
Dustin Yellin
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Dustin Yellin is an American contemporary artist best known for his large-scale sculptural collages created through a unique technique of embedding imagery within layers of glass. Born in Los Angeles and raised in Colorado, Yellin developed his signature artistic method of placing hand-cut images from magazines, books, and other printed materials between sheets of glass, which are then stacked and laminated to create three-dimensional narrative works. These intricate pieces combine elements of painting, sculpture, and collage, resulting in complex visual stories that viewers can observe from multiple angles. Yellin's most ambitious project is "The Triptych," a monumental series of glass works that stands over eight feet tall and spans more than thirty feet wide, featuring thousands of meticulously cut and arranged images depicting a surreal panorama of human civilization, nature, and mythology. His work has been exhibited internationally at institutions including the New York Historical Society and various contemporary art venues. Yellin's art explores themes of mythology, nature, technology, and the human condition, often creating dense, baroque compositions that invite extended contemplation. Beyond his studio practice, Yellin is the founder of Pioneer Works, a non-profit cultural center in Red Hook, Brooklyn, established in 2012. This multidisciplinary space serves as an art center, providing studio space, residencies, and public programming that brings together artists, scientists, and the local community. Through both his artwork and his institutional work, Yellin has become a significant figure in contemporary art, known for his technical innovation and commitment to fostering creative collaboration.
Spotted by
Artists in conversation
Fred Tomaselli
Tomaselli embeds cut imagery, pills, and organic materials within layers of resin to create dense hallucinatory panels that share Yellin's obsession with layered transparency and collaged narrative depth.

El Anatsui

Anatsui constructs monumental assemblage works from found and repurposed materials that create shimmering large scale installations, echoing Yellin's commitment to collage based sculpture with conceptual and cultural layering.

Joseph Cornell

Cornell pioneered the art of enclosing found imagery and objects within sealed box constructions to create poetic three dimensional narratives, a conceptual predecessor to Yellin's glass encased collage universes.
Artists who inspired them

Marcel Duchamp

Duchamp's use of glass as a painting surface in The Large Glass and his radical rethinking of sculptural assemblage directly informed Yellin's choice of glass as both medium and conceptual framework.

Robert Rauschenberg

Rauschenberg's Combines merged painting, collage, and found printed materials into unified sculptural objects, establishing a foundation for Yellin's own dense layering of cut imagery from mass media sources.

Leonardo da Vinci

Yellin has cited da Vinci's integration of scientific inquiry, anatomical study, and artistic vision as a guiding inspiration for the encyclopedic and cross disciplinary imagery embedded within his glass sculptures.


