Marc D’Estout

Marc D’Estout: Open Investigation aims to explore the artist’s process and decipher the enigmas in D’Estout’s minimalist sculpture. While engaging subconscious surrealist imagery, his sculptures often reveal humor or uncanny associations, addressing fears, personal (mis)communication, social nuance, or pop humor. The work simultaneously communicates the conceptual and a sense of utility.

There are at least three bodies of work represented in this exhibit, spanning more than thirty years. This is the first time D’Estout has exhibited different studies simultaneously, providing a unique opportunity to compare and contrast the artist’s varied oeuvre. Throughout the exhibit some, but not all, of the mysteries within each piece will be unveiled through D’Estout’s response to enquiry about production, motives and meaning. For those who don’t want to be influenced by the text, we encourage you to simply observe these pieces and read their visual language. It is also important to note that D’Estout’s thoughts are not nearly as literal during the “making process” as they appear to be in the following text. Visual thoughts cannot be translated to the written word and working thoughts are far more abstract in the midst of creating a visual story.

D’Estout has a deep connection with materials and process, predominantly the challenging skills of hand shaping and fabricating sheet metal forms, which are then finished with carefully crafted surfaces. His style of metalsmithing or metal-shaping falls somewhere between the conventions of the fine art metalsmith and those of artisans who hand-form custom car bodies. His life-long love of automobiles is integral to his visual language and his studio practice, although there is a world of difference in objective and approach in his work. The application of D’Estout’s vision through these highly disciplined craft-based processes is unique in the context of contemporary art.

Marc D’Estout was curator at the Museum of Craft and Design, San Francisco, served as art director/curator at the Monterey Museum of Art and assistant director/curator at the Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara. He was director of Art and Design at the UCSC Extension. He holds a Master of Fine Arts Degree from San Jose State University and received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from California State University at Hayward.