Sean Derry: Thingum

Thingum originated as an exploration of the need for shelter and the impulse to create a home regardless of environmental and economic constraints. Following the end of a 23-year marriage, Derry deconstructed a homesteading cabin in remote Alaska. Erasure of the cabin was a parallel investigation of multiple ideas including colonization, domesticity, and remediation. The exhibition exists as both an investigation and apology, an attempt to hold the tenderness of seeking comfort alongside the potential cultural and ecological ramifications of this pursuit. Derry's understanding of home is rooted in his sensibilities as an artist, someone who has a deep connection to materials and process. The personal belongings and traces of actions left in historical structures such as the cabin inspire complex stories that can be perceived in relation to the past as well as the present. In the spirit of resourcefulness, Derry chose to work with simple materials characteristic of the vernacular of the frontier while wrestling with the conditions of contemporary being. The utilitarian forms he makes examine conflicts in an ecosystem while disarming popular ideals of masculinity.