Deen Modino

dEEn Modino’s paintings coalesce experiences and influences, collapsed and removed from any time and place. The works combine references to the stillness and serenity of nature, 60s sci-fi movies, suburban banality and hours in front of color-saturated cartoons, Florida Holiday Inns with muted colored carpets and pop art flower motif bedspreads, the energy of the urban environment – graffitied and distressed. These experiences along with the bombardment of “information” in our daily lives, are unconsciously ingested, filtered and coded through a variety of new and organic shapes that combine with the abstracted paintings.

Growing up in Ohio in the 1970s dEEn felt as out of place as the Asian art in the house that his father brought back from the Korean war. By the early 80s, he arrived in New York City and started showing at the downtown galleries and DIY art shows in abandoned buildings, performing with bands in underground clubs, and being part of a vibrant scene where artists, musicians, poets and performers all collided in ways that impacted all their work. It was about making art more than making money. He worked as a carpenter, and that started his painting directly on the plywood he could get for free, and because he never ...

Peggy Murcury 2025