Vector/Sector: A Dispositif in Field, Studio, & Gallery

In Vector/Sector, visual artist Pete Driessen situates his sculptural works in three distinct spatial vectors each with a different set of conditions: artist’s studio/ideation space, NE Sculpture field/creation site, and NE Sculpture Gallery/presentation arena. Driessen investigates these site vectors with several material sectors centering on car parts, barn cupolas, logging saws, pheasant figurines, and gentleman valet chairs. The presentation of these large tools, industrial components, and agricultural detritus appear ominous yet are assembled as fragile and delicate works expressing risk, danger and vulnerability. The work in Vector/Sector moves beyond the standard mathematical forms of visualizing aerodynamic vectors or digital pie chart sectors. The artist emphasizes socio political and economic variants on the academic meaning of vector modeling, via the science of waves and frequency, rugged tinkering production methods, and the postcolonial behaviors of collecting and categorization. 

Driessen begins with Foucault’s notion of the dispositif as an overarching working apparatus to define his process sites and their intertwined physical, behavioral, and psychological infrastructures and spatiality. Together, the three dispositif sites-- field, studio, and gallery, form relational links and networks of power which influence the creative output and coexist in constant states of becoming and unbecoming. Along the wall outside the gallery, Driessen recently fashioned a wooden car parts sculpture, Joe’s Auto Parts. The public art stands as requiem to a living rural Minnesota junk yard dealer who specializes in Ford auto parts, one of Minnesota’s first U-pull yards, in business for over 60 years, and still working after 80 years of age. The slotted cubby form reflects the original corn crib rack that the salvager modified for car doors, hoods, and fenders. The work houses 30 doors and fenders from Ford & Mercury sedans, coupes, and wagons ranging from the years 1953 to 1975, each retaining original elements with identifying language. 

In the gallery, Driessen has conceived a selection of graphic vignettes probing current dystopian matters, authoritarianism, resistance and violence. Materially integrated are a platform of diverse pheasant figurines, a series of marching vintage gentleman’s butler chairs, an alignment of vintage carpenter saws resting on a chicken feeder, and a logging saw shed protecting an isolated valet chair. Conceptually and collectively under the veneer of normalcy, the works form an obscure fragmented narrative of mysterious tension and darkness underlying an unstable, mundane surface. Lastly, installed in the studio is a provocative pair of barn cupolas, one venting out logging and craftsman saws, the other standing alone on approach. Both the cupolas and saws, with their air exchange capacity and bladed slicing motions, emblematize vector waves and frequencies. A sound work accompanies the space, composed by the artist and his son, conjoining a series of his nephew’s technical sound scores for the music industry. 

Pete Driessen is a Minneapolis based multipractice visual artist, sculptor and cultural producer who creates site-specific conceptual initiatives, found object installations, interdisciplinary sculpture projects, and participatory public art that explore the visceral connections of social, spatial and material dynamics. His past and current artwork blend painting, mixed media, sculpture, installation, and public art into an interdisciplinary confluence of ideas: site and space, location and identity, and capitalism and the commons.

Driessen received his MFA in Visual Studies from Vermont College of Fine Arts, Montpelier, VT, and his exhibit record includes national and regional exhibitions at a wide range of venues. Driessen has been awarded noted grants, including a 2024 MRAC Next Step for this Vector/Sector project at NE Sculpture; 2022 MSAB Creative Opportunity grant for his Migratory Wing/Prairie Wildflower Bed project; a 2019 Forecast Public Art Midcareer Project grant for his Roundhouse/Pivotal Turntable Tactics; a 2017 Soap Factory/ReThinking Public Space in Minnesota grant for his Trestle Support Systems project; a 2015 Jerome Fellowship at Franconia Sculpture Park for his Franconia Boat Tower sculpture; a 2014 MRAC Next Step grant for his Silverwood Park project; and three past MSAB Artist Initiative grants. 

His artwork, projects, and curation have been aired or critically reviewed in multiple formats, including: KFAI Art Matters, InStudio magazine, MinnPost, MNartists.org, MPR ArtHounds, MplsStarTribune, Node Center for Curatorial Studies, and Studio Visit magazine. He was named by Minneapolis City Pages a 2015 Artist of the Year. Driessen extends his artistic practice via curation, collaboration, and community activity both locally and regionally. In the past, he directed and curated the hybridic, nondescript ether-based gallery, TuckUnder Projects, specializing in emerging and midcareer artists focusing on conceptual arts practice, curatorial projects, and institutional critique. 

Special Gratitude:

Max & Chloe Driessen, John Hock, Sal Xu, Flora Ranis, Elise Gersky, Sheila Dickinson, Tessa Wick, Ben Janssens, Masami Kawazato, Joe Kummer, Joe’s Auto Sales, Justin McGrath, McKnight Foundation, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, NE SCULPTURE Gallery Factory, California Bldg. Co., Casket Arts, Justin McGrath, LaVigne Leather, Netvrrk Exhibit Group: Juliet Fiss, Liz Harvey, Patty Hudak, & Judy Tavill; Quality Equipment, SignMinds, Simpson StrongTies, TuckUnder Projects, Fall of Freedom, and many generous individuals.

Arts Friendly Venders Found In Person & Online: 

MN: Apple Valley, Bemidji, Brainerd, Buffalo, Burnsville, Carver, Delano, Elk River, Elko, Farmington, Forest Lake, Harmony, Hastings, Hutchinson, Minneapolis, Minnetrista, Montgomery, Montrose, North Branch, North St. Paul, Northfield, Oakdale, Oronoco, Park Rapids, Rosemount, St. Paul, Wayzata, White Bear Lake, Willmer, & Zimmerman. GA: Athens; IA: Cedar Rapids, Decorah, Iowa City; OR: Portland; NV: Las Vegas; WI: Bagley, Eau Claire, Hudson, Madison, Menomonie, Milwaukee, Prairie Du Chein, Sheboygan, Siren, Spooner, Springbrook, Trego; Canada, & UK, & more.

Contact:

Pete Driessen: pete@petedriessen.com   www.petedriessen.com @petedriessen 

Studio: 681 17th Avenue NE, #117, Minneapolis, MN 55413

This project is made possible by the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council through a grant from the McKnight Foundation.