Photo taken through a glass window showing a person in a yellow jacket, holding a phone or camera, standing outside in a parking lot with cars visible. The scene is blurry with some reflections and a person's hand visible in the foreground.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My practice navigates the tension between the rigid perfection of Modernism and the cynical detachment of Post-Modernism. I reject this binary choice. Instead, I operate in the Metamodern gap where the fragmented world is treated as if it were whole.

This philosophy manifests through two distinct visual modes. In my color work Translucent Realities, I capture the urban environment as it liquefies through substance and motion to render the street as a lucid dream. Conversely, my monochromatic studies Fragile Permanence strip away the noise to reveal the geometric skeleton of the place.

I do not seek to map the city as it exists physically. I document how it feels at the threshold where the physical world feels thin, and the silent ontology of the city is unveiled.

BIOGRAPHY

Derek Ronald is a Metamodern artist based between New York City and Washington, D.C., whose photographic practice operates at the oscillation between the brutal cynicism of the city and the search for spiritual sincerity within it. 

Moving beyond traditional documentation, Ronald treats the urban landscape not as a subject, but as a raw material for isolation and sincerity. He enforces a strict visual duality, capturing the permeable, chromatic friction of the street in his color work Translucent Realities, and the profound silence of architectural abstraction in his monochrome studies Fragile Permanence.

He does not seek to capture the city as it is. He captures it as it feels: suspended, fragile, and essentially temporary.

Derek Ronald exhibits internationally. His recent selections include PH21 Gallery (Barcelona & Budapest), The Salmagundi Club (New York), Black Box Gallery (Portland), Hill Center Galleries (Washington, D.C.), Decode Gallery (Tucson), and The Art League (Alexandria). He is an Artist Member of the Salmagundi Club.


Selected Exhibitions

2026

  • Open Theme | Praxis Gallery | Minneapolis, MN

  • Taking Pictures (On-Line Annex) | Black Box Gallery | Portland, OR

  • Upside Down | PH21 Gallery | Barcelona, Spain

  • Regional Juried Show | Hill Center Galleries | Washington, DC

  • Focus: Shadow and Light (On-Line Annex) | Black Box Gallery | Portland, OR

2025

  • Invitational Summer Exhibition | The Salmagundi Club | New York, NY

  • Significant Colour | PH21 Gallery | Budapest, Hungary

  • Blue | Decode Gallery | Tucson, AZ

  • Square XVII | Decode Gallery | Tucson, AZ

  • Color | Decode Gallery | Tucson, AZ

  • May Open Exhibition | The Art League | Alexandria, VA

  • New Member Exhibition | The Salmagundi Club | New York, NY