By Anais Corrales
A monolithic structure on a massive wooden pedestal; lights beam down upon the multiple panes of acrylic, resin and glass. As the crowd of students and visitors enter the exhibit, they are in awe. Fervent whispers and soft intakes of breath greet the massive piece of artwork. “The Triptych” is one of Dustin Yellin’s largest pieces to date. The 12-ton, intricately detailed work is a 3D collage of illustration clippings from magazines, paint and resin layered between panes of glass.
The assistant curator of the “Look Again” tour is a well-coifed man in a bright green sweater by the name of Aaron Garvey. As he ushers the tour group into the exhibition some visitors hover hesitantly around the triptych. “Go on and get close,” he says. “It’s like we’re hugging the walls over here.”
Yellin, according to Garvey, is a “superstar artist who focuses on practice and methodology in the completion of his works.” He is originally from California but currently resides in New York. It is there where his studio, Pioneer Works, is located. The Brooklyn studio is host to galleries, a radio show, classes and of course Yellin’s artwork. Students, art critics and more have wondered through his studio space to catch a glimpse of the artist’s unique work.
Recurring themes in Yellin’s work are derived from his everyday life. Garvey elaborates that Yellin draws upon the “underlying physique of day to day life.” “The Triptych” is his contemporary version of “Garden of Earthly Delights.” As delicate as it is vast, the piece is comprised of over 50 planes of glass fused with paint and collaged images enveloped in resin. The piece is a fluid narrative, starting with a volcanic eruption and then falling through the ocean. If you stand away from the piece, it appears as though it is an ornately detailed 3D painting. Upon closer inspection you are able to sift through all the layers of minute elements. You realize the mountains are painted on the glass and not printed, the ocean waves are made from paper, and the smoke is actually a mix of water and paint.
The rest of the room falls away as the piece, glowing and radiant, floats eerily in the center of the exhibit. Yellin seems to convey an environmental message through his vast triptych. The scenes are idyllic on the surface, but confusing and startling up close. The volcano actually seems to be spewing blood; the people are half-animal and the garbage swirling in the water manifests into a woman figure vomiting up oil. The piece ultimately portrays a contemporary catastrophe: disaster stemming from technology. Oil rigs destroying nature. Yellin is quick to inject his dry sense of humor into the piece as well. Waldo, Osama bin Laden and EPCOT are hidden within the many layers.
Many may feel a twinge of jealousy at the dedicated, graceful craftsmanship behind Yellin’s creation. Garvey insists that “The Triptych” could not have been possible without the artist’s studio assistants, calling the piece a “group-oriented project.” Almost a year and a half of work took the piece from sketches to production and finally to its debut at the SCAD Museum of Art. Yellin crafted each layer of the triptych by “dry-glass working,” a technique the artist developed himself. The numerous illustration clippings required 15 studio assistants to collect the images from Yellin’s extensive collection of magazines. When Hurricane Sandy ravaged New York the triptych’s production came to a screeching halt; he lost his archive of materials and had to start from scratch. Hundreds of hours of clipping washed away in the storm. Luckily, all Yellin had to do was regroup and press on.
“The Triptych” has unsurprisingly been one of the most popular exhibits at the museum. If not just because of the incredible amount of detail then certainly for the enigmatic, dizzying feeling you experience within the piece. One can’t help but feel absorbed by the vastness of it, as if you could simply drift away among the paper waves and painted smoke.
