My name is Zach Dietl. I’m a painter and sculptor, born and raised in Rochester New York. Currently I’m showing downstairs in Structurally Speaking as well as Upstairs at Main Street Arts in the Self-Portrait Invitational. This is my first blog post with Main Street Arts and I’m excited to share some of the thoughts and processes behind my work.
My background is in painting and sculpture. I have a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts from SUNY Geneseo where I focused on oil painting, metal fabrication, and mold making. I recently finished my Masters of Fine Arts at Rochester Institute of Technology, where I extended my practice to include Metal Casting.
My work is an attempt to explore, organize, and define the complexity of the world around us. While making Translation, I was interested in the work of analytic philosophers such as Bertrand Russell and Gottlob Frege, who attempted to use logic and math to explain the natural world. Translation is a geometric form which captures a simple movement. I started by welding tines to a length of 1/2 square steel. I then simultaneously bent and twist the middle of the square steel to transform the flat object into a graceful form.
Translation does not tell a story, or refer to other objects. It is an object of pure geometry which focuses on form, proportion, and movement, and material. These simple qualities are defined and presented as evident truths, without commentary or question.
Stop by the gallery to see his work in our current exhibition Structurally Speaking and in our Self-Portrait Invitational.
