{{Short description|American art dealer}} '''Colin de Land''' (1955–2003) was an American art dealer in New York City, who ran Vox Populi and American Fine Arts, Co. De Land founded the Armory Show with American art dealer Pat Hearn in 1994.
== Art gallery == De Land studied philosophy and linguistics at New York University.
In 1984, De Land opened Vox Populi, on East Sixth Street in the East Village. De Land renamed the gallery American Fine Arts, Co. In 1986, it moved the space to 40 Wooster Street. Colin was an early supporter of Andrea Fraser, Cady Noland, Mark Dion, Jessica Stockholder, John Waters, and Christian Philipp Müller. Waters said that de Land was “a cult gutter-couture icon.”<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/18968/1/the-underdog-colin-de-land|title=Cult VIP: Colin de Land|last=Dazed|date=2014-04-01|work=Dazed|access-date=2018-09-24|language=en}}</ref>
De Land regularly had art theory and history classes for art collectors. Art Club 2000, a six-member collaborative made up of recent Cooper Union grads, formed in 1992 in collaboration with de Land. Art Club 2000 would have a show annually at American Fine Arts Co. for the next seven years.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.zingmagazine.com/issue19/fuentes.html |title=Zingmagazine 19 |access-date=2015-02-27 |archive-date=2015-02-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150214060258/http://www.zingmagazine.com/issue19/fuentes.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> In his obituary Roberta Smith wrote, "he was known for his relaxed work habits and even more relaxed art installations, which did not all open on time, as well as an insistent sartorial style that presaged the ''white trash'' look. At times he exhibited fictive artists, like John Dogg, whose work was widely assumed, but never confirmed, to have been made by Mr. de Land and the artist Richard Prince."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/06/arts/colin-de-land-47-art-dealer-who-fostered-experimentation.html|title=Colin de Land, 47, Art Dealer Who Fostered Experimentation|last=Smith|first=Roberta|date=2003-03-06|work=The New York Times|access-date=2018-02-08|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}
</ref>
== Armory Show == In 1994, the Gramercy International Art Fair, now called the Armory Show, made its debut in the rooms and hallways of New York's Gramercy Park Hotel.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-03-06 |title=From grit to glitter: a look back at 25 years of The Armory Show |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2019/03/06/from-grit-to-glitter-a-look-back-at-25-years-of-the-armory-show |access-date=2022-05-10 |website=The Art Newspaper - International art news and events}}</ref> At the time, the Fair was an alternative to the more polished and established fairs like Art Basel and Art Chicago. Four dealers and gallerists, Pat Hearn, Colin de Land, Matthew Marks and Paul Morris, worked together to bring in a younger generation of downtown artists who were working through the recession that plagued the 1980s.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Morris |first=Paul |date=2016-03-02 |title=Armory Show Cofounder Paul Morris Takes a Trip Down Memory Lane |url=https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/features/armory-show-cofounder-paul-morris-takes-a-trip-down-memory-lane-59916/ |access-date=2022-05-10 |website=ARTnews.com |language=en-US}}</ref> A number of seminal contemporary artworks and performances debuted at the fair including Mark Dion's ''Lemonade Stand'' (1996), Andrea Fraser’s ''Museum Highlights: A Gallery Talk'' (1989), ''May I Help You'' (1991), and Renée Green’s ''The Pigskin Library'' (1990).<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Armory Show | the Gramercy Years |url=https://www.thearmoryshow.com/armory-25/the-gramercy-years |access-date=2022-05-10 |website=www.thearmoryshow.com |archive-date=2018-12-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181223205831/https://www.thearmoryshow.com/armory-25/the-gramercy-years |url-status=dead }}</ref>
== Foundation == In 1996, art dealer Pat Hearn, de Land's wife of 10 years, was diagnosed with cancer. De Land co-organized a benefit art sale to raise money for medical expenses that were not reimbursable by insurance. Over 300 artist and dealers donated work to the event. The funds generated from the event would start what is now the Pat Hearn and Colin de Land Cancer Foundation, a not-for-profit whose mission is to provide assistance for medical expenses to members of the visual arts community with cancer. After Hearn’s death in 2000, the de Land and the 2 remaining founders of The Armory Show established The Pat Hearn Acquisition Fund at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, for the sole purpose of acquiring works in all media by artists who, in the opinion of the Museum’s curators, have not received the recognition they deserve. Upon de Land's death, in 2003, the surviving founders asked that the fund be renamed to include Colin.<ref>{{Cite web |title=PAT HEARN COLIN DE LAND |url=http://www.phcdl.org/articles/patcolin_article1.pdf |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20150924072221/http://www.phcdl.org/articles/patcolin_article1.pdf |archive-date=2015-09-24 |access-date=2026-05-21 |website=www.phcdl.org}}</ref>
