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About the Artist
Darel Carey is a visual artist based in Los Angeles, California. He was born in Curaçao, and grew up in Colton, California. He served in the US Air Force as a language analyst, then separated in 2012 to pursue an art career, graduating from Otis College of Art and Design with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2016.
His current work includes immersive tape installations, murals, paintings, and digital art. Visual perception and emergence are his main focus. He uses lines to shape and bend the perceived dimensions of a surface or a space. Carey has always had an affinity towards illusions and is fascinated by our visual understanding of the world around us. He explores the emergent effects that come from simple, organic processes. From basic components, like lines, arranged in particular ways, complex forms emerge. Creating his art organically, he appreciates the beauty of patterns found in nature, and attempts to embody these attributes in his work.
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Artist Statement
My work explores the interplay between visual perception and the emergence of complexity from simple components, which transforms basic elements, like lines or circles, into forms that are greater than the sum of their parts. Through an organic process of repetition and subtle variation, whether with pieces of tape, drawn circles, or paint strokes, I build compositions that give rise to intricate patterns and illusions. Applied on flat surfaces, these forms can be perceived as three-dimensional, with ripples, waves, and gradients that shift dynamically from different perspectives.
This dimensionalizing art compels the viewer to look at a surface or a space differently, to contemplate the limits of visual perception, and to question what they see. It also evokes wonder about the way our world is constructed. I’m inspired by the patterns of nature, and the levels of emergence throughout, from atoms, to stars, to galaxies, and from biological life, to consciousness, to civilizations, and beyond.
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