Dan Molyneux ( he/him )

Ecology deals with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings. Nature is the true steward of humanity since it long preceded us and will forever outlast us. Though we pretend to steward ourselves and our surroundings, I think we need reminders of symbols that span all of human history and speak to our fundamental relationship with nature. The attempt to express the universal is often regarded as a disassociation from everyday life and the world around us, but this oversimplifies the complex relationship geometry has to the perceptible world: a visual language with a deep-rooted sense of ecology. The observable world dissolves into abstraction at both a sub-atomic and cosmic level. There is an immense network of connections between all existence that echoes within abstraction. My sculpture explores abstracted compositions of elemental form that allude to that very same ecological standpoint. Geometric expressionism attempts to render the laws of nature visible, and when successful, it can recall the temporary nature of the seen, and the eternal nature of the unseen.

--Dan Molyneux

Molyneux first apprenticed with a sculptor in Bangalore, India in 1996. He then moved to Hangzhou, China to continue his undergraduate study and work in a local pottery studio. He worked for 3 years in the art studio at UC Berkeley and then left in 2006 to teach Arabic and wheel throwing at the Cornell University pottery studio. Later on, he spent 3 years as Chris Gustin’s studio manager, focusing heavily on glaze experimentation and wood firing.

Molyneux presently lives and works in northern California, focusing on creating sculptures at a more intimate scale. He is currently exhibiting at the Faenza Biennale in Italy, received a best in show distinction for sculpture at the San Angelo Museum 2022 Biennial and an honorable mention at the 2019 Gyonggyi International Biennale in South Korea. His work is collected abroad and in permanent collections such as the Yingge Ceramics Museum, the Fuller Craft Museum and the Crocker Art Museum.