Dustin Yellin tells stories that weave together the diverse forces of nature and technology. Through his multidisciplinary body of work, which includes object making, painting and animation, Yellin draws attention to the interconnectivity of all beings and things. His approach tunnels across traditionally siloed fields so as to crystallize the idea that both the human world, and all other worlds around us, are a collection of enmeshed networks - even if many are hidden. Yellin’s glass works in particular, in which paint and images clipped from various print media are embedded within laminated glass sheets to form grand pictographic allegories, invite viewers to engage with the legions of their own consciousness and its embodied emotions, as well as that of our collective society and its infrastructures. Yellin is the founder and director of Pioneer Works, a multidisciplinary cultural center that builds community through the arts and sciences. The artist balances descriptive poetry with a prescriptive social practice so as to span new ways of seeing and being, and build a bridge to a more holistic world.
Dustin Yellin (B. 1975, California) lives in Brooklyn, New York. His artwork has been exhibited at Brooklyn Museum, Amorepacific Museum, Museo Del Palacio de Bellas Artes, SCAD Museum of Art, The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, City Museum, Colección Solo, Corning Museum of Glass, and with Creative Time, amongst many others. Yellin is often featured in diverse media ranging from the New York Times, to Artforum, Vanity Fair, and TED. He holds an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the Savannah College of Art and Design.
Artist CV
Social Sculpture
2012-Present Founder/President, Pioneer Works
501 c(3) non-profit cultural center in Brooklyn, NY
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2023 New Works, Venus Over Manhattan, New York, NY
Politics of Eternity, Liberty Science Center, Jersey City, NJ
2021 Procession, Tribeca Festival, New York, NY
2016 10 Parts, Grimm Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2015 Psychogeographies, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York, NY
Psychogeographies, The Kennedy Center, Washington, DC
2015 The Triptych, Sotheby’s S|2 Gallery, New York, NY
2014 $50,000, Two Parachutes, and A Crab’s Suit, Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
The Triptych, Savannah College of Art and Design Museum, Savannah, GA
2013 Investigations of a Dog, Half Gallery, New York, NY
2011 Osiris on the Table, 20 Hoxton Square, London, England
2010 Night Shades, Vito Schnabel, Milan, Italy
Eden Disorder, Samuel Freeman Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2009 Dust in the Brain Attic, Robert Miller Gallery, New York, NY
2008 Unnatural Selections, Patricia Faure Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Permutations, Haines Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2007 Suspended Animations, Robert Miller Gallery, New York, NY
2005 Dustin Yellin, Robert Miller Gallery, New York, NY
2002 Previous Works, James Fuentes Project Space, New York, NY
Selected Group Exhibitions
2022 Cartography of the Mind, Christie’s, New York, NY
Navel of the World,Tobin Galleries for Modern and Contemporary Art, Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, FL
2021 The Fisher Dollhouse: A Venetian Palazzo in Miniature,
Museum of Arts & Design, New York, NY
Human, 7 Questions, Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea
The Garden of Earthly Delights, Matadero Centre for Contemporary Creation,
Madrid, Spain
2020 Harper’s Bazaar: Premier magazine de mode, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, France
Incidental Monuments: Designing with Discards, Goucher College, Baltimore, MD
2019 Apma, Chapter 1 - From the Apma Collection, Amorepacific Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea
New Glass Now, The Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY
Glasstress, Fondazione Berengo, Venice, Italy
2018 HÍBRIDOS: El Cuerpo Como Imaginario, Museo Del Palacio de Bellas Artes, México City, Mexico
Immigrant Artists and the American West, Tacoma Museum of Art, Tacoma, WA
Natural Wonders: The Sublime in Contemporary Art, Brandywine River Museum of Art, Chadds Ford, PA
Scale: Possibilities of Perspective, The Children’s Museum of the Arts, New York
2017 Glasstress, Fondazione Berengo, Venice, Italy
Singular Object , 53W53 Gallery, New York, NY
2016 Group Exhibition 10th Anniversary Show, James Fuentes, New York, NY
I, Cyborg, Gazelli Art House, London, England
2015 The Rabbit Hole, Sharon Arts Center, Sharon, CT
2014 Hot Chicks, The Hole, New York, NY
Environmental Impact, Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, Malibu, CA
2013 Come Together: Surviving Sandy, Year One, curated by Phong Bui at Industry City,
Brooklyn, NY
Jew York, Zach Feuer Gallery, New York, NY
2012 Brucennial 2012 “Harderer. Betterer. Fasterer. Strongerer.”, Bruce High Quality
Foundation, New York, NY
2010 Conversations II, Travesía Cuatro Gallery, Madrid, Spain
2009 One From Here, Guild & Greyshkul, New York, NY
Without Walls, Museum 52, New York, NY
Among the Trees, New Jersey Center of Visual Arts, Summit, NJ
2008 Geometry As Image, Robert Miller Gallery, New York, NY
2007 Conversations I, Travesía Cuatro, Madrid, Spain
2006 Earth and Other Things: Dustin Yellin and Johanna St. Clair, Lincart, San Francisco, CA
Black and Blue, Robert Miller Gallery, New York, NY
2005 Landings, Susan Inglett Gallery, New York, NY
First Annual Watercolor Show: Ten Times the Space Between Night and Day, Guild &
Greyshkul Gallery, New York, NY
Nostalgia, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY
Art In Public Spaces
2023 Emergence, permanent outdoor public artwork for The Well in Toronto, Canada.
2018-Present Four Psychogeographies permanently installed at the Palms Hotel, Las Vegas,
NV
2018-2020 Three works at Longhouse Reserve outdoor sculpture park, East Hampton, NY.
