both of the sculpture\u2019s environments are subtly connected, this time with the beams, which also run beneath the earth. Taken in its entirety, Pliny the Younger is just as much a \u201ctime-bridge\u201d as Yellin\u2019s other work, per Frieze senior editor Terence Trouillot.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat tension\u2014between instinct and intention, entropy and preservation\u2014runs throughout Yellin\u2019s practice,\u201d Trouillot writes in an essay accompanying the exhibition. \u201cHis layered glass works offer a momentary stay against forgetting, embody[ing] the artist\u2019s ongoing effort to refract presence through deep, collective time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The question posed in the exhibition\u2019s title\u2014If a bird\u2019s nest is nature, what is a house?\u2014is also revealing of Yellin\u2019s thematic preferences.<\/p>\n

\u201cA nest is made by instinct, a house by design,\u201d Trouillot explains. \u201cThe nest may be natural, but the house is a container of chosen material.\u201d<\/p>\n

The house, as a structure that \u201cdetermines what is remembered, what is kept, and what is made visible,\u201d is an apt metaphor for Yellin\u2019s sculptures. They are equally capable of survival and storage, keeping memory intact like an archive that always looks to the future.<\/p>\n

If a bird\u2019s nest is nature, what is a house? is currently open at Almine Rech Gallery through August 1, 2025.\n<\/p>\n

Dustin Yellin\u2019s new solo exhibition, If a bird\u2019s nest is nature, what is a house?, showcases the artist\u2019s preoccupation with memory, archives, collectivity, and the future.
\n\"Installation<\/p>\n

Installation view of \u201cDustin Yellin: If a bird’s nest is nature, what is a house?\u201d at Almine Rech Gallery in New York, NY.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSeed 7,\u201d 2025, glass, epoxy, acrylic paint, ink (Photo: Martyna Szczesna)<\/p>\n

\"Installation<\/p>\n

Installation view of \u201cDustin Yellin: If a bird’s nest is nature, what is a house?\u201d at Almine Rech Gallery in New York, NY.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe Habit of Nature (Study 2),\u201d 2025, glass, epoxy, collage, acrylic paint (Photo: Martyna Szczesna)<\/p>\n

The exhibition is open through August 1, 2025, at Almine Rech Gallery in New York.
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\u201cPliny the Younger,\u201d 2025, glass, epoxy, acrylic, collage (Photo: Martyna Szczesna)<\/p>\n

\"Installation<\/p>\n

Installation view of \u201cDustin Yellin: If a bird’s nest is nature, what is a house?\u201d at Almine Rech Gallery in New York, NY.<\/p>\n

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\"Installation<\/p>\n

Installation view of \u201cDustin Yellin: If a bird’s nest is nature, what is a house?\u201d at Almine Rech Gallery in New York, NY.<\/p>\n

Exhibition Information:
Dustin Yellin
If a bird’s nest is nature, what is a house?
June 26\u2013Aug. 1, 2025
Almine Rech Gallery
361 Broadway, New York, NY 10013
\nDustin Yellin: <\/b>Website<\/b><\/a> | <\/b>Instagram<\/b><\/a>
Almine Rech Gallery: <\/b>Website<\/b><\/a> | <\/b>Instagram<\/b><\/a>
\nMy Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Almine Rech Gallery.
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