Declan Riordan is a sculptor, painter, and printmaker focusing on self-discovery through expressionism.
Declan Riordan is a printmaker, sculptor, and painter, focusing on self-discovery through expressionism. Self-identity and honesty are the themes that they focus on primarily in their work. They aim to address the grotesqueness of human nature and to explore identity and expression through a queer lens. Declan extracts a grotesque beauty from the subjects they depict, an obsession with impulsivity and an insatiable attitude drives their work. These techniques of expression and projection result in honest depictions of desire, sexuality, and self-acceptance. The contorted figures of Declan’s work lay bare in defiance, rejecting modern generation’s notions of purism and conformity. The figures are protestations and celebrations, simultaneously existing as joy and excitement, fear and shame. The juxtaposition between these multiple coexisting concepts is palpable in Declan’s work as elongated, deformed figures act out a performance across the broken surface as they clammer for realization.
Solo Exhibitions
2023 - Hysterical Expression, Colvin Hall University of Maine, Orono, ME
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Group Exhibitions and Collections
2023 - Personal Threshold, Lord Hall Gallery University of Maine, Orono, ME
2023 - UMaine Student Art Exhibition 2023, Lord Hall Gallery University of Maine, Orono, ME - Juror Timothy Peterson
2023 - All Small Art Show, Rock and Art Shop, Bangor, ME
2022 - UMaine Student Art Exhibition 2022, Lord Hall Gallery University of Maine, Orono, ME
2022 - Clean Water Munka Studios, Lewiston, ME - Juror Carl Sheline
2022 - All Small Art Show, Rock and Art Shop, Bangor, ME
2021 - UMaine Student Art Exhibition 2021, Lord Hall Gallery University of Maine, Orono, ME
2021 - All Small Art Show, Rock and Art Shop, Bangor, ME
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Honors, Awards, and Collections
2023 Umaine Student Art Exhibit 2023, Honorable mention award
2023 Umaine Student Art Exhibit 2023, Selected for Solo Colvin Hall show
2022 CLAS Dean’s Exhibition Award
2022, 2021 University of Maine Printmaking Teaching Portfolio Collection
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Skills
Art: Drawing, Painting, Etching, Printmaking, Welding, Forging, Proficient in metalworking and woodworking
Software: Adobe Premiere, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Audition, Final Cut Pro, Adobe Flash, Microsoft Office, Proficient in Mac and Windows