2015-Present A set of six Psychogeographies is permanently installed on Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles, CA
2015-Present A figure from the Psychogeographies series is on long-term view at The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York City, NY
Selected Exhibitions Curated by Dustin Yellin
2020 LJ Roberts: Vantasy Vehicle Vessel Verqshop, SPRING/BREAK Art Fair, New York, NY
2019 Nicholas Oh: Who Is Dave Kim the Potter, SPRING/BREAK Art Fair, New York, NY
2018 Nate Lewis: Latent Tension, SPRING/BREAK Art Show, New York, NY
Onyedike Chuke, SPRING/BREAK Art Show, New York, NY
2017 Desiree Kong - Mentors, SVA Chelsea Gallery, New York, NY
2015 The Riches of God’s Love unto the Vessels of Mercy, Curated with Bazaar Teens,
SPRING/BREAK Art Show, Moynihan Station, New York, NY
2014 Dale Henry: The Artist Who Left New York, Curated with Alanna Heiss, Richard Nonas,
and Beatrice Johnson, Pioneer Works Center for Art and Innovation, Brooklyn, NY
Museum Collections
Brooklyn Museum, New York
City Museum, St. Louis, MO
The Kennedy Center, Washington D.C.
Colección SOLO, Madrid
Amorepacific Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea
Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY
Wiseman Collection, Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA
Monographs
Dustin Yellin: Heavy Water. New York: Rizzoli, 2015.
Selected Bibliography
2022 Brara, Noor “Art School Confidential” The New York Times Style Magazine. July 6, 2022
Friedman, Gabe “Brooklyn’s 50 Most Fascinating People: Dustin Yellin, Artist and Founder, Pioneer Works” Brooklyn Magazine. Summer 2022.
Friedman, Gabe “Pioneers at Work” Brooklyn Magazine. September 22, 2022.
Sheets, Hilarie M. “After Ten Years, Pioneer Works Embraces Its Amorphous, Trans-Disciplinary Spirit, Where Art Meets Science” ArtNews. November 8, 2022.
2021 Williams, Kaya. “At Aspen Ideas Fest, artist Dustin Yellin considers a crisis of
imagination.” The Aspen Times. June 30, 2021.
2019 Kamping-Carder, Leigh. “Dustin Yellin Tackles Climate Change With Oil Tanker Tipped
Vertically.” Wall Street Journal. May 20, 2019.
Cox, Rob. “Imagine the end of the oil supertanker era.” Reuters. May 19, 2019.
2018 Stiles, Kara. “Pioneer Works: An Artists’ Space Blending Brilliance And Community.”
Forbes. November, 2018.
2017 Noey, Christopher & Campbell, Thomas P. The Artist Project: What Artists See When
They Look At Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art & Phaidon, 2017.
Williams, Gilda. “Dustin Yellin.” Artforum. March, 2017.
2016 Black, Matt. Reflections. New York: Assouline, 2016.
Vanderstukken, Koen. Glass Book. London: Black Dog Publishing, 2016.
Kaplan, Isaac. “Dustin Yellin Imagines a World Wrecked by Climate Change.” Artsy. December 19, 2016
2015 Collins, Amy Fine. “Inside Artist Dustin Yellin’s Brooklyn Factory of Delights.” Vanity
Fair. September, 2015.
Brooks, David. “Dustin Yellin’s Modern Community-Building.” The New York Times. July 21,2015.
Dingfelder, Sadie. “A dozen dancers trapped in glass: Dustin Yellin’s installation at the Kennedy Center.” The Washington Post. April 9, 2015.
Vankin, Deborah. “Dustin Yellin adds his mark in L.A. with art that’s a ‘missile for social change.” Los Angeles Times. October 14, 2015.
2014 Bernstein, Jacob. “Dustin Yellin: Opening Doors, Opening Eyes.” New York Times.
March 9, 2014.
Selected Talks
2022 “Pioneer Works: Perspectives on a Changing Earth” Panel discussion at Museum of
Contemporary Art (MoCA), Los Angeles, CA.
2021 “Sustainability in the spheres of fashion, food and art” Panel discussion in the United
Nations Climate Change Pavilion as part of United Nations Climate Change Conference,
(COP26).
2021 “Civilization as a sculpture” Aspen Ideas Festival.
2020 “Dustin Yellin on Making Art, Weaving Madness, and Forging Your Own Path” The Tim
Ferriss Show (Podcast).
2018 “How heavy is a light year?” Horizons: Perspectives on Psychedelics Conference: New
York.
2015 “Why I think inside the box.” TED: Vancouver.
2014 “A journey through the mind of an artist.” TEDx: New York.
Selected Awards and Honors
2018 Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, The Savannah College of Art and Design
2018 Honoree, Longhouse Reserve
2014 Nelson Mandela Community Activist Award, New York City Clergy Roundtable