I just finished installing the last of 3 sculptures created for Eileen Fisher this summer. Over the course of 6 weeks, I used approximately 3,600 pounds of clothing.
Derick Melander creates clothing sculpture that explores the intersection between global consumerism and the intimate relationship we have with what we wear. About my work
Derick was a New York Foundation for the Arts grant recipient for 2019, 2021 and 2023 to create new works in the public realm of Queens, NY.
Upcoming
05/2025 Two-person show with Kelly Reemtsen, Gallery Oxholm, Vesterdage 19D, 4600 Koge, Denmark
Podcasts: Let it Out | The Listen
“A Cloud Reveals the Moon”, the making of a modular Clothing Sculpture
“Making clothing sculpture for over 20 years, I’ve come across countless hand-sewn repairs, pants with threadbare knees and coats with names written inside the collar. These traces of life have led me to think of my works as collective portraits. As the sculptures grow and the layers of clothing accumulate, the individual garments are compressed into a single mass. This symbolic gesture explores the complicated space between the individual and society, a space that is ceaselessly broken and re-constituted.” More about my clothing sculptures
I'm in Seattle today, getting ready to install one of the 3 clothing sculptures I created for Eileen Fisher.
This sketch is for a sculpture series. I always feel a twinkle of joy when I see a blank sign or a marker that has lost its meaning. These objects draw our attention, but have nothing to say (like some people I know).
So excited to exhibit the results of this new commission from Diesel. Getting on a plane soon which will get me to the exhibition space just in time for the opening at the YIA art fair.
Studio time in the Paris suburbs for a clothing sculpture commission for Diesel.
The overall shape is that of a thick, free-standing, corner partition. The color vertically transitions from dark to light and the back again. Inside the corner of the structure, shirt sleeves, pant legs, ties etc.. emerge to form bridge-like appendages. These elements express the human need to make connections, and symbolize the idea that we are all one people.
Hard at work this past weekend, preparing a new commission for Diesel. The work will be exhibited in Paris at the YIA art fair, coinciding with FIAC. The fair is at the Carreau du Temple, a beautiful space in the Marais.
Dream Drawing, September 10th, 2017. I grew up working in my families styrofoam factory. This provides SOME clue...
