DAVID DORNAN • NEW PAINTINGS
DECEMBER 2 - 16, 2022
Artist reception:  Friday, Dec 2, 4 - 7 pm

Art Lovers are cordially invited to meet the artist, David Dornan, at the opening reception for his solo exhibition at CODA Gallery on Friday, December 2, 4-7 pm, during Palm Desert’s First Friday Art Walk. The exhibition continues through December 16.

With an MFA from Arizona State University, David Dornan currently resides in Helper, Utah. His artwork exists in numerous public and private collections throughout the world. David has produced a sizable body of work, focusing most recently on a series of still life motif paintings. He resigned a 17-year university faculty position to pursue his painting career full time. Throughout his career he has received purchase awards, prizes, best of show awards, and/or high placement in nearly every exhibition he has entered. David has also won many academic and professional awards, including the prestigious Utah Governor’s Mansion Award in 2019.

Remarkable things happen to commonplace objects in David's paintings. A can or jar, a flower, a paint brush – a palette as a sole subject or as elements in a complex composition take on a monumental quality through scale changes and central placement. The objects painted assume a commanding presence through his assertive paint application. Immediacy and spontaneity are achieved not only with a brush, but also through the smear of a thumb, the wipe of a rag, and the "weight and speed" of a drip.

In the artist’s words, "At a distance my paintings are depictions of familiar objects – cups and bottles, studio objects on a palette and, more recently, flowers – but the up-close view exposes the abstract juxtaposition and layering of paint, not the three-dimensional imagery. You can see the splotches, handprints, scratches – evidence of the way I put paint on canvas. There is interaction between the two-dimensional and three-dimensional aspects of my paintings. When there are objects within the abstraction, I have a parameter against which to measure my technique. My most successful works seem to result when there is a meeting ground between total chaos and absolute control.”