Dan Droz: Behind the Fold by Griffith Moon

DAN DROZ BEHIND THE FOLD

DAN DROZ

BEHIND THE FOLD

ISBN: Library978-1-7367738-3-3ofCongress:2022909729

Printed in the United States of America First Printing, 2022

No part of this publication shall be duplicated or transmitted in any form without prior written consent from the artist. Displaying such material without prior permission is a violation of international copyright laws.

Published by Gri th Moon Santa Monica, California www.Gri thMoon.com

For more information about the work of Dan Droz: www.dandroz.com

“Art is magic... But how is it magic? In its metaphysical development? Or does some final transformation culminate in a magic reality?

In truth, the latter is impossible without the former. If creation is not magic, the outcome cannot be magic.”

Hans Hoffmann

Metal, Glass, Wire and Magic by Peter Frank

Interior Glow Gloss Enamel on Plywood 48 x 36 x 4 in. 2020

Geometry now pro ers us a banquet of delights, acrobatics, and kinetics as well as a dramatic, even theatrical monumentality, while artworks in general can as readily bear owers, be sat upon, or support human labor as they can serve the mind aloft or the soul in search. Where does xed form end and motion, or the spirit of motion start? And where does practical design end and aesthetic design start?

n the “normal” world, geometric forms are clear, clean, and visually dependable. And artworks serve no lower purpose than to embody beauty and inspire contemplation. But we haven’t lived in a normal world – that kind of normal world – for over a century.

Dan Droz is hardly the rst artist to pose this question to his audience or himself. e frontiers between the still and the animated, the useful and the transcendent, have been well explored for several generations. But Droz’s artworks, however vivacious, however usable, situate themselves on either side of the “borders” with emphatic zest and self-possession. ey not only embody such dualistic conditions, they pose them both like a philosopher’s conundrum and a magician’s prestidigitation. ey make a challenge of the both/and circumstances in which (especially three-dimensional) art now operates – and they make that challenge a vibrant, gorgeous ride for those challenged. Droz’s approach to art, design, and art-design sometimes makes the borders disappear altogether – and at other times maintains the notion of categories by toying with it, teasing its boundaries like smugglers, that is, smugglers of ideas and forms.

From the outset of his design career and artmaking history Droz has participated, knowingly, in the great modern adventure of the Gesamtkunstwerk, the “total work of art” that – even when not “total” – proposes not simply the bridging between, but the fusion of, the disparate practices of the arts. e term itself applied originally to the Wagnerian concept of music-drama, incorporating set design, choreography, poetry, and so forth, but in hindsight it applies equally to parallel later-19th-century theories of “through-designed” spaces, theories manifesting in the Arts & Crafts Movement, the Vienna Secession, Futurism, de Stijl, the Bauhaus, and other ideologies and praxes propounding a con ation of ne art, design, architecture, and somatic (not to say spiritual) awareness.

Glass Bow Powder Coated Aluminum 46.5 x 19 x 5 in. 2022

Four Square 2

Folded Kiln Formed Glass x 17 x 2 in. 2020

However, despite occasional direct references to this artist or that designer, clearly posited as crypto-homages, Droz bases his formulations on the apparitions of his own imagination. Such formulations can access readily recognized, even universal, shapes, like loop-tie noods or at-cube illusions; but this nod to familiarity manifests the entertainer in Droz, making references like a gag comic and even revisiting his childhood fascination with magic...pulling art out of his hat.

Metal, Glass, Wire and Magic continued...

We nd this approach reasserted in the later 20th century in phenomena as diverse as the British Independent Group (whence came Pop Art), the post-Bauhaus theory of the Ulm School, and movements in South America such as Concretismo and Madí (not to mention the conceptual Gesamtkunstwerk of Situationism, concrete poetry, Fluxus, and other forms of intermedia).

In the postwar era object design became self-aware as a visual language – witness Memphis Milano and even Scandinavian design – and, in the wake of Pop, graphic design refocused itself on codi cation and the re nement of the sign.

But, however much he may have learned from Minimal Art, Droz is no minimalist. To be sure, he descends from the likes of Donald Judd and Ellsworth Kelly, but he applies their lessons in perception to his native expansiveness and wit. In this regard, Alexander Calder and George Rickey are no less important to Droz’s manner. In fact, in certain respects Droz’s art and design – or perhaps we should call it artdesign – recapitulates the entire course of modern and post-modern “utilitarian abstraction,” moving from Vasily Kandinsky’s “Point and Line to Plane” through the art-design fusions of (among others) Isamo Noguchi and Anni Albers to 1970s Supergraphics and beyond in a focused, unbroken arc. (Droz was a part of that history right out of college, working in graphic design in New York at a time when Milton Glaser, Seymour Chwast, and other “New York School” designers were beginning to disrupt the magazine and book page.)

