Rising Stars: Meet Devon Dikeou

Today we’d like to introduce you to Devon Dikeou.

Hi Devon, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
The end is the beginning in a way… On 9/8/22 the Archives of American Art acquired the papers of Devon Dikeou Studio, zing magazine, and Dikeou Collection. I am an archivist by nature and my 40-plus years will now reside in the Smithsonian and chronicle the history of my particular time between certain practices that make up the papers of my studio practice, those papers of Zing magazine, and its archive, as well as that of Dikeou Collection.

My practice starts with an internship. At Tibor de Nagy Gallery, in 1985. In the “basement”—which really was an abandoned ladies’ room in between floors, in the gallery building on 57th St, where I was tasked with sorting out old Artforums. I found there a treasure of history which even today is only being recognized with the immense importance it held. But the thing that captured me above all else was an artists’ project in Artforum by Lucas Samaras… It spanned several double-page spreads and on each spread were images of skeletons. The first grouping in black and white was full-bodied and the group was labeled as I recall “Artist”.

In the second spread, the skeleton was painted in color, and the image centered solely on the head, and underneath appeared the word “Dealer”. The last spread zoomed even closer on the skull and focused almost exclusively on the teeth, below simply, “Collector”. The fascination began…And although I remember “Artist” as the first representation, in fact, it was “Critic” Samaras cited, but the Vin Diagram was already drawn in my head. And the sets and subsets clarified: artist, critic, collector, platform—dealer, museum, street, magazine, studio, home… The wherever, whatever, whoever, maybe that one encounters Art.

To that end, I’ve made art that tries to reach these subsets of in-between… “What’s Love…“ is that project. It dutifully cites all group shows I’ve participated in a manner that replicates the fabled directory board in the art world at 420 West Broadway, where the dealer Leo Castelli listed his current “menu” of shows, and Ileana Sonnebend posted hers …And Charles Cowles as well as others… What HAS love got to do with it… I wanted very much to be on that directory board, not so much as an aspiration, but as a gesture of “appropriating” from the Pictures Generation, I just made a board from one of the first shows I happened to be part of… sculptures and from there… It continues.

And while that is an excellent effort of laying out the Vin Diagram among participants—my fellow artists, with our combined paths, it only made sense to open the platform in a wider sense. And so, inspired by the Samaras project and other artists’ projects that the Art forum published, I took a turn at publishing… In 1995, I founded, edited, and published the first issue of Zing magazine. There have been 25 since.

And those pages were given over to creatives/artists—2-16 of redaction ally-free content, featuring work by wide-ranging creatives from unknowns to larger-than-life figures… Rainer Judd created a stellar project of her family’s space that centered on her father, Donald Judd’s opus Soho space, 101 Spring St (with Madeleine Hoffmann) or a very young unknown Canadian artist’s very first drawings that we discovered at the first Berlin Art Fair—Marcel Dzama, whose work now delights folks the world over… Including the L train subway stop in Williamsburg.

And that other magazine circle encroached and there was no resistance… or really was it something else. A collector always, and an archivist by nature, and exposure to rare and beautiful things. Through curiosity mostly but also by a genuine feeling of openness. If the platform or program were open and presented a vision it might move. In a physical way thoughts, minds, real understanding.

So, with that last bit of subset and inspiration from the Samaras Art forum project I reached and co-founded Dikeou Collection… Grandiose hopes. Free and open to the public, full presentations of artists working in all types of mediums… For a few small respites of worlds to enjoy… On East Colfax, and California St in downtown Denver. And now with all that, all three practices’ histories will be open and ready for all kinds of new eyes to learn, feel and experience their triplicate history… At the Archive of American Art/Smithsonian.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The creative process is a challenge, an ongoing obstacle. Being able to start and finish is huge. I often say this, when you’re visiting a foreign place one often has the small or grand intention of writing a postcard. But that’s not a small feat.

First, you must think of someone worthy of the postcard, then you must select the appropriate postcard, write something pithy on it, you must also know their address and apply the correct address, then you must source the Post Office in the local lands and communicate in their native tongue about postage, buy correct postage, paste it on, and finally drop it in the box.

That’s ten tasks for the delivery of a travel salutation. There must be commitment . . . there must be zillions of postcards written but never sent. And zillions more bought and not written. And bazillions more that were thought never executed… It goes on and on… And why vintage postcards have a market. Both unwritten and written at Swap Meets everywhere . . .

