Dan Corbin

Manner of Intent

cast glass, wood, sheet metal, oxides, acrylic paints Dan Corbin's sculptures are a convergence of conceptualism and the human figure, illuminating what it feels like to be alive during current times, with all its beauty, complexity, contradictions, and possibilities. The artist’s sculptures address issues of contemporary society - materialism, industrialization and cultural change - while simultaneously referring to a wide range of human emotions. His sculptures lift the spirit while questioning what it is to be human. In Corbin’s archetype of man, intellect and soul are separate from the body. Armless, headless, anonymous cores can now be broken down to the smallest units, analyzed, engineered, beautified, and commodified. Corbin’s articulation of figurative sculpture takes iconography of the present and embeds it in the surface of his sculptures. He calls these miniature time capsules ‘inclusions’. Objects like cosmetic bottles, action figures, dolls, and feeder fish are sealed in resin and strategically embedded throughout the body. With these ‘inclusions’ the figure becomes a technologically enhanced vessel. The human body is no longer a container for a perfect being, handed down by god or evolution, but an aesthetically enhanced harbinger of a new era. In combination with the ‘inclusions’ Corbin uses a multitude of industrial materials, emphasizing the intrinsic value and physical properties of each. Each surface becomes fully charged with content, primed for multiple interpretations. Dan Corbin has been included in notable exhibitions at galleries and institutions including the Museum of Northern California Art...

Cast bronze & Oxide Patina Dan Corbin's sculptures are a convergence of conceptualism and the human figure, illuminating what it feels like to be alive during current times, with all its beauty, complexity, contradictions, and possibilities. The artist’s sculptures address issues of contemporary society - materialism, industrialization and cultural change - while simultaneously referring to a wide range of human emotions. His sculptures lift the spirit while questioning what it is to be human. In Corbin’s archetype of man, intellect and soul are separate from the body. Armless, headless, anonymous cores can now be broken down to the smallest units, analyzed, engineered, beautified, and commodified. Corbin’s articulation of figurative sculpture takes iconography of the present and embeds it in the surface of his sculptures. He calls these miniature time capsules ‘inclusions’. Objects like cosmetic bottles, action figures, dolls, and feeder fish are sealed in resin and strategically embedded throughout the body. With these ‘inclusions’ the figure becomes a technologically enhanced vessel. The human body is no longer a container for a perfect being, handed down by god or evolution, but an aesthetically enhanced harbinger of a new era. In combination with the ‘inclusions’ Corbin uses a multitude of industrial materials, emphasizing the intrinsic value and physical properties of each. Each surface becomes fully charged with content, primed for multiple interpretations. Dan Corbin has been included in notable exhibitions at galleries and institutions including the Museum of Northern California Art...