Dave Cole (artist)

Dave Cole (born 1975 in Lebanon, New Hampshire) is an American contemporary visual artist specializing in sculpture.
Cole's work is characterized by an interest in politics, patriotism, nostalgia, and masculinity. He lives and works in Providence, Rhode Island. He is represented by DODGEgallery in New York City and formerly the judi rotenberg gallery in Boston.

In 2013, Cole participated in the centennial anniversary of the Armory Show in the Focus Section on America curated by Eric Shiner, Director of The Andy Warhol Museum. Cole's recent exhibitions include a solo exhibition at DODGEgallery in 2012, 40 Under 40 at the Smithsonian Museum of Art, Renwick Gallery (2012-2013), Flags of the World at the Norton Museum of Art (2011-2012), The Music Box at the Cleveland Institute of Art (2012). In 2010, Cole had his first New York solo exhibition at DODGEgallery. He has had prior solo shows at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum (2009) and Mass MoCA (2005). Through mixing conceptual craft and assemblage, Cole's work attempts to embed subversive meaning and political message into his material and process. Cole reconstitutes found and ready-made objects such as, discharged bullets and casings and eviscerated flag fragments, as well as, fabricated materials such as cast lead and knitted metal fiber. His subject matter often draws from symbols of nostalgia, childhood, and more recently, poetry and landscape.

Dave Cole was born in 1975 in Lebanon, New Hampshire, attended Landmark College in Putney VT and then received his BA in 2000 from Brown University.

He has exhibited at national and international museums, including the Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY; Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT; Mass MoCA, North Adams, MA; Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.; Norton Museum of Art, Palm Beach, FL; DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA; 21c Museum, Louisville, KY; Norton Museum of Art, Palm Beach, FL; Framingham, MA; Indiana State Museum, Indianapolis; Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, AZ; Vestlanske Kunstindustrimuseum, Bergen, Norway; Nasjonal Museet, Oslo, Norway; Haifa Museum of Art, Haifa, Israel; and the Textielmuseum, Tilburg, Netherlands. In 2009 he participated in The Big West Festival in Melbourne, Australia, one of many recent international projects. Cole was the recipient of the 2009 deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum's annual Rappaport Prize, and his work has been reviewed in Artforum, Art in America, ARTnews, Modern Painters, Art Papers, and The Boston Globe, among others. His work is included in the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Danforth Museum, Wellington Management, 21c Museum, RISD Museum, The Burger Collectionand Jaermuseet Vitenfabrikken.