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a visual artist, devondikeou.com, and I currently have retrospective Mid-Career Smear curated by Cortney Lane Stell in Denver. I am the editor/publisher of an art magazine, zingmagazine (founded 1995) zingmagazine.com. zing is a magazine comprised of curated projects, 2-16 pages from all different creatives… And the magazine gives creatives redaction-ally free pages to explore their thoughts and inspirations to the fullest. I am curator/co-founder/collector of a contemporary art collection, Dikeou Collection based in Denver which is free and open to the public (founded 1998) dikeoucollection.org and exhibits the work of over 45 artists.

The work is curated/collected with the idea that the presentation gives a full reading of the artist’s oeuvre, no matter the medium. And we explore all mediums. Including installation. Editorial point of difference, differential… being an editor/publisher and collector, sets me apart from artists, but just being an artist sets me apart from not only the practices of editing/publishing and collecting but also from the general public as well… trying to do/wear all these caps is rather different… and just maybe sets me apart more. That multiple cap wearing makes/is the differential… And since I occupy this unique position, an art piece that best illustrates multiple positions is an art piece of mine, “Not Quite Mrs. De Menil’s Liquor Closet”.

Inspired by the infamous liquor closet of the collector Dominique de Menil, who with Charles James created a special treasure trove in her already treasure of the domicile Philip Johnson created for her, she placed all her beloved gifts and gems given by the likes of Miro, Picasso, Braque, of course, Magritte, Warhol, and dozens of others in her liquor closet… So “Not Quite” is my take on her gesture and I replicated her closet and installed all the gifts artists have given me as an artist, editor/publisher, or collector, as well as all those artists I traded with, artist to artist, those I collected in relational aesthetic exercises and a few that I acquired in benefit auctions or as gifts from galas… All of this was originally shown in an Art Fair yet another setting where all these lines are blurred…

So rather than thinking about what sets one apart, I like to think in terms of inclusiveness and groups—be those groups of artists, group shows, groups of creatives in a magazine, groups art work bouncing off each other and creating new relationships over an extended period of time in a collection maybe, even in a closet… Believing in the collaborative process and the force of currency of exchange.

A good metaphor for this is the Venn Diagram: where our shared experiences can be in between mental, physical, and psychological spaces… So those shared experiences between artist and publisher, artist and gallery, artist and collector, artist and artist, and remember with a Vin Diagram, there’s always the whole set, so the larger audience as a whole… The viewer in all their capacities.

How do you define success?
Euphoria. The euphoria you get when the magic happens, an idea comes. The moment of final realization is completed. The wonderful experience of seeing an unanticipated thing and the very same feeling of experiencing the anticipated miracles becoming actualities. And sometimes for me, it comes around when things work almost counterintuitively. . . There are examples of all of this in all three of my practices.

With all three, studio, zing magazine, and Dikeou Collection, the work is about the in-between, and with the studio, my work is very dry, minimal, and visually a challenge… But by engagement, it reaches for a different place, that is not at all sexy. So for example… My fella, as an antiquarian, has garnered a bunch of frailero chairs, and Catholic monk chairs and they’re magnificent. But they take whatever shine outa one might say, my answering phone machine piece, “Call Me”—from the 90s might elicit… I struggle with these chairs they’re big—I try to hide them for studio visits and carry them up and down stairs to accomplish that.

And they are heavy and there are 10… In that frustration of this enormous physical task, I have that eureka/euphoria moment. Take these large cumbersome Renaissance pope chairs… And make them into a piece. In their own right. There’s a huge history of papal paintings and there it is: choose 10 historical paintings from the Renaissance and photograph the chairs in the position that the historical paintings represent. It feels great when that happens, a negative turns into a positive. Just Euphoria. It doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, it’s a success.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.devondikeou.com, www.zingmagazine.com, and www.dikeoucollection.org
• Instagram: @devondikeou, @zingmagazine, and @dikeoucollection

