Tuesday Night Lecture Series: Joe deVera

As part of the Tuesday Night Lecture Series (TNLS), Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Visual Arts presents a lecture by artist Joe deVera, organized by the MFA Painting program.

Joe deVera’s paintings, prints, and installations examine the possible relationships between historiography and art objects while investigating the resonant aftermath of mass conflict. Having emigrated from the Philippines as a youth and enlisting in the Marine Corps after high school (serving two combat deployments), deVera’s works are also autobiographical observations of power structures and the machines of empire.

Along with his studio work, deVera’s expanded pedagogical practice places a heavy focus on community engagement, humanitarian advocacy, and youth education. He has assisted in organizing and instructing several Veteran-focused art workshops, centering on fostering a sense of unique solidarity and open dialogue within the military community through visual language. Additionally, he has been heavily involved in teaching visual art to refugees, at-risk children, and incarcerated populations throughout Southern California.

He was recently named a MacDowell fellow (St. Peterborough, NH) and was a featured artist in Surviving the Long Wars: Veteran Art Triennial and Summit in Chicago. Some of his other awards and residencies include the Yaddo Residency (Saratoga Springs, NY) The Self-Help Graphics Professional Print Atelier Invitational (Boyle Heights, CA), The Vermont Studio Center Full Merit Scholarship (Johnson, VT), and The University of Iowa Grant Wood Fellowship (Iowa City IA). His works have been featured in art publications & journals such as Hyperallergic, New American Paintings, and KCET’s ArtBound.

He lives in St. Louis, MO, where he is an Assistant Professor of Painting at Washington University's Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Art. He received his MFA in Painting and Printmaking from the Yale School of Art (New Haven, CT) and has BFA in Fine Art Drawing and Painting from California State University, Fullerton (Fullerton, CA).

Image: Beach/Breach (detail), 2018. Media: Polyisocyanurate Foam, Pigment, Dirt, Graphite, Spackle, Joint compound, Oil Enamel, Twine, Flag. 15 x 3 ft.

More information: joedevera.net