Tacita Dean (British, b.1965) was born in Canterbury, England. She attended the Falmouth School of Art in Cornwall, England, the Supreme School of Fine Art in Athens, Greece, and the Slade School of Fine Art in London. She has produced works in various media, including sculpture, photography, and woodwork. Some of her unique and renowned creations, however, have involved the use of film as portrait. By projecting a series of frames, each blown up and lit to her own specifications, Dean makes the celluloid film itself the subject over and above the action in the film.
Her 2006 Kodak and 2011 Film have each received glowing reviews from critics on both sides of the Atlantic. Some critics interpret her calling as a protest against the passing of celluloid in the present age of digital memory. Showing her work since the early 1990s, Dean has had engagements with the Frith Street Gallery and Tate Gallery in London, the Marian Goodman Gallery in Paris, the Niels Borch Jensen Gallery in Berlin, and the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington. Her works have also been viewed in Melbourne, Dublin, and New York. Dean's art never fails to attract recognition, earning her numerous prizes and awards.
Upon completion of her studies in 1992, the artist earned the New Contemporaries Award for recent art school graduates. She subsequently earned a stint as artist-in-residence at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, OH. The 21st century has seen her receive the Regione Piemonte Art Prize, the Barclay's Young Artist Award, the Sixth Bennesse Prize, and the Kurt Schwitters Award. Dean was nominated in 2006 for the Guggenheim Museum's Hugo Boss Prize. Other honors include participation in the Scriptwriter's Lab at the prestigious Sundance Institute in Utah. Most of her reviewers praise her for reminding the public of the beauty of celluloid and the artistic importance of analog technology. Dean's website lists the Frith Street Gallery of London and the Marian Goodman Galleries in Paris and New York as her primary representatives. The artist currently lives and works in Berlin.
