Opening Reception

Friday, 02.20.2026
5:00 – 9:00 p.m.

CLOSING RECEPTION

Friday, 04.10.2026
5:00 – 9:00 p.m.

GALLERY HOURS

Thursday – Saturday
1:00 – 4:00 p.m.

AREA 405 presents Dre Bryton’s solo exhibition, Alternating Currents. On view from March 20 to April 10, 2026, the exhibition explores the artist's fascination with the shapes, scales, and forms of supercomputers from the 1970s and 1980s, sparking a contemporary conversation about the integratability of individual artistic expression and technological development.

Baltimore-based Dre Bryton worked at the System Source Computer Museum as a maintenance professional, handling modern-day computer hardware on a daily basis. Mesmerized by the monumental scale and presence of computers from both past and present, he developed a practice deconstructing found furniture that mimics the geometric shapes and color schemes of these machines in sculptural form.

The designs of modern computers are influenced by the International Style, an art movement from 1920 to 1940 that emphasized functionality and construction methods in architecture and art. Its radically simplified and geometric aesthetic highlights rationality and continues to inform the mass production of furniture and technology today.

Bryton’s fascination with these forms is not purely aesthetic; it represents an imaginative future. From futurism to debates about the existence of human consciousness in cyborgs, and the increasingly human-like nature of AI, our obsession with these topics reflects bold speculations about the survival or extinction of humankind. More importantly, these comparisons between technology and humanity serve as an examination of the identities of us humans.

In previous works, Bryton has deconstructed mattresses and sofas, transforming them into orderly, almost cubistic sculptures. The shift from soft to hard parallels human history: from craft to mass production, human to cyborg, emotion to logic. While his work draws from modern stylistic choices, our ongoing fascination with technology keeps it relevant in a contemporary context.

In Alternating Currents, Bryton takes a new approach, investigating formal concerns in sculpture and painting inspired by his love for the designs of vintage computers encountered during his work as a cataloguer.

Dre Bryton: Alternating Currents is made possible by a grant from the T. Rowe Foundation.

Dre Bryton

Dre Britton was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He studied General Fine Arts at the Maryland Institute College of Art in pursuit of a BFA. Britton has exhibited nationally including shows at Subbasement Artist Studio Gallery and VisArt in Rockville, MD. He recently completed a residency in at AIRY(Artist in Residence Yamanashi) located in Yamanashi, Japan. Dre Britton lives and works in Baltimore, MD.

Curated by

Joyce Liang
Creative Programs Director, AREA 405

Opening Reception

Friday, February 20, 2026
5:00 – 9:00 p.m.

Closing Reception

Friday, April 10, 2026
5:00 – 9:00 p.m.

Join the Station North 2nd-Friday Art Walk and catch the last day of the exhibition.