{"id":592572,"date":"2026-08-22T12:30:38","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T12:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/592572\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T12:30:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T12:30:38","slug":"dean-milliens-aluminum-foil-animal-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/592572\/","title":{"rendered":"Dean Millien\u2019s Aluminum-Foil Animal World"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tProfile<\/a><\/p>\n

A highlight of \u201cGreater New York\u201d at MoMA PS1, the artist\u2019s remarkable sculptures made from the humble household material continue a practice he began as a child in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Bryan
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Dean
\n Dean Millien working at his studio in Bushwick, Brooklyn (image courtesy James Fisher-Smith)<\/p>\n

Entering Dean Millien\u2019s high-ceilinged Bushwick studio, I found the artist watching a Marcel Duchamp interview on his laptop, surrounded by a menagerie of his aluminum foil animal sculptures. When I asked him why, he told me about his recent visit to Duchamp\u2019s current retrospective<\/a> at the Museum of Modern Art. \u201cSeeing his work helps my mind,\u201d he said. \u201cGreat artists give me an idea of where I should go. I always trust myself as an artist, but I like to see how others have grown in the past.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Millien\u2019s background as a self-taught artist might differ from that of figures like Duchamp, his recent inclusion in MoMA PS1\u2019s Greater New York<\/a> is proof that the need to make art exists beyond the walls of the commercial art world. Still, what struck me in meeting Millien was his lack of interest in posturing. He\u2019s driven by an urge to keep elevating his practice, taking in influences from art history while sticking with his instincts. Having grown up with a developmental disability, he has spent time working with the city\u2019s ecosystem of organizations supporting artists with disabilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy background doesn\u2019t make me feel ostracized or anything,\u201d he commented. \u201cI always had intuition, a good feeling about what I liked and what I wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Installation view of Millien’s “The Cats and the Rats” in Greater New York at MoMA PS1 (photo Bryan Martin\/Hyperallergic)<\/p>\n

The artist was born in Brooklyn in 1972 to Haitian immigrants who settled in Ditmas Park. Millien\u2019s core memories from his childhood center around toys and television: \u201cMy young mind was strictly focused on that. I was around art, and I just didn’t know it.\u201d This obsession was compounded when his father, in a moment of frustration, discarded all of Millien’s toys. This early loss became a critical part of his creative development. He began making his own toys, initially out of scrap materials like sponges and paper. Eventually, he sculpted them out of aluminum foil, his primary material to this day for its durability and availability as a household staple.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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