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The ability to find beauty and possibility in the ordinary and mundane is at the core of sculptor Moe Van Dereck's art. Using simple everyday objects both modern and antique, like scissors and nails and old bicycle parts, he molds and welds them into graceful birds or whimsical insects. His is the unique talent that can trigger the imagination into a new frame of reference. Moe Van Dereck was born in Boston and spent his very early childhood in Provincetown, on Cape Cod. His family relocated to New York City, after some time spent abroad. After earning a bachelors degree from New York University, he pursued his musical interests in the Greenwich Village folk scene. He studied drawing at The Art Students League of NY and as a visual fellow at The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and also studied privately with sculptors Mihran Chobanian, Varughian Begosian and Sidney Gordon, and poet Harry Kemp. In addition to his fascination and passion for the visual arts, Moe Van Dereck has achieved a high degree of accomplishment in a variety of fields from blues guitarist to repairer of fine string instruments, builder and racer of sailboats, volunteer fireman and paramedic, US Chess Federation Tournament director, author, and avid studier of astronomy and cosmology. This ever inquisitive and open attitude towards life is an integral part of his sculptural process. The sculptures, like the artist himself, are whimsical and witty and oftentimes not quite what they may at first appear, a reflection of Van Dereck's wide-ranging curiosity, tremendous technical skill , and his keen eye and appreciation for the beauty inherent in simple things, particularly the cleverness of old things. Offering insight into how he takes a group of ordinary metal objects and imagines a work of art, Moe Van Dereck , holding several pairs of scissors in his hands, says, "If I twist the scissors handles I can make perfect wings for a bird", and pointing to the jets of a corroded gas stove, "I visualize a flock of penguins." From the initial very imaginative insight, "the seeing" of an object as something other than what it is, through the cutting and bending and welding, to the actual creation of an animated creature that is completely believable and very individual, this is the essence of Moe Van Dereck's sculptural process. Moe Van Dereck opened Simie Maryles Gallery together with his wife, painter Simie Maryles, in 1998. His work is included in many private collections in the United States, Canada and Europe. His sculptures have been included in invitational shows in New York and on Cape Cod. Moe Van Dereck lives in Provincetown with his wife and their two sons. |
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