Droz’s ne art practice, no less than his design, admits to this rich inheritance, and certainly to its drive to simpli cation. Indeed, you could say that, like a sculptor hewing marble, he composes his objects not by deciding what should be there, but what shouldn’t. is implies a reductivist urge behind Droz’s method, reducing his forms to their elemental states.

e basic factor unifying everything Droz formulates – the point-of-view that makes a Droz a Droz -- is the relationship of two to three dimensions. He reasons, as Kandinsky exerted,

Cast

Happy Family 2 Bronze x 7 x 3 in. 2021

2020

Pisa Sunset Powder Coated Aluminum x in.

71 x 34

Inside Out Powder Coated Aluminum

71 x 34 x 30 in. 2020

from point and line to plane, thinking of the object – even the image of the object – as an unfolded construction of itself, that is, of its planar and even linear components (color not least). He builds his images into things, a cubist, indeed Cézannian notion that came to dominate modern visual culture, especially as it engendered – in time as well as space – the quintessential 20th-century notion of the “collage aesthetic.”

With their angles, patterns, sharp delineations, and giddy, jarring color combinations, Droz’s art and artdesign take the collage aesthetic for a wild ride. But with his virtuosic sense of superposition and segue, Droz convinces us that his driving skills are up to the challenge. In fact, while he’s adding and interlocking and ipping shapes and hues, he’s keeping tight control with his minimalizing bent. Droz knows how far to push the collage aesthetic, and how far to reel it back. He can maneuver and slow his vehicle as deftly as he can gun it.

Metal, Glass, Wire and Magic continued...

Dan Droz is a craftsman through and through, but it’s in his mind and eye where a higher craft – the craft of conception and re nement – generates. He thinks like an artist. Or, perhaps more accurately, Droz thinks like an artist-designer, reasoning and inventing in two and three (and arguably four) dimensions at once. He works readily with clients, but the ultimate client is always his inner artist – and, nowadays, his outer one. He seeks not simply what functions or entertains or elevates, but what works. Additive and subtractive at once, Droz’s aesthetic is as rich as it is clear, and above all is poised amidst seemingly contrary conditions which turn out to be complementary. Open to every source, Droz’s sensibility seeks its own total work of art.

Peter Frank Los Angeles, CA 2021

Seven Up Powder Coated Aluminum 46.5 x 19 x 5 in. 2021

Cornered Powder Coated Aluminum 46.5 x 28 x 8 in. 2019

Perspective Box 3 Acrylic on Canvas 36 x 53 x 6 in. 2018

“You are limited only by your ability to imagine possibilities.”

Kerry James Marshall

1 Acrylic

Aluminum 44 x 22 x 4 in. 2019

Perspective Chair on

Water Ribbon Acrylic on Aluminum 42 x 22 x 6 in. 2020

Defying Dimensions 1 Acrylic on Aluminum 31.5 x 44 x 4 in. 2021

30 Surprise! Painted Aluminum 36 x 36 x 5.25 in. 2018

31 Blooming Painted Aluminum 36 x 36 x 5.25 in. 2018

Method and Effect in Sculpture by Virginia Broersma

“Art does not reproduce the visible; it makesPaulvisible.”Klee

Reclaimed

Space Acrylic on Folded Aluminum 30 x 30 x 5.5 in. 2018

Similarly, Droz’s artwork performs tricks with perspective, dimension, and re ection. rough his adept use of trompe l’oeil or “fool the eye”, dimensions are teased and suppressed in a variety of ways that push and pull with real and imagined space. But Droz’s work isn’t all smoke and mirrors. With a lifetime of experience in the design world, Droz has been working with form and dimension while honing his technical skills and visual language far longer than the time he’s been focusing on being purely an artist. His distinct point of view in terms of design is the through-line of his work, spanning multiple careers and decades.

challenge for many artists lies in the choice about how much to give, and how much to withhold. Every artwork is an act of generosity: sharing cues towards the thoughts, revelations, and knowledge gained from the life of the maker, but is also a careful act of editing to create space for the thoughts of the viewer. Artist Dan Droz is at his best playing the sides in this equation between what is presented and what is hidden. Knowingly o ering information that is not always what it seems at rst glance with his sculptures, Droz teases the edges and limits of perception to activate an experience in the viewer and conjure that “aha moment”. is is the magic of art: a person can have their perception shifted, their mind expanded, their senses delighted by looking, listening, Artistperceiving.Dan

Droz’s work incorporates bends, folds, openings, re ections, and other devices to achieve his goal of creating illusions that play with the viewer’s understanding of what they are seeing. Droz’s decades-long experimentation with variations on a theme has led to a creative explosion of possibilities, or as Droz describes it, “Creating in nite variety within de nitive constraints.” Droz uses a toolbox of forms that is used to give shape to sculptures and wall reliefs that can be seen throughout his work. Subtle changes like a single fold or a color change within a block of geometric shapes transform repeated motifs into

Droz has the ability to make you look. His sculptures reveal themselves in layers over time; the rst impression is not always what remains at the end. Droz has had a lifetime interest in magic – actual magic tricks – and this particular activity is an excellent metaphor for art and a window into his sculptures. In magic there is trickery, but also a great thrill at being shown something impossible. e audience often knows they can’t trust their eyes, but are convinced into believing because it is so di cult to deny what is seen right before them as they gasp, “How did they do that?”

