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In the past few years,
travels in Europe and Ireland have had a profound visual effect
on my work. Upon returning from that first trip, I began a series
of paintings initially inspired by feelings and imagery experienced
there. These influences were coupled with my own interest in medieval
and gothic forms, historical European religious subject matter,
and European history. With this new body of paintings I began to
aggressively explore the use of alternative, often organic materials
like wax, tar, wood, and fabric to achieve a more elemental and
tactile connection with the work. The exploration of ideas about
memory, history, and the passage of time have become an important
part of this process.
My paintings often include combinations of anatomical
imagery, memorial sculpture, romantic symbolism, and religious iconography.
The works are often created using deep supports, like boxes, which
stand out from the wall and assert themselves in the viewer's space.
In many cases, the physical qualities of the work are meant to suggest
the physical weightiness associated with monuments and memorial
sculpture. I think of the smaller scale works as more intimate visual
poems.
Collaged materials, including heavy fabrics and
printed matter, contribute to the initial surface of the work. After
a weathered, heavily worked, abstract surface is established, it
is sealed in a layer of beeswax, and the more figurative elements
of the imagery are rendered in tar and varnish. The organic qualities
of the wood, wax, and tar communicate a feeling of timelessness.
I believe that the processes of building, weathering, eroding and
layering are important to the work's identity -- it creates a history
that can be traced, investigated, and experienced by the viewer.
The materials and processes used emphasize the paintings as visceral
objects with an evocative physical presence. Often, these materials
are meant to recall and engage the physical body, and with the accompanying
image, evoke a meditational response from the viewer. Through a
mixed use of painterly languages, these works explore the nature
of mortality, express a sense of loss, and address mankind's desire
to locate spiritual meaning.
BIOGRAPHY
Dan has lived and worked in Chicago since 1991 after receiving his
MFA in painting from Illinois State University in Bloomington/Normal.
He attended Northwestern College in Orange City, IA from 1981-1985
and received a BA in art and theater. His work has been exhibited
in numerous group and solo exhibitions across the US, and is represented
by McMurtrey Gallery in Houston and Malton Gallery in Cincinnati.
In Chicago, Dan’s work has been shown at Gwenda Jay Gallery,
Struve Gallery, Gallery A, Lineage Gallery, Evan Glasman Gallery,
The Contemporary Art Workshop, The Greenview Art Center, The Arlington
Heights Art Center, and Artchicago. He can be contacted through
Gwenda Jay Gallery in Chicago, where he is the director.
Addington’s
paintings often include combinations of anatomical imagery, Romantic
symbolism, and religious iconography. The works are created using
a variety of materials that emphasize the paintings as visceral
objects with an evocative physical presence. Often, these materials
are meant to recall and engage the physical body, and with the accompanying
image, evoke a meditational response from the viewer. Through a
mixed use of painterly languages, these works explore the nature
of mortality, express a sense of loss, and address mankind’s
desire to locate spiritual meaning.
