Gallery 801

Gallery 801 focuses on recycled art that is affected by emotion and artistic interpretation. Steven Derks is a practicing full-time Self-taught artist. He specializes in metal sculpture, including as-is-found object art, and has a minor in non-objective paintings and photography. His work is included in many public, corporate, museum, and private collections in the United States and worldwide. Derks had a six-year long White House exhibit during Clinton's administration. There's an ongoing exhibit at the University of Arizona Bio 2 (Oracle Az). The combination of emotion and artistic interpretation can be seen in his artwork, with a touch of the machine world. One of the assets he is best known for is the sculpture he has made out of scrapped machine parts. It becomes furniture. I am now sitting on chairs, at a table made entirely from machine components. The sculptures I see come from things he found, such as a bronzed candle and a cup. All of this is charming, and it makes me smile. His manipulation of color and form with ravished objects is an amazing experience. The sculptures of hearts and guns are both disturbing and fascinating. They show how art can move us to darker emotions. His ability to turn industrial trash into stunning furniture or gun-toting hearts can make you laugh, too. This is how we relate to his art, and him inviting us to participate was an incredible opportunity to create my art. I also loved his talent for welding, which allowed us to transform mechanical leftovers into two people.