2018

Acrylic on Aluminum x 37 x 5 in.

Forward Movement

Rolled Triangles

Painted Aluminum 36 x 36 x 2.75 in. 2018

Method and E ect in Sculpture continued...

In college, Droz continued to explore these themes while attending Harvard where he double majored in the History of Science to better understand the process of scienti c discovery and Visual Studies, the undergraduate major for students preparing to study design and architecture. e two areas of study intertwined as both taught him the value of experimentation and seeing the world in new ways. During his time at Harvard, Droz studied with Toshirio Katayama, an internationally known designer and sculptor whose work dealt with the intersection of two and three dimensions. Droz eventually became the professor’s assistant, and Katayama became a profound in uence. Because of him, Droz began exploring the transformation of planes into three-dimensional forms, which has in uenced some of his Kirigami-like sculptural forms.

Droz was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His father, a skilled welder and woodworker, introduced him early to tools and processes that allowed him to start expressing himself through sculpture, manipulating the materials available to him. Apart from his artistic activities, Droz became interested in sleight of hand - performing on television and private events - and became fascinated by the perception gap between what the audience sees, and the techniques used by magicians to create these experiences. e simultaneous awareness of these two realities would ultimately in uence his artistic themes, particularly the limits of understanding what is real.

completely new artworks. His work moves between two and three dimensions, often hiding as much as they are revealing by including re ective and brightly colored surfaces on the backsides of oating forms that only hint at their presence through glows and echoes of form.

e element of the ‘hidden’ within Droz’s work calls attention to not only the limits of perception, but the techniques that make full comprehension di cult or impossible. Droz’s interest in exploring the gaps between what we can or cannot perceive comes from his experience as a professional magician, performing as a teenager and in college. “In magic,” Droz explains, “everyone understands that there are two ‘realities’ that exist simultaneously: what viewers see and what we know is really going on.” In the vocabulary of magicians, these two di erent realities are termed ‘the e ect’ and ‘the method.’ is process of exploring his work from di erent perspectives to gain a fuller picture of how they are made, what their true shape is and what exactly one is looking at, is an apt metaphor for the potential variety of di ering points of view within the world. is range of possibilities in perspective is a subtle nod to the diversity of people, and what each brings to the table.

40 e Back Story Acrylic on Aluminum 36 x 38 x 3 in. 2019

Method and E ect in Sculpture continued...

Droz was also in uenced by the Finnish designer and entrepreneur, Armi Ratia, founder of Marimekko, the textile rm she founded. While at Mademoiselle in his early twenties, he traveled to Finland and visited with Ratia to learn about design entrepreneurship, where a designer was actually producing and marketing their own work. Inspired by his visit and after his stint in New York, Droz returned to Pittsburgh to found his eponymous design rm, Dan Droz Designs.

Inentrepreneur.thesucceeding

years he developed a following, where he began to design for a collective of Danish furniture manufacturers. While in Copenhagen, was able to learn from famed furniture designer, Hans Wegner, some of the ins and outs of being a consultant designer. Gradually, Droz began working with other manufacturers in Canada, Taiwan and elsewhere, and was recognized through an unprecedented 7 “Daphne” awards, known then as the ‘Oscars’ of furniture design.

His rst design venture was a line of gift/housewares that included peppermills, cutting boards and other cooking and serving products because he was familiar with the manufacturing process having worked with his father. Characteristic of his willingness to experiment, he made a collection of prototypes and took them, without an appointment, to Bloomingdale’s department store in New York. “I put the prototypes in a backpack and showed up at Bloomingdales and asked a salesclerk where I could speak to a buyer,” Droz relates. “She asked if I had an appointment. ...I told her I didn’t, ‘but if you could tell me where they are, I could make one.’ e buyer, willing to help, took pity on me and spent an hour telling me how to get a distributor and suggested I go to the national gift show to nd one.” is led to a relationship with the H.E. Lau er company who distributed his line nationally. At the age of 22, Droz had become a successful design

In 1983, Droz was recruited to join the faculty of Carnegie Mellon University in the College of Fine Art while continuing his design career. is was a time when design was not exactly a household word. Droz soon organized a group of faculty from various disciplines including engineering, business and design, to co-found the interdisciplinary design program that has since morphed to become the Integrated Innovation Institute at DuringCMU.his

early design career and teaching, Droz maintained a separate studio for producing sculpture. Although he occasionally displayed his wall and freestanding sculpture in his own rm’s o ces, he never exhibited or sold his work. His early constructions, dating from his college years and into the 1970’s, re ected his graphic

Acrylic on Canvas

Striped Table Cloth

71.5 x 42 x 8 in. 2018

Summer Garden

Acrylic on Canvas with Kinetic Elements 33 x 24 x 2.25 in. 2009

design roots where he used paper to create three-dimensional reliefs and later expanded to wall sculpture and ultimately small free-standing works. It was during these formative years that Droz developed a unique style and narrative themes that he has expanded upon in both formal language and material.

