The Shadow of the Painter, 2008, oil on Masonite, 11 3/4 x 16 inches
Lois Dodd
Shadows
February 3 – March 12, 2011
The gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of recent paintings by Lois Dodd that focus on the motif of shadows. This show will include thirty-five paintings, both small-scale panel pieces and larger-scaled works on linen, completed during the past five years in which shadows and their semi-abstract patterns are a dominant element in the compositions. For over fifty years Dodd, a longtime figure on the New York scene, has painted her immediate everyday surroundings at the places she has chosen to live and work — the Lower East Side, rural Mid-Coast Maine, and the Delaware Water Gap.
With titles such as House at Dusk (2008), Blair Pond at Sunset (2008), and Shadow of Painter Painting “September Light” (2009) Dodd paints her subjects with an unsentimental, no-nonsense directness grounded in observation and simplification. Writing in a 2003 review of the gallery’s first Dodd show, the critic Grace Glueck said, “translating the commonplace into art has long been the province of Lois Dodd . . .who celebrates the richness of everyday life . . . Simple as the work seems, it touches the transcendental.” Dodd’s colleague the painter-critic Robert Berlind has said, “ One feels that she downplays detailed literal description not out of some modernist imperative, but as the Shaker hymn puts it, because she has ‘a gift to be simple’ and with that temperamental dispensation, ‘a gift to be free.’ She knows just when to stop – a sure sign of grace.” Featured will be two new paintings in which the subject is Dodd’s own shadow on the grass, painting with an easel and artist’s materials, on a bright summer day.
Lois Dodd (b. 1927) studied at The Cooper Union in the late 1940s. In 1952 she was one of the five founding members of the legendary Tanager Gallery, the first artist run cooperative gallery in New York. Dodd is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and of the National Academy of Design. In 1992 she retired from teaching at Brooklyn College. Since 1954 her work has been the subject of over 50 one-person exhibitions. This show marks her eighth at the gallery. In May 2012 her work will be the subject of a traveling retrospective exhibition to be organized by the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City.
Sunflowers & Blue Sky, 2010, oil on Masonite, 14 x 19 3/4 inches
InquireShadow with Easel, 2010, oil on linen, 48 x 54 inches
InquireSalvia Argentea II, 2010, oil on Masonite, 12 x 12 inches
InquireSalvia Argentea, 2010, oil on Masonite, 12 x 12 inches
InquireOctober Field, 2010, oil on Masonite, 13 x 20 inches
InquireBrook & Tree in Snow, 2010, oil on Masonite, 16 x 16 inches
InquireBlue Winter Road, 2010, oil on Masonite, 12 x 12 inches
InquireBlair Pond Frozen, 2010, oil on Masonite, 14 x 19 3/4 inches
Inquire8 Nudes in the Garden, 2009-10, oil on linen, 25 x 80 inches
InquireWinter Window, 2009, oil on Masonite, 20 x 7 inches
InquireTwo Trees + Distorted Metal Roof, 2009, oil on Masonite, 16 1/8 x 10 7/8 inches
InquireShadow of the Painter, 2009, oil on Masonite, 16 x 14 inches
InquireShadow of Painter Painting "September Light", 2009, oil on linen, 32 x 50 inches
InquireSeptember Light, 2009, oil on Masonite, 18 x 12 inches
InquireNight House (v. II), 2009, mezzotint on Rives BFK, 9 1/2 x 14 1/4 inches
InquireFrosted Window, 2009, oil on Masonite, 16 x 9 inches
InquireDouble Window and Curtain, 2009, oil on Masonite, 18 x 17 inches
InquireDoor & Hallway Window, 2009, oil on Masonite, 18 x 11 3/4 inches
InquireBuildings at Rockgarden Inn, 2009, oil on Masonite, 14 x 20 inches
InquireBarn Door View, 2009, oil on linen, 44 x 44 inches
InquireWinter Sunset, Blair Pond, 2008, oil on linen, 48 x 52 inches
InquireThe Shadow of the Painter, 2008, oil on Masonite, 11 3/4 x 16 inches
InquireHouse at Dusk, 2008, oil on Masonite, 13 x 17 inches
InquireLit House, Foggy Night, 2007, oil on Masonite, 13 1/8 x 19 inches
InquireLily Buds, 2007, oil on Masonite, 19 1/8 x 11 inches
InquireColumbine, 2007, oil on Masonite, 11 x 10 7/8 inches
InquireView from the Bakery, Blairstown, April, 2004, oil on Masonite, 10 x 19 3/4 inches
InquireSunflowers & Blue Sky, 2010, oil on Masonite, 14 x 19 3/4 inches
Shadow with Easel, 2010, oil on linen, 48 x 54 inches
Salvia Argentea II, 2010, oil on Masonite, 12 x 12 inches
Salvia Argentea, 2010, oil on Masonite, 12 x 12 inches
October Field, 2010, oil on Masonite, 13 x 20 inches
Brook & Tree in Snow, 2010, oil on Masonite, 16 x 16 inches
Blue Winter Road, 2010, oil on Masonite, 12 x 12 inches
Blair Pond Frozen, 2010, oil on Masonite, 14 x 19 3/4 inches
8 Nudes in the Garden, 2009-10, oil on linen, 25 x 80 inches
Winter Window, 2009, oil on Masonite, 20 x 7 inches
Two Trees + Distorted Metal Roof, 2009, oil on Masonite, 16 1/8 x 10 7/8 inches
Shadow of the Painter, 2009, oil on Masonite, 16 x 14 inches
Shadow of Painter Painting "September Light", 2009, oil on linen, 32 x 50 inches
September Light, 2009, oil on Masonite, 18 x 12 inches
Night House (v. II), 2009, mezzotint on Rives BFK, 9 1/2 x 14 1/4 inches
Frosted Window, 2009, oil on Masonite, 16 x 9 inches
Double Window and Curtain, 2009, oil on Masonite, 18 x 17 inches
Door & Hallway Window, 2009, oil on Masonite, 18 x 11 3/4 inches
Buildings at Rockgarden Inn, 2009, oil on Masonite, 14 x 20 inches
Barn Door View, 2009, oil on linen, 44 x 44 inches
Winter Sunset, Blair Pond, 2008, oil on linen, 48 x 52 inches
The Shadow of the Painter, 2008, oil on