EDUCATION
MFA, Illinois State University, Normal, IL 1990
MA, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR 1987
BA, Theater/Art, Northwestern College, Orange City, IA 1985
ONE
PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2005 Monuments and Memories, Aliya Gallery, Atlanta
2004 Memory of a New Land, Northwestern College, Orange City, IA
........Feature: Janine Calsbeek, Sept. 2, 2004
........Aliya Gallery, Atlanta
........6 Years, University Galleries, St. Cloud State University,
St. Cloud, MN
2003 Gwenda Jay / Addington Gallery, Chicago
........Review: Victor Cassidy, Artnet, 2003
2002 Aliya Gallery, Atlanta
2001
Aliya Gallery, Atlanta, GA
2000 Westward. Aliya Gallery, Atlanta, GA
1998 Riverside Art Center, Riverside IL
.........Aliya Gallery, Atlanta, GA
.........Evan Glasman Gallery, Chicago, IL
1997 University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN
.........Malton Gallery, Cincinnati OH
.........McMurtrey Gallery, Houston, TX
.........New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art, New Harmony, IN
.........Contemporary Art Workshop, Chicago, IL
1996 Entries, Lineage Gallery, Chicago, IL
.........Ropewalker, Holy Covenant U.M.C., Chicago, IL
1995 Shadows of the Body, Northwestern College, Orange City, IA
1994 New Paintings, Southeast Missouri State University Museum,
Cape Girardeau, MO
1993 Gwenda Jay Gallery, Chicago, IL
GROUP
EXHIBITIONS
2001 Waxworks2, Addington Gallery, Chicago, IL
2000-2002
BOTANICA: Contemporary Art and the World of Plants. Exhibition curated
by the Tweed Museum of Art, University of Minnesota Duluth, and
traveling through March 2002 to: Plains Art Museum, Fargo, ND; University
Galleries, Illinois State University, Normal, IL; Carlton College,
Northfield, MN; Alexandria Museum of Art, Alexandria, LA; Tarble
Arts Center, Charleston, IL; Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL;
University Gallery, University of Delaware, Newark
1999 Todd Crockett Gallery, Little Rock, AR
1998 Museum of Contemporary Religious Art, St. Louis, MO
.........Waxworks, Gwenda Jay Gallery, Chicago, IL
.........Arkansas Art Center, Arkansas, KS
.........Chicago’s Next Generation, Gwenda Jay Gallery, Chicago,
IL
1997 Cathedral Visions III, Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption,
Covington, KY
.........Group Show, DiFalco Gallery, Chicago, IL
1996 46th Spiva Annual, Spiva Center for the Arts, Joplin MO
.........Chicagoland Juried Exhibition, Skokie Fine Arts Assoc.,
Skokie, IL
1995 Gallery A, Chicago, IL
.........Zussamen, curated by Milktooth Productions, Chicago, IL
.........Painting and Content, POST Gallery, Kansas City
.........Spiritual Inquiries, Struve Gallery, Chicago, IL
1994 Function/Disfunction, Gwenda Jay Gallery, Chicago, IL
.........Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, GA
.........Change is in the Air, Gwenda Jay Gallery, Chicago, IL
1993 Five Chicago Artist, Greenview Art Center, Chicago, IL
AWARDS
AND HONORS
1996 Third Place, 46th Spiva Annual, Spiva Center for the Arts,
Joplin, MO
1989 Elizabeth Stein Fine Arts Grant and Award, Illinois State University,
Normal, IL
.........First Graduate Painting, Illinois State Juried Exhibition,
Normal, IL
.........Best of Show, Northwestern University All-Illinois Graduate
Juried Exhibition, Evanston, IL
.........Best of Show, Museum Guild Purchase Award, 41st Mid-States
Biennial, Evansville Museum of Art, Evansville, IN
1987 Nomination, Awards in the Visual Arts, Southeast Center for
Contemporary Art
1986 Best of Show, Jonosboro Fine Arts Council Exhibition, Jonesboro,
AR
1985 Best of Show, Northwestern College Juried Exhibition, Jonesboro,
AR
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Review: Michael Bulka, New City Magazine, Feb. 22, 2001
Catalogue: Botanica: Contemporary Art and the World of Plants",
Tweed Museum, 1999
Feature: “Boy With Gun’ not meant to be prophetic”,
Sandra Knipe, Evansville Press, Evansville In,
April 13, 1998
Feature: “Wax Works”, Kevin Williams, Chicago Sun times,
Feb.27, 1998
Review: Maureen Bloomfield, Dialogue Magazine, Nov. 1997
Review: Fred Camper, The Chicago Reader, March 21, 1997
Review: Kristen Brooke Schleifer, New Art Examiner, May
GALLERIES
Gwenda Jay/Addington Gallery, Chicago, IL
McMurtrey Gallery, Houston, TX
Aliya Gallery, Atlanta, GA
Malton Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
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