Multifaceted in scope, Sullivan’s practice employs drawing, sculpture, book works, and installation to engage with the legacy of modernist art and design. While often recombining and synthesizing visual language from art history, literature, and popular culture, the formal references exercised in his work are contrasted with the ephemeralness of his production. A central concern is that books—through the act of reading, translation, and interpretation—are malleable framing devices which allow one to float or consider a set of ideas to momentarily freeze a subject in flux.
 

born in Toronto

BFA, York University, Toronto

MFA, University of Guelph, Guelph
 

Selected Solo Exhibitions

Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto
about the exhibition

Derek Sullivan: Bookworks, MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie

But I Thought You’d Said “Maple Leaves”, Galerie Antoine Ertaskiran, Montreal

¶ * † ‡, Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto
about the exhibition

Booklover, Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina

Several Things Happening At The Same Time, Galerie Antoine Ertaskarin, Montreal

On Filling In, Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto
about the exhibition

2015

Derek Sullivan: The Missing Novella, Oakville Galleries, Oakville

Four Notable Booksellers, Modern Fuel, Kingston

Galerie Emmanuel Hervé, Paris

Four Notable Booksellers, Jessica Bradley Gallery, Toronto

Right, Write, Wright, Rite, Galerie Tatjana Pieters, Ghent, Belgium

Wright, Rite, Write, Right, Galerie Emmanuel Hervé, Paris

Walking and chewing the fat at the same time, Jessica Bradley Art + Projects, Toronto

Albatross Omnibus, The Power Plant, Toronto

Young Americans, KIOSK, Ghent, Belgium

It is more difficult to hit a moving target, University of Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitchener

Waiting Game, Jessica Bradley Art + Projects, Toronto

Le poeme de l’angle droit, Tatjana Pieters/OneTwenty Gallery, Ghent, Belgium

Bulletin Board, White Columns, New York Librairie Florence Loewy, Paris

We May Be Standing on The Shoulders of Giants But Some Of Us Are Looking At The Stars, Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge

Jessica Bradley Art + Projects, Toronto

Art Gallery of York University, Toronto

Cold Open, Optica, Montréal

Toronto Sculpture Garden, Toronto

Jessica Bradley Art + Projects, Toronto

2003

Mercer Union, Toronto

MacDonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph

Passengers & Tour Guides (with Kevin Rodgers), Artspeak, Vancouver

Olympic Village, Platform Project, Mercer Union, Toronto
 

Selected Group Exhibitions

Drawings, Clint Roenisch Gallery, Toronto

Showroom, Art Museum, University of Toronto, Toronto

Incertain Sens éditions - Cabinet du livre d'artiste, Centre national des arts plastiques, Rennes

Out of Line, Oakville Galleries, Oakville

Still Life, Still Living, Jessica Bradley Gallery, Toronto

accadra domain, Museo Marino Marini, Florence

Ideas and Things, Kamloops Art Gallery, Kamloops

Villa Toronto, Union Station, Toronto

PRIVATE COLLECTION SELECTED BY #2/DEREK SULLIVAN,Galerie Tatjana Pieters, Ghent, Belgium

Blue Times, Kunsthalle Wein, Vienna

Contemporary Drawings from The National Gallery of Canada, Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon

Barbarie, La Générale en Manufacture, Sèvres, Frances

Brigadoon, La Tôlerie, Clermont-Ferrand, France

More Young Americans, L’Enclos des Bernadins, Paris

PATHFINDER Everything goes, not anything, Moins un, Paris

Magiciens, Galerie Emmanuel Hervé, Paris

Builders: Canadian Biennial 2012, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

Sobey Art Award 10th Anniversary, MOCCA, Toronto

Leiber & Sullivan, National Gallery of Canada Library & Archives, Ottawa

During the night the exhibition continues: La Servante, Galerie Emmanuel Herve, Paris

The Sobey Art Award: Ontario Long-List, Oakville Galleries, Oakville

Out of Print, Mercer Union, Toronto

La Tentation du hasard, Biennale de Montreal 2011, Montreal

Books on Books, The Swiss Institute, New York

Power to the People: Contemporary Conceptualism and the Object in Art, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA), Melbourne

Change of Address, Galerie Tatjana Pieters, Ghent, Belgium

The Object of Observation (Changes by Being Observed), Galerie Johnen, Berlin

The Copy That Dreams: Mimesis of Forms and Typologies in Artists’s Publications, Printed Matter, New York

Recent Acquisitions of Contemporary Drawings, The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

Art Read, Glenn Horowitz, East Hampton, New York

la collection, enrichissements 2008 - 2009, CDLA, Saint-Yriex-la-Perche, France

Architecture of Survival, Komplot, Brussels

Sobey Art Award Ontario Shortlist, Cambridge Galleries, Cambridge, Ontario

Art Metropole: The Top 100, Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Toronto

The Black Market Type & Print Shop, articule, Montréal

David Kramer, David Armstrong Six, Jennifer Murphy, Raymond Pettibon and Derek Sullivan, Moti Hassan Gallery, New York

P2P, Casino Luxembourg Forum d’art Contemporain, Luxembourg

Gasoline Rainbows, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver

On being an exhibition, Artists Space, New York

We Can Do This Now, The Power Plant, Toronto

Art Metropole: The Top 100, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

Habitat, Jessica Bradley Art + Projects, Toronto

Art on Paper 2006, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC, USA

Du coté de Jessica Bradley Art + Projects, Galerie René Blouin, Montreal

Storefront, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

The Gift, Julia Friedman Gallery, New York

Other Worlds, Jessica Bradley Art + Projects, Toronto

Dedicated to you, but you weren't listening, The Power Plant, Toronto

Downtown Art Space, Adelaide, Australia

James Carl/Jennifer Murphy & Chris Rogers/Derek Sullivan, Mercer Union @ art forum Berlin, Berlin

Psychotopes, YYZ Artists’ Outlet, Toronto

Bauhauswerk, weewerk, Toronto

Lucid Clutter, YYZ Artists’ Outlet, Toronto

Selling Out & Buying In, Biz Art, Shanghai

RISK, Belkin Satellite, Vancouver

Trophy, YYZ Artists’ Outlet, Toronto