NH DePass
'Nicolo'
NH DePass (SCAD B.F.A., graphic design, 2017) combines traditional craftsmanship with contemporary technologies, working across carpentry, digital modeling, oil painting, drawing, and found materials. In this exhibition, DePass presents a collection of meticulously layered assemblages centered on the character of Nicolo, a young Italian artist-prodigy who becomes both a subject and a vehicle through which DePass explores new modes of making. An elaborately framed painting of Nicolo anchors the space, flanked by two custom-built units containing artworks and personal belongings attributed to him, alongside drawings, wall-relief sculptures, and an artisanal chair. Together, these elements demonstrate identity as a construct shaped more by aesthetic choices than physical likeness, revealing how creative expression is oftentimes most evocative of the self.
DePass's process moves between machine-assisted production and manual fabrication, beginning with source imagery generated through engagement with AI and resulting in intricately hand-constructed physical works. By bringing design strategies into fine art, embracing stylistic pastiche, and negotiating the relationship between human craft and machine production, DePass's practice complicates notions of authorship, shifting viewers' attention from who the maker is to how and what is being made.
NH DePass (SCAD B.F.A., graphic design, 2017) combines traditional craftsmanship with contemporary technologies, working across carpentry, digital modeling, oil painting, drawing, and found materials. In this exhibition, DePass presents a collection of meticulously layered assemblages centered on the character of Nicolo, a young Italian artist-prodigy who becomes both a subject and a vehicle through which DePass explores new modes of making. An elaborately framed painting of Nicolo anchors the space, flanked by two custom-built units containing artworks and personal belongings attributed to him, alongside drawings, wall-relief sculptures, and an artisanal chair. Together, these elements demonstrate identity as a construct shaped more by aesthetic choices than physical likeness, revealing how creative expression is oftentimes most evocative of the self.
DePass's process moves between machine-assisted production and manual fabrication, beginning with source imagery generated through engagement with AI and resulting in intricately hand-constructed physical works. By bringing design strategies into fine art, embracing stylistic pastiche, and negotiating the relationship between human craft and machine production, DePass's practice complicates notions of authorship, shifting viewers' attention from who the maker is to how and what is being made.
About the artist
NH DePass (b. 1990, New Orleans; lives and works in Los Angeles) holds an M.F.A. in sculpture from Pratt Institute and a B.F.A. in graphic design from the Savannah College of Art and Design. His debut solo exhibition Form Destroyer was presented at Thierry Goldberg Gallery, New York, in 2021. DePass has also exhibited at Swivel Gallery, New York; Ross + Kramer, New York; Albertz Benda, Los Angeles; and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, where he received first place in the 2021 Louisiana Contemporary exhibition.
Credits
Nicolo is organized by SCAD Museum of Art associate curator Brittany Richmond.
