Ian Trask
Leviathan
Ian Trask is a scientist-turned-artist who received his degree in biology from Bowdoin College in 2005. After working many years in the science field, he eventually changed directions to pursue a career in fine art. While transitioning away from the science lab, Trask got a job as a hospital groundskeeper cleaning up garbage daily, an experience that proved to be formative in his artistic development. He learned to see the potential in refuse materials and gradually built a creative practice that drew inspiration from the waste streams around him. He chooses to create from things that are either discarded or donated by others in the deliberate effort to let community and access dictate the direction his work.
Since moving to mid-coast Maine in 2015, Traks’s work has been exhibited across the country, including at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Maine Historical Society, Frank Brockman Gallery, Harlow Gallery, Elizabeth Moss Gallery, Merrymeeting Arts Center, and the Lucie Foundation (Los Angeles); and recent press includes features on Hyperallergic, CNN Style, the Maine Sunday Times and the Coastal Journal.
Artist Talk (Strange Histories, 2019): https://youtu.be/REAuT1udqmQ
Honors
2018 - Best in Show, Art 2018, Harlow Gallery, Hallowell, ME
2017 - Guest Artist/Lecture, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland, ME
2015 - Guest Artist/Lecture, Invisible Dog Art Center, Brooklyn, NY
2015 - Guest Artist/Interview, Clocktower Radio, Brooklyn, NY
2015 - Guest Artist/Interview, Chapter BE Podcast, Brooklyn, NY
2014 - Honorable Mention, Color Exhibition, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists’ Coalition
Collections
Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection
The Invisible Dog Permanent Collection, Brooklyn, NY
Roots Wellness & Fitness Permanent Collection, San Francisco, CA
Art Connection NY permanent placement for Comunilife, Bronx, NY
Solo Exhibitions
2018
The Invisible Dog, “Waste of Space,” Brooklyn, NY
Merrymeeting Arts Center, “Second Chances,” Bowdoinham, ME
Frank Brockman Gallery, “Trash Planet,” Brunswick, ME2015
Ground Floor Gallery, “Give and Take,” Brooklyn, NY
The Invisible Dog, “Blister Pack,” Brooklyn NY2012
Recession Art, “Perpetual Recombination,” Manhattan, NY2010
Coleman Burke Gallery, “From Heaps to Whole,” Portland, ME
