Bio
David Dorsey is an award-winning painter who has exhibited internationally, at museums, galleries and universities, in both America and Europe. His work depicts commonplace situations and objects, in a way that celebrates the formal abstract properties of each scene as well as the lustrous, purely physical qualities of oil paint, with an emphasis on subtle color harmonies. He works in a tradition that began with the Impressionists and has continued down through the modernists, in work by artists as diverse as Thiebaud, Dine, Porter, Fish, and Mattiasdottir, as well as many currently emerging painters. Many of his paintings reside in private collections throughout the U.S.
Statement
My current work falls into one of three suites. The first includes traditionally painted overhead views of tabletop corners strewn with daily objects, projecting down over Oriental carpets. In the second series, of candy jar paintings, the jar and the square format remain the same in each painting, while the size of the painting, the jar’s contents and the way of handling paint can change from one canvas to the next. The third, more varied series of paintings depict daily life—times of day and seasonal light, moments in a ordinary human setting—while, at the same time, creating an abstractly integrated arrangement of colored forms. This dual purpose actually drives my work in each of these three categories—to show objects or figures or scenes, in a way that’s faithful to how they look in the world, while arranging the image in such a way that it works, not only as an act of representation, but also as a field of color, with an emphasis on achieving certain color harmonies. These are preoccupations rooted in the long, varied tradition of Modernism that began with Manet and is reviving today in the work of more and more perceptual painters.
Reviews
“A dazzling still life by David Dorsey gives a dizzying glimpse of mangoes, salt shakers and fresh flowers arranged on a table. On the floor is an Oriental rug, which, like Aladdin’s magic carpet, seems to be riding in midair with the table as passenger. The flowers look as if they’re falling from the sky.”
–Stuart Low, 2009, Democrat and Chronicle
“For Dorsey . . . candy serves as much an aesthetic purpose as a functional one, with the jar representing the boundaries of the “canvas.” He evokes moods and seasons through vivid colors.”
–L. David Wheeler, 2009, Messenger Post
Link to David Dorsey’s website and blog: http://thedorseypost.com
Exhibitions
2011
Oxford Gallery Tradition Invitational
The Rag Factory, London Persona Juror: Antria Pelekanou
Zia Fernandez
Oxford Gallery Still LIfes Invitational
Manifest Magnitude 7.7 Juror: Committee
Turchin Center for the Arts Halpert Biennial Juror: Steven Matijcio
Nails Gallery, Bristol, UK Small Works Invitational
2010
Manifest Paint Juror: Committee
Oxford Gallery Fiat Lux Invitational
Woodstock School of Art Juried Exhibition Juror: Mary Anna Goetz
Mills Pond House Of a Botanical Nature Juror: Wendy Hollende
Viridian Gallery Juried Exhibition Juror: Elisabeth Sussman
Oxford Gallery Summer Group Show Invitational
Oxford Gallery Waterway West Invitational
2009
San Diego Art Institute 50th Annual International Juror: Julia Alexander
Turchin Center for the Arts Halpert Biennial Juror: Jeffrey Grove
First Street Gallery National Juried Show Juror: Patterson Sims
MarinMOCA Dreams and Revelations Juror: Philip Linhares
Minot State University Americas 2009 Juror: Terry Jelsing
Memorial Art Gallery 62nd Rochester/Finger Lakes Jurors: James Hyde David Kwasigroh
Salisbury Art Institute 18th National Juried Exhibition Juror: Nevin Kelly
2008
Arkell Museum National Small Works Exhibition Juror: Allan Hacklin
Woodstock School of Art Regional Exhibition Juror: Tom Fletcher
Witchita Center for the Arts National Small Oil Painting Exhibition Juror: Daniel Sprick
Xavier University Art Gallery Art at the X Juror: Eric Lee
Awards
2010 K.I. McKenna Award, Woodstock School of Art
2009 Alice E. Koret Award, Memorial Art Gallery
First Place, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art
2008 Award for Excellence Art at the X, Xavier University
Lectures
2009 The Role of Painting Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY
Reviews
2009 Daily Messenger Artists Exhibit in Exclusive Show
Democrat and Chronicle Drawing Together Man and Nature
Education
BA University of Rochester
MA University of Illinois
MS University of Illinois