In 2018, he retired from teaching and his design career to devote his time to his own work and pursue his art career. ere was no distinct break from his interests and design proclivities; however, his sculptures weave together the threads that existed throughout his life: material and process innovation, design, and, of course, the presence of illusion.

Although there are frequent gurative or iconographic references, most of his work lives in the realm of geometric abstraction. Straight edges, repeating triangle and trapezoid motifs, intersecting lines and at colors dominate the bulk of Droz’s oeuvre. Using novel methods of folding and forming metal, glass, wire mesh and polymers with re ective surfaces and sinuous forms, Droz sculptures powerfully reference the many layers of processing and understanding the world around us.

In many works, such as his folded wall sculptures, he employs a technique where surfaces may be painted on two sides, but only the front is visible to viewers. ere are tips and cues that there is more than is immediately visible such as uorescent paint on the inside of a wall sculpture that re ects an evanescent glow on the viewer facing surface, punctuating the importance of considering what may not be easily observed.

e use of perspective and trompe l’oeil has been an ongoing theme that Droz has employed both in his furniture designs as well as wall sculpture. An early table he designed in the 1980’s, used a checkerboard patterned veneer to create a trompe l’oeil version of a table with a checkered tablecloth. e same theme was employed on several sculptural works such as Striped Tablecloth, and several versions of Checkered Tablecloth, that incorporated the use of false perspective to allow a at panel to be observed as a table. In another wall sculpture, Water Ribbon, Droz used perspective to evoke an experience of water owing from a cube from simple shapes and at colors.

With other works, mirrors or perspective can similarly confuse the viewer’s perceptions. For example, in the work, Inside Out, a large, suspended box that some describe as a ‘phone booth,’ has open panels that suggest that one is looking through the box. What is less apparent is a mirror positioned within the box that re ects a view 90 degrees to the viewing plane.

Method and E ect in Sculpture continued...

Re ective Spaces

Painted Aluminum 39.5 x 39.5 x 2.5 in. 2018

Striped Perspective Box Acrylic on Canvas

34 x 34 x 2.5 in. 2018

For example, his formed and cast glass works have a formal consistency with his use of folded metal. But, because glass can’t ‘fold’ like metal, Droz had to invent a way to fold glass in consideration of the limits of the material. He engineered a device with a variety of torsion springs that could push the molten glass in various directions while it was in a kiln. Similarly, his use of 3D printing technology allowed him to create forms otherwise di cult with fabrication. For this technique, he integrated a new form of polymer with the properties of the wax used for glass and bronze casting, so he is able to achieve cast forms otherwise impossible with traditional casting methods. His use of crocheted wire mesh to create sinuous forms required devising a method to give structural integrity to an otherwise accid material. e result is an ethereal yet rigid sculpture, opening new possibilities for large-scale yet lightweight suspended sculptures.

Virginia Broersma Los Angeles, CA 2022

In all these works, there is an element of the hidden, again reiterating that there is more than meets the eye and more sides to each and every story. Droz’s interest in exploring the gaps between what we can or cannot perceive comes from his experience as a professional magician. “In magic,” Droz explains, “everyone understands that there are two ‘realities’ that exist simultaneously: what viewers see and what we know ‘is really going on.’ In the vocabulary of magicians, these two di erent realities are termed ‘the e ect’ and ‘the method.’ e e ect is what viewers experience. e method is the technique used to create the e ect.”

It is this innovation in materials and processes to create a narrative or viewer experience that Droz analogizes to magic. e techniques or methods the magician uses are inventions to create a particular illusion or e ect. Droz’s hidden processes are not simply a bag of tricks to showcase a novelty of method, but rather to conjure that sense of discovery in the viewer. e delight of magic is that we don’t care that we are faced the limits of our own comprehension or even that we are being duped; we are entertained, surprised, ba ed, and our disbelief is suspended for a bit, allowing us to imagine greater possibilities than we might believe on any other ordinary day.

As the writer Ann Patchett has noted, “Art must stand on the shoulders of craft.” Droz’s understanding of materials and processes and proclivity to invent new ways to form materials are a means to achieve his formal and thematic objectives. His background in science has aided in his interest in experimentation and inquisitiveness about the material and formal possibilities of his own work.

Method and E ect in Sculpture continued...

