Dean Cross is an artist primarily working across installation, sculpture and painting. Interested in the collisions of materials, ideas and histories, Cross is motivated by an understanding that his practice sits within a continuum of the oldest living culture on Earth – and enacts First Nations sovereignty through expanded contemporary art methodologies. His cross-disciplinary practice often confronts the legacies of modernism, rebalancing dominant cultural and social histories.

Recent significant exhibitions include Octopus 23: THE FIELD, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne, curated by Tamsin Hopkinson (2023); Free/State, Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, Art Gallery of South Australia (2022); Being Human, Photo 2022, Melbourne, curated by Brendan McCleary (2022); and Primavera 2021: Young Australian Artists, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, curated by Hannah Presley (2021). In 2022, Cross exhibited Sometimes I Miss the Applause: Dean Cross at Heide Museum of Modern Art. In 2023, he had a major solo exhibition Things That Are Real: Alvaro Barrington x Dean Cross at Cement Fondu, Sydney and in 2024, he participated in a residency with the National WWI Museum and Memorial, Kansas City, United States. His work is held by major institutions including National WWI Museum and Memorial, United States; The Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne; and The Powerhouse Museum, Sydney.

Dean Cross, The Stain, 2022