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 group 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 2023, Cross had a major solo exhibition Things That Are Real: Alvaro Barrington x Dean Cross at Cement Fondu, Sydney. His work is held by major institutions including The Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; and Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne.

Dean Cross, The Stain, 2022