Checkered Tablecloth 2

15 x 22 x 2.5 in. 2021

Acrylic on Canvas on Aluminum

Interior Re ections Urethane Enamel on Aluminum 36 x 16 x 4 in. 2021

Folded Knots Acrylic on Primed Aluminum 46 x 20 x 2 in. 2021

51 4 Knots Acrylic on Aluminum 46 x 48 x 2 in. 2021

2009

Summer Turns to Fall Acrylic on Canvas (Kinetic) x 24 x 2.5 in.

Springtime Moodrise Acrylic on Canvas (Kinetic) 49 x 41 x 2.5 in. 2008

Undecided Lacquer on Wood (Kinetic)

69 x 38 x 5 in. 1990 (Dimensions vary as elements are rotated)

55 e Dancer Lacquer on Wood (Kinetic) 39 x 18 x 4 in. 2015

Reclaimed Space Powder Coated Aluminum 40 x 43 x 4 in. 2021

Square Study 1

Acrylic on Primed Aluminum 42 x 40 x 3 in. 2018

Knottted Totem 2 Powder Coated Aluminum 46 x 13 x 13 in. 2018

Remembering Youth Powder Coated Aluminum

71 x 41 x 34 in. 2018

60 Interior Re ections 1 Mirror Polished Aluminum 79 x 44 x 33 in. 2020

Hieroglyph 3 Lacquered Steel 54.5 x 18.5 x 10 in. 2018

Hieroglyph 2 Lacquered Steel 55 x 16 x 10 in. 2018

Hieroglyph 1 Lacquered Steel 45.5 x 16 x 10 in. 2018

2018

Autumn Forest Powder Coated Aluminum x 63 x16 in.

Autumn Forest 2 Coated Aluminum 69 x 93 x16 in. 2020

Powder

64 Family Portrait Painted Aluminum 74 x 34 x 30 in. 2020

Parent and Child Powder Coated Aluminum 61 x 32 x 23 in. 2021

In the Park Enamel on Aluminum 74 x 92 x 45.5 in. 2018

Remembering Youth Maquette Powder Coated Aluminum x 9 x 6 in. 2020

14 x 7 x 5 in. 2020

Floating Clouds Powder Coated Aluminum

Hand in Hand Mirror Polished Aluminum x 7 x 5 in. 2020

14 x 7 x 5 in. 2020

Tied Into Knots Mirror Polished Aluminum

72 Geo Tower Acrylic on Aluminum 17 x 8 x 6 in. 2020

Kissing Birds

Powder Coated Aluminum

17 x 8 x 6 in. 2020

17 x 17 x 2 in. 2020

Folded Kiln Formed Glass

75 Which Way

76 Four Fold Kiln Formed Glass 17 x 17 x 1.5 in. 2020

About Face 1 Cast Glass

14 x 6 x 3 in. 2021

78 GeoTower 2 Cast Glass 13 x 6.5 x 3 in. 2021

14 x 7 x 3 in. 2021

Happy Family Cast Glass

80 Re ective Universe 4 Powder Coated Aluminum/Steel 16 x 12 x 4 in. 2020

Cumulus Powder Coated Aluminum 78 x 24 x 24 in. 2020

A Lot To Handle Powder Coated Aluminum 16 x 9 x 7 in. 2021

83 e Embrance Powder Coated Aluminum

17 x 8 x 6 in. 2021

72 x 16 x 9.5 in. 2018

Searching Bird

Powder Coated Aluminum

Red Bird Powder Coated Aluminum 72 x 12 x 8.5 in. 2018

86 e Embrace Powder Coated Aluminum 15 x 13 x 8 in. 2019

Dancing Til Two Powder Coated Aluminum

14 x 16 x 8 in. 2019

Powder Coated Aluminum x 16 x 8 in. 2020

Red Heart 1

Standing Ground Powder Coated Aluminum

16 x 16 x 8 in. 2018

e Cat is Watching Powder Coated Aluminum 20 x 7 x 8 in. 2019

Swept Away Powder Coated Aluminum (Suspended) 24 x 36 x 22 in. 2021

Reclining Nood Bronzed Epoxy Resin 14 x 27.5 x 7 in. 2021

Forward Together

Epoxy

Resin on EPS 26.5 x 28 x 10 in. 2021

Blue Nood Epoxy on Pool Noodles 40 x 23 x 14 in. 2020

Crocheted Wire Mesh (Suspended) 84 x 36 x 14 in. 2020

Convolutions

97 Mobius 7

Crocheted Wire Mesh (Suspended) 42 x 22 x 10 in. 2021

We’re In is Together Crocheted Stainless Steel Mesh 19 x 42 x 18 in. 2021

Crocheted Wire Mesh (Suspended) x in.

2021

44 x 19

Mobius 5

101 Mobius 2

Suspended Wire Mesh 19 x 16 x 4 in. 2020

Top image: Determining the center of gravity for rotating element.