Image Credits
Portrait: Devon Dikeou, photo by Lisa Kereszi Artwork: 1. Devon Dikeou The Mail 1991 Ongoing Functioning Apartment Mailboxes, Each Mailbox Given to an Artist in the Group Show for Their Personal Use for the Duration of the Exhibition Variable Dimensions 2. Devon Dikeou Four Seasons 2018 Black and White Cibachrome on Aluminum Variable Dimensions 3. Joe Brainard Untitled (Miniature Mail) undated Gouache on Paper, Mixed Media Assemblage 6 1/8” x 9” 4. Devon Dikeou Not Quite Mrs De Menil’s Liquor Closet 1991 Ongoing Walls: The Outside of A Closet Replicating the Liquor Closet of the Collector Mrs De Menil, with Shelving, Glassware, Liquor, Mixers, Artificial Birds, and the Artist’s Collection of Art Work that Was Gifted or Traded Floor: Chair and Lamp Replicating the Décor of Outside of Mrs De Menil’s Liquor Closet Variable Dimensions 5. Devon Dikeou Not Quite Mrs De Menil’s Liquor Closet 1991 Ongoing Walls: The Outside of A Closet Replicating the Liquor Closet of the Collector Mrs De Menil, with Shelving, Glassware, Liquor, Mixers, Artificial Birds, and the Artist’s Collection of Art Work that Was Gifted or Traded Floor: Chair and Lamp Replicating the Décor of Outside of Mrs De Menil’s Liquor Closet Variable Dimensions 6. Devon Dikeou Not Quite Mrs De Menil’s Liquor Closet 1991 Ongoing Walls: The Outside of A Closet Replicating the Liquor Closet of the Collector Mrs De Menil, with Shelving, Glassware, Liquor, Mixers, Artificial Birds, and the Artist’s Collection of Art Work that Was Gifted or Traded Floor: Chair and Lamp Replicating the Décor of Outside of Mrs De Menil’s Liquor Closet Variable Dimensions 7. Devon Dikeou What’s Love Got To Do With It?: From Sculpture 1991 Ongoing Lobby Directory Board Listing Artists, Gallery, Curators, Exhibition Titles, Dates Replicating the Lobby Directory Board at 420 West Broadway (Series Initialized for the 1st Group Show in which the Artist Exhibited, and Made for Every Group Show Thereafter) 18” x 24” 8. Devon Dikeou What’s Love Got To Do With It?: NYC 1993 1991 Ongoing Lobby Directory Board Listing Artists, Gallery, Curators, Exhibition Titles, Dates Replicating the Lobby Directory Board at 420 West Broadway (Series Initialized for the 1st Group Show in which the Artist Exhibited, and Made for Every Group Show Thereafter) 18” x 24” 9. Devon Dikeou What’s Love Got To Do With It?: Loud Lord 1991 Ongoing Lobby Directory Board Listing Artists, Gallery, Curators, Exhibition Titles, Dates Replicating the Lobby Directory Board at 420 West Broadway (Series Initialized for the 1st Group Show in which the Artist Exhibited, and Made for Every Group Show Thereafter) 18” x 24” 10. Frontcover, zingmagazine #18 11. Spread from “101 Spring Street” curated by Madeleine Hoffman & Rainer Judd, zingmagazine #18 12. Frontcover, zingmagazine #9 13. Spread from “Untitled Drawings” by Marcel Dzama, zingmagazine #9 14. Anicka Yi L’Haine 2011 Turtleneck sweater with bouquet of tempura fried flowers dimensions variable 15. Lizzi Bougatsos Self-Portrait 2012 ice 16. Devon Dikeou Autopen 1981 Ongoing Functioning Autopen that Generates Programmed Signatures of the Artist with a Blue Felt Tip Pen. Autopen Used at the Signing of the Archives of American Art Acquisition of the Papers of Devon Dikeou Studio, zingmagazine, and Dikeou Collection. An Autopen Was Used By the Artist During a Washington DC Internship With Senator Gary Hart. The Machine Is Typically Used by Politicians, Sports Stars, and Celebrities. 12” x 8” x 6″ 17. Devon Dikeou “Pray for Me” – Pope Francis I 2014 Ongoing C-Print of a 17th Century Italian Monk Chair Positioned to Replicate One of 10 Painted Portraits of Popes and Reproduced to the Exact Dimensions of each Cited Painting Detail: Titian, Pope Paul III and his Grandsons 82-5/8 x 69-1/3 in 18. Devon Dikeou “Pray for Me” – Pope Francis I 2014 Ongoing C-Print of a 17th Century Italian Monk Chair Positioned to Replicate One of 10 Painted Portraits of Popes and Reproduced to the Exact Dimensions of each Cited Painting Detail: El Greco, Pope Pius V 50 13/16 x 37 13/16 in 19. Devon Dikeou “Pray for Me” – Pope Francis I 2014 Ongoing Installation shot at James Fuentes Gallery 20. Devon Dikeou Call Me 1993 Ongoing Functioning Telephone Answering Machine, and Telephone Line, Series of 100 Match Books with “Call Me” and the Phone Number “212-966-4935” Written Inside and Left for Bar Patrons over the Duration of the Exhibition Variable Dimensions 21. Devon Dikeou Call Me 1993 Ongoing Functioning Telephone Answering Machine, and Telephone Line, Series of 100 Match Books with “Call Me” and the Phone Number “212-966-4935” Written Inside and Left for Bar Patrons over the Duration of the Exhibition Variable Dimensions