BIOGRAPHY

DANE CARDER

Born Nashville, Tennessee, 1972

Dane Carder’s art continues in the tradition of anonymous Tantric paintings of the 17th century. He does this by creating works he calls “Meditations.” In these pieces, he seeks to both dissolve ego and bring into focus our shared humanity and (holy) Spirit. Using symbols, subtlety and “imperfection,” his process-based paintings lean into poetic nuance (Carder is also a poet) to express both a quiet and powerful life energy. He sees these works as visual haikus, where each work takes a vast, universal concept, and distills it down to its essential elements. The titles of his pieces serve as essential gateways to larger ideas, and with a little irony and levity, he intends them to whisper hints about what he is trying to convey.

For example, in painting titled “Make Waves,” Carder is suggesting we should get out and go live. In “The Effect of Drips,” he makes reference to how a continual drip can have a huge effect, from flooding a house to building a huge enterprise.

Carder begins his pieces by building the backgrounds, layering paint, stains, washes and writing. The oval comes next and its shape serves as a sign of completion. Like a mandala, it has no beginning and no end. It’s also reminiscent of a face, thus a reference to humanity, and the egg, thus to birth. The oval also exists in opposition to the rectangle or square in which it is held. In the end, Carder wants his pieces be a focal point on which to meditate and stand in opposition to the current crazy state of the world. This is because stillness is essential to our mental and emotional health. In speaking of himself, he says he has finally found a way to overcome himself and the hell of emptiness, addiction, and depression. His art is representative of this.

 

Selected Solo Exhibits
2020       Fragments of Man     The Red Arrow Gallery, Nashville, T
2018       The Healing Game   Customs House Museum, Clarksville, TN
2017       Better Angels                       The Red Arrow Gallery, Nashville, TN
2015       Paintings                              The Morris Museum, Augusta, GA
2015       War Wounds                      The Parthenon Gallery, Nashville, TN
2014       Memory of Wounds       The Browsing Room, Nashville, TN
2013       Ghosts and Hopes           Customs House Museum, Clarksville, TN
2013       Proof of Ghosts                Leu Gallery, Belmont University, Nashville, TN
2010       In The Studio                     Chestnut Square Studio w/ Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
2007       Abstracts                             B/G Gallery, Nashville, TN
2007       Civil War                               Art For Humans Gallery, Chinatown, Los Angeles, CA

Selected Group Exhibits
2019       Gallery Group        Modfellows Art & Design, Nashville, TN
2018       New Abstracts                       The Arts Company,  Nashville TN
2017       Art Nashville 17    Haynes Gallery, Nashville, TN
2015       200 Miles Away David Lusk Gallery, Memphis, TN
2015       Mashup/Artists Do Cardboard   David Lusk Gallery, Nashville, TN
2014       Small Things Considered                               Laurence Miller Gallery, NY, NY
2013       Price Is Right                      David Lusk Gallery, Memphis, TN
2012       Small Packages  Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
2011       Small Packages  Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
2011       Art Chicago                         Chicago, Ill
2011       Exchange                             Tanner Hill, Chattanooga, TN
2010       Art Chicago                         Chicago, Ill
2010       The Painter’s Eye             Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
2010       The Food Show Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
2010       Young Turks                       Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
2009       Green Show                       Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
2008       Small Packages  Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
2008       Perennials and New Growth       Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
2006       Annual Juried Show                        Rawls Museum Arts, Courtland, VA
2005       A Prayer For Clean Water             St. Edwards University, Austin, TX
2001       Home, Ruby Green, Nashville, TN
2000       A Cold Empty Feeling,    Ruby Green, Nashville, TN 

Publications
2018       New American Paintings
2017       Nashville Arts Magazine
2015       Burnaway, Atlanta, GA
2014       Garden and Gun
2014       Native, Nashville, TN
2013       The Tennessean, Nashville, TNshville Scene
2007       Chattanooga Times, Chattanooga, TN
2002       N Focus, Nashville, TN
1999       In Review, Nashville, TN