Acrylic on Canvas

33 x 24 x 2.25 in. 2019

Bottom image: Attaching bearings to a sculptural element.

102

Angular Study 3 (in process)

Reverse Fold Square (in process)

103

Folded Kiln Formed Glass 14 x 14 x 2 in. 2020

Torsion springs push soft glass while in the kiln.

42 x 19 x 19 in. 2021

104

Top left: Roll of crocheted mesh before forming.

Right: Constructing the sculpture on wooden armature/poles to secure form for heat treating.

Crocheted Wire Mesh

We’re In is Together (in process)

Bottom left: Expanding mesh into a tube.

105

Solid linear bar is cold-formed into a sinuous sculptural form.

e Embrace (in process) Powder Coated Aluminum 15 x 13 x 8 in. 2019

106

71.5 x 42 x 8 in. 2018

Acrylic on Canvas

Masking and painting stripes on canvas.

Striped Table Cloth (in process)

107

40 x 23 x 14 in. 2020

Top Left: e original sculpture is coated with epoxy and smoothed.

Top Right: A berglass mold is made to conform to the original.

Bottom: Aluminum infused epoxy is poured into the mold and released after curing.

Blue Nood (in process)

Epoxy on Pool Noodles

108

109

110

111

Page 25 Water Ribbon Acrylic on Aluminum 42 x 22 x 6 in. 2020

Page 21 Cornered Powder coated Aluminum 46.5 x 28 x 8 in. 2019

Seven Up Powder Coated Aluminum 46.5 x 19 x 5 in. 2021

Happy Family 2 Cast Bronze 14 x 7 x 3 in. 2021

Page 20

Page 35 Rolled Triangles Painted Aluminum 36 x 36 x 2.75 in. 2018

Page 30

Page 34

Page 24

Pages 12 Glass Bow Powder Coated Aluminum 46.5 x 19 x 5 in. 2022

Perspective Chair 1 Acrylic on Aluminum 44 x 22 x 4 in. 2019

Surprise! Painted Aluminum 36 x 36 x 5.25 in. 2018

Page 28

Defying Dimensions 1 Acrylic on Aluminum 31.5 x 44 x 4 in. 2021

Page 26

Page 29 Blooming Painted Aluminum 36 x 36 x 5.25 in. 2018

Page 22

Page 38 e Back Story Acrylic on Aluminum 36 x 38 x 3 in. 2019

Page Interior10 Glow Gloss Enamel on Plywood 48 x 36 x 4 in. 2020

Page 16 Pisa Sunset Powder Coated Aluminum 71 x 34 x 30 in. 2020

Page 32

Reclaimed Space Acrylic on Folded Aluminum 30 x 30 x 5.5 in. 2018

Forward Movement Acrylic on Aluminum 46 x 37 x 5 in. 2018

Four Square 2 Folded Kiln Formed Glass 17 x 17 x 2 in. 2020

Page 13

Page 15

Page 37

Page 17 Inside Out Powder Coated Aluminum 71 x 34 x 30 in. 2020

Defying Dimensions 3 Acrylic on Aluminum 31.5 x 44 x 4 in. 2021

Index of Works

Pyramid 3 Powder Coated Aluminum 29 x 31 x 8.75 in. 2019

Perspective Box 3 Acrylic on Canvas 36 x 53 x 6 in. 2018

Summer Turns to Fall Acrylic on Canvas (Kinetic) 32 x 24 x 2.5 in. 2009

Interior Re ections Urethane Enamel on Aluminum 36 x 16 x 4 in. 2021

Knottted Totem 2 Powder Coated Aluminum 46 x 13 x 13 in. 2018

Page 61

Page 57

In the Park Enamel on Aluminum 74 x 92 x 45.5 in. 2018

Page 60

Page 58

Floating Clouds Powder Coated Aluminum 14 x 7 x 5 in. 2020

Page 70 Geo Tower Acrylic on Aluminum 17 x 8 x 6 in. 2020

Page 53

Page 52

Interior Re ections 1 Mirror Polished Aluminum 79 x 44 x 33 in. 2020

Autumn Forest Powder Coated Aluminum 69 x 63 x16 in. 2018

Page 40

Page 47

Page 44

Page 65

Springtime Moodrise Acrylic on Canvas (Kinetic) 49 x 41 x 2.5 in. 2008

Family Portrait Painted Aluminum 74 x 34 x 30 in. 2020

Reclaimed Space Powder Coated Aluminum 40 x 43 x 4 in. 2021

Page 59

Hand in Hand Mirror Polished Aluminum 14 x 7 x 5 in. 2020

Page 48

Page 59

Page 51

Page 66

Page 41

e Dancer Lacquer on Wood (Kinetic) 39 x 18 x 4 in. 2015

Page 56

Page 67

Page 62

Page 54

Tied Into Knots Mirror Polished Aluminum 14 x 7 x 5 in. 2020

