AGE: 31
BASED IN: Pittsburgh
Justin Emmanuel Dumas doesn’t make paintings so much as “painting-shaped objects.” Sometimes, they slouch and lean against the wall like tired teenagers; other times, their surfaces peel outward like trap doors. In projects for the Carnegie Museum of Art and the Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh, Dumas has exposed, rather than obscured, wear and tear. It’s all part of his interrogation of how infrastructural decay—on a citywide scale as well as a smaller one, all the way down to a piece of furniture—shapes the way we move through the world and creates opportunities for renewal.
Describe one work you’ve made that captures who you are as an artist.
Détrompe Warp is a painting from my graduate thesis, and arose from a process of wrestling with a surface that had become so taut, it distorted the frame beneath. What felt like a series of failed attempts at getting the piece to remain flat became a lesson in conflict resolution, and the discovery of a slowly shifting, malleable work. It embodies my greater interest in works that change over time or hold the potential for new shapes and iterations.
Describe your work in three words.
Fast, slow, and fluctuating.
Tell us about a teacher who changed the way you think about art.
I was very fortunate to have my aunt, Sandy Dowe, as a music and theater teacher in middle school. We would do warm-ups through improv, which taught me to think on my feet and use whatever material or context was available. The stage sets we built and painted were my first chance to think about art spatially.
Imagine someone gives you $150,000 to make anything you want—no strings. What are you making?
I hope to one day build a communal, brick oven pavilion, made of rammed earth and clay. The structure would be surrounded by a community garden and encourage the exchange of prepared foods and communion amongst artists and community members. The funds would cover the cost of labor and materials, and support the beginning of programming, including lectures and workshops.
What’s an artwork you didn’t make, but wish you had?
[Robert Morris]’s 1961 work, Box with the Sound of Its Own Making.
What art-world trend would you like to see die out?
Celebrities-turned-painters.
What’s an underrated studio tool you can’t live without?
A heat gun.
Who are the three people, alive or dead, invited to your dream art-world dinner party?
Mansa Musa, Andrei Tarkovsky, Sruli Recht.
Is there a studio rule you live by?
Proving yourself wrong can be a great way forward.
See CULTURED’s full 2025 Young Artists list and access other individual artist profiles here.
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