Joe deVera’s paintings and installations examine the possible relationships between historiography and art objects while investigating mass conflict's resonant aftermath. Having emigrated from the Philippines as a youth and enlisted in the Marines Corps after high school (serving two combat deployments), deVera’s works are also autobiographical observations of power structures and the machines of empire.
He lives and works in St. Louis, MO, where he is an assistant professor at Washington University's Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Art. He received his M.F.A. in painting and printmaking from the Yale School of Art. Recently, deVera was awarded the Yaddo Summer Residency as well as the Frontline Studios Summer project with a $5000 project grant award.
While at MacDowell, in collaboration with designer/architect Zahra Safaverdi and Emmanuel Osorno, deVera created scale models and sculptural carvings in support of their proposal for The Pulitzer Foundation's Design Openings public art project, for which they were awarded a $10,000 production grant. He also created a series of encaustic landscapes and oil paintings, continuing his personal studio work.