Page 50

Remembering Youth Powder Coated Aluminum 71 x 41 x 34 in. 2018

Page 68

Page 69

Checkered Tablecloth 2 Acrylic on Canvas on Aluminum 15 x 22 x 2.5 in. 2021

Page 55

Page 49 4 Knots Acrylic on Aluminum 46 x 48 x 2 in. 2021

Autumn Forest 2 Powder Coated Aluminum 69 x 93 x16 in. 2020

Page 46

Square Study 1 Acrylic on Primed Aluminum 42 x 40 x 3 in. 2018

Folded Knots Acrylic on Primed Aluminum 46 x 20 x 2 in. 2021

Striped Perspective Box Acrylic on Canvas 34 x 34 x 2.5 in. 2018

Undecided Lacquer on Wood (Kinetic) 69 x 38 x 5 in. 1990 (Dimensions vary as elements are rotated)

Remembering Youth Maquette Powder Coated Aluminum 14 x 9 x 6 in. 2020

Page 59

Hieroglyph 2 Lacquered Steel 55 x 16 x 10 in. 2018

Re ective Spaces Painted Aluminum 39.5 x 39.5 x 2.5 in. 2018

Parent and Child Powder Coated Aluminum 61 x 32 x 23 in. 2021

Striped Table Cloth Acrylic on Canvas 71.5 x 42 x 8 in. 2018

Hieroglyph 3 Lacquered Steel 54.5 x 18.5 x 10 in. 2018

Summer Garden Acrylic on Canvas with Kinetic Elements 33 x 24 x 2.25 in. 2009

Page 63

Hieroglyph 1 Lacquered Steel 45.5 x 16 x 10 in. 2018

Page 43

Page 73

Page 94 Convolutions Crocheted Wire Mesh (Suspended) 84 x 36 x 14 in. 2020

Page 96 We’re In is Together Crocheted Stainless Steel Mesh 19 x 42 x 18 in. 2021

Page 87 Standing Ground Powder Coated Aluminum 16 x 16 x 8 in. 2018

Page 92

Page 78

Kissing Birds Powder Coated Aluminum 17 x 8 x 6 in. 2020

Page 79

Searching Bird Powder Coated Aluminum 72 x 16 x 9.5 in. 2018

Page 89 Swept Away Powder Coated Aluminum (Suspended) 24 x 36 x 22 in. 2021

Re ective Universe 4 Powder Coated Aluminum/Steel 16 x 12 x 4 in. 2020

Page 74

Happy Family Cast Glass 14 x 7 x 3 in. 2021

Page 81 e Embrance Powder Coated Aluminum 17 x 8 x 6 in. 2021

Forward Together Epoxy Resin on EPS 26.5 x 28 x 10 in. 2021

Page 99 Mobius 2 Suspended Wire Mesh 19 x 16 x 4 in. 2020

Page 84 e Embrace Powder Coated Aluminum 15 x 13 x 8 in. 2019

Page 117

Page 77

Page 76 GeoTower 2 Cast Glass 13 x 6.5 x 3 in. 2021

Page 86 Red Heart 1 Powder Coated Aluminum 16 x 16 x 8 in. 2020

Page 82

Page 85

Reclining Nood Bronzed Epoxy Resin 14 x 27.5 x 7 in. 2021

About Face 1 Cast Glass 14 x 6 x 3 in. 2021

Page 118 e Greeting Powder Coated Aluminum 120 x 47 x 41 in. 2022 MOAH Lancaster, CA

Which Way Folded Kiln Formed Glass 17 x 17 x 2 in. 2020

Page 93 Blue Nood Epoxy on Pool Noodles 40 x 23 x 14 in. 2020

Page 75

Page 95 Mobius 7 Crocheted Wire Mesh (Suspended) 42 x 22 x 10 in. 2021

Page 80 A Lot To Handle Powder Coated Aluminum 16 x 9 x 7 in. 2021

Dancing Til Two Powder Coated Aluminum 14 x 16 x 8 in. 2019

Page 88 e Cat is Watching Powder Coated Aluminum 20x 7 x 8 in. 2019

Cumulus Powder Coated Aluminum 78 x 24 x 24 in. 2020

Page 90

Page 83 Red Bird Powder Coated Aluminum 72 x 12 x 8.5 in. 2018

Page 71

Page 98 Mobius 5 Crocheted Wire Mesh (Suspended) 44 x 19 x 14 in. 2021

Four Fold Kiln Formed Glass 17 x 17 x 1.5 in. 2020

e Gathering Powder Coated Aluminum 144 x 56 x 48 in. 2021 Visions on 15th Project Technology Zone Pittsburgh, PA

an Droz uses gurative and abstract forms, re ection, perspective and concealed information to explore the limits of our perception. Using novel methods of folding and forming metal, glass, wire mesh and polymers, Droz’s sculptures reference the many ‘layers’ of processing and understanding the world around us. Recent solo exhibi tions include Transformations I, Transformations 2, Elusive Spaces and Defying Dimensions.

