Mandelbaum’s handmade ceramic tiles that foreground their own materiality each serve as diaristic imprints of the everyday, reflective of objects and ideas which, when juxtaposed one next to the other, not only engender unexpected connections but create the illusion of a woven tapestry. One might infer that these tell a story of family or friends, ancestry or community, and yet, when combined with other tiles that picture various animals, Pikachu, and forks with faces, such stories may be thrown into doubt while others take shape—such is the ebb and flow of viewing, or rather reading, Mandelbaum’s work.
Instead of creating meaning through juxtaposition, his ceramic sculptures also take the form of cultural references, religious icons, mystical characters, and even emojis like those featured on his tiles, but in these works, Mandelbaum meditates on the fact that certain objects and symbols have lost—or will one day lose—their meaning and become unrecognizable.
Dan Mandelbaum has exhibited widely in the United States and Europe at V1, Copenhagen; Stems Gallery, Brussels; Sim Smith, London; Europa, New York; Marvin Gardens, New York; The Hole, New York; Stanley’s, Los Angeles; Antennae, New Orleans; Best Western, New York; and Current Space, Baltimore; amongst others. He currently lives and works in Queens, NY.