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
A list of the organizations I have worked with to creatively raise awareness around textile recycling.
Photo reference for a wall panel. I'll need to start looking for lots of blacky-greens.
Dream Drawing, August 19th, 2016. I dreamt I was going through a pile of old paintings in the trash and this was underneath.
This is based on a dream I had where I was standing in an earthen pit, a bit deeper than I am tall..
This is an idea for a clothing performance piece I hope to do soon.
In this video, I take the viewer on a tour of a hotel closet, reading the tags on the garments as I pack to leave. These words spell out a poem.
I made this sketch as a sort of to-do list. Many of these thumbnails become finished drawings.