Dan is the recipient of numerous regional, national and international awards, including the Mary Phillips Sculpture Award, “Designer’s Choice” award by ID Magazine and “Best of America” by Abitare (Italy), and has been featured in over 100 publications, including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. His work has been shown in numerous solo and juried exhibitions including the Westmoreland Museum of Art, the Pittsburgh International Airport and ree Rivers Arts Juried Exhibition, and included in many public and private collections.

Dan graduated cum laude from Harvard College in 1972 with a double major in the History of Science and Visual and Environmental Studies. After graduation, he served as Guest Design Director at Mademoiselle Magazine in New York before returning to Pittsburgh to begin his consulting career. In 1996 he was recognized as one of six distinguished design alumni of Harvard College at the 30th anniversary of Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts.

Until 2018, Dan had a career as a design consultant and educator serving for 18 years on the faculty of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), in both the College of Fine Arts and Business School, where he co-founded the rst university course in the U.S. to bring together engineers, MBA’s and designers in a single program to advance “Design inking.” In 2018, he began devoting full time to sculpture.

e body of work that follows considers this limited perception in a number of ways by exploring both the various techniques employed as well as the formal and narrative aspects of the work.

Dan Droz Pittsburgh, PA 2021

We all struggle for understanding, but much of our world remains elusive or hard to fully understand. It’s especially hard when the really important information is hidden or camou aged. I began to understand this, rst hand, as a teenager, when I became interested in magic, where there are so clearly two realities – what viewers see and ‘what’s really going on.’

is perception gap is a tting metaphor for art. Just as we might be amazed by a magician’s sleight of hand, when we experience ne art, whether visual, literary, musical, dance or performance, we might pose the same question: “how do they do

isthat?”‘magic’

metaphor might actually have more to it, as there’s an important similarity between the way magic works and the way art is made. Professional magicians have names for the two di erent realities. “ e E ect” is what the audience experiences and “ e Method” is the technique employed by the magician...what they’re actually doing. In art, there is a similar juxtaposition: What viewers experience... and the technique the artist employs to create that experience. Whether it is the composition or particular way paint is applied, the leap of a dancer, or the materials and fabrication methods of the sculptor, the artist employs a variety of techniques or processes to achieve the particular experience. e more innovative and re ned the technique, the more possibilities exist for an elevated (and perhaps even ‘magical’) viewer experience.

Virginia Broersma is an art journalist and founder of the consulting rm, e Artist’s O ce. She has written and edited extensively for a variety of art journals and exhibition catalogs including for the Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art, Long Beach Post, Art and Cake, Art Scene, Peripheral Vision and Artweek LA and is also a practicing painter, exhibiting throughout California.

Contributors

Peter Frank is an art critic, curator, and poet who lives and works in Los Angeles. He is known for curating shows at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and has worked curatorially for Documenta, the Venice Biennale, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, and many other national and international venues. Frank contributes articles to numerous publications and has written many monographs and catalogs for one person and group exhibitions. He was the Senior Curator at the Riverside Art Museum and an art critic for Angeleno magazine and is a frequent contributor to e Hu ngton Post, Art in America, ARTnews, and Whitehot Magazine. He was also an editor for Visions Art Quarterly and an art critic for e Village Voice and e SoHo Weekly News in New York.

Dan Droz Pittsburgh, PA 2022

making a sculpture, would not have been possible without many generous, skilled and insightful collaborators who have elevated this experience. Kimberly Brooks once said that the most important quality in a person is generosity, and I’m fortunate to have been one of probably hundreds on whom she has bestowed her own fountain of that gift with humor, insight and wisdom. I would like to thank Virginia Broersma for her editing, sage advice and thoughtful guidance. I would like to thank Heather Sue Walters for her considerable shepherding of the entire process from explaining how to use Google Docs to editing advice and marvelous design. I would like to thank Mark Perrott, for his generosity in photographing my rst collection of sculpture, many pieces of which are included in this book, when I had no idea what I was doing, and that continues to be a primary expression of my work. As well, I’d like to thank my son, Ben, also a photographer, for coming from Washington D.C. to Pittsburgh to photograph my work. I’d like to thank Jim Pesyna who tirelessly assists me in bringing virtually all of my sculptures to life and to the skilled people at TriState, Electro-kote, and Technique Architectural Products whose skills make all the work possible. ank you, too, to all of those who have chosen to include my work in their collections, many of which are included in this book. Most importantly, I’d like to thank my wife, Cathy who so lovingly provides guidance and support for my still budding career as a sculptor and amazing insight into all things, not the least of which has been considerate advice on the content and narrative of this book.

CreatingAcknowledgmentsthisbook,like