== Collections == The American Fine Arts Co. and Pat Hearn Gallery collections were acquired by The Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College (Bard CCS), in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://observer.com/2012/11/ccs-bard-acquires-archives-of-colin-de-lands-american-fine-arts-and-the-pat-hearn-gallery/#ixzz3TJOFQ8Ox|title=CCS Bard Acquires Archives of Colin de Land's American Fine Arts and the Pat Hearn Gallery|website=The New York Observer|date=7 November 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web| url=http://www.bard.edu/ccs/2012/11/08/ccs-bard-library-and-archives-announces-the-acquisition-of-the-archives-of-colin-de-land%E2%80%99s-american-fine-arts-co-and-the-pat-hearn-gallery/ | title=CCS Bard Library and Archives Announces the Acquisition of the Archives of Colin de Land’s American Fine Arts, Co. and the Pat Hearn Gallery | access-date=2015-04-10 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150414215303/http://www.bard.edu/ccs/2012/11/08/ccs-bard-library-and-archives-announces-the-acquisition-of-the-archives-of-colin-de-land%E2%80%99s-american-fine-arts-co-and-the-pat-hearn-gallery/ | archive-date=2015-04-14 | url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2018 Bard CCS organized the show "The Conditions of Being Art: Pat Hearn Gallery and American Fine Arts, Co. (1983–2004)" at Hessel Museum of Art on "the shared histories, art, and programming activities of Pat Hearn Gallery and American Fine Arts, Co., Colin de Land Fine Art"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bard.edu/ccs/exhibitions/the-conditions-of-being-art-pat-hearn-gallery-and-american-fine-arts-co-1983-2004/|title = The Conditions of Being Art: Pat Hearn Gallery and American Fine Arts, Co. (1983-2004)}}</ref> and published a book of the same title (Dancing Foxes Press, 2018). In addition, the Colin de Land papers are held at the Smithsonian Archives of American Art.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/colin-de-land-collection-13702|title = A Finding Aid to the Colin de Land collection, 1968-2008, bulk 1980-2003}}</ref>
== Publications == American Fine Arts, Co. and Colin de Land are the subject of two books. "Colin De Land, American Fine Arts Co." (2008) features photos from de Land's archive as well as statements from over 50 artists.<ref>{{Cite web |title=colin de land, american fine arts - bookforum.com / current issue |url=http://www.bookforum.com/inprint/015_01/2289 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20150227113144/http://www.bookforum.com/inprint/015_01/2289 |archive-date=2015-02-27 |access-date=2026-05-21 |website=www.bookforum.com |language=de-DE}}</ref> The book "Dealing with—Some Texts, Images, and Thoughts Related to American Fine Arts, Co.“ (2012) tries to develop an understanding of how American Fine Arts, Co. functioned as a gallery.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sternberg Press - Valérie Knoll, Hannes Loichinger, Magnus Schäfer (Eds.) |url=http://www.sternberg-press.com/index.php?pageId=1397 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20180125134801/http://www.sternberg-press.com/index.php?pageId=1397 |archive-date=2018-01-25 |access-date=2026-05-21 |website=www.sternberg-press.com}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links==
* [http://www.phcdl.org/ PHCDL]{{Dead link|date=February 2026|bot=InternetArchiveBot}} * [http://artforum.com/inprint/issue=201302&id=38567 Artforum – February 2013] * [https://www.questia.com/magazine/1G1-103989782/shaggy-dogg-gareth-james-on-colin-de-land-passages Magazine] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304080653/https://www.questia.com/magazine/1G1-103989782/shaggy-dogg-gareth-james-on-colin-de-land-passages|date=2016-03-04}} * [https://artforum.com/inprint/issue=200306&id=4876 Artforum – March 2003] * [http://nymag.com/nymetro/arts/features/10557/index3.html New York Magazine – Arts Feature] {{authority control}} * {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Land, Colin}} Category:New York University alumni Category:American art dealers Category:1955 births Category:2003 deaths