A Solo Exhibition by Dylan Strong

Dylan Strong spent the years of Covid-19 alone locked in a cell. During his confinement Strong was given little to no supplies and this is reflected in the stylistic layers of black ink that nearly disintegrate his envelope series. Later he has coped with the bare minimum of resources to survive on the outside and much of his work since release is filled with opulent layers that compensate for that scarcity. Each painting is an aggregate of memories, present moments, and future hopes in the fractured space of institutional trauma. His work drives forward the need to empower legislation to change the solitary confinement of prisoners and to seek out new ways to support the creative, healing, and changing needs of men and women in jails and prisons. His work reproduces the lived experience of imprisonment so that the viewer can foresee a world where prison is no longer necessary