Sculptures by Clemson University Professor of Art David Detrich at Lipscomb Gallery at the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities

Installation View of David Detrich's Sculpture Exhibition at the SCGSAH

The show will be up through Saturday, November 1- the Gallery will be part of SCGSAH Open Doors!- with an artist's talk free and open to the public at 4:30 p.m. on October 23.

Artist's Statement:

From Hegel’s Theory of the Dialectic to evening TV sitcoms I have always been a sucker for irony and paradox. I identify most with a definition I found in one of my old dictionaries of the term “artist” as being a trickster that employs slight of hand. My work involves manipulating recognizable and familiar elements of geometric form, language/text, "art about art" and the socio-political in an open dialogue of opposition. I feel my work is most successful when it poses a question rather than presenting an editorial on a subject. I also contend that “style and consistency” are antithetical to the creative process. I am very curious about the potential of art making that can exist by recognizing a seemingly incongruous palette of concepts and contexts. The end accumulation may appear to be disparate but hopefully this approach has the capacity to represent a broader sense of who I am and how I reflect upon our current condition.

Installation View of David Detrich's Sculpture Exhibition at the SCGSAH

My current project involves coring through art periodicals with the intent to obscure the distinctions between the fashion industry and the art world. The periodical ArtForum is a "container" of such dichotomies. I've constructed a tool that cores through the magazine rendering an indiscriminate sampling of its contents. By reconfiguring (displacing) the "samples" I develop new meaning through image intersections. The art/fashion paradigm is thus blurred. I propose that these constructions, which currently serve as models, become billboards or digital projections that adorn the facades of high-end fashion industry retail outlets.


Lipscomb Gallery
SC Governor's School for the Arts & Humanities
15 University St 
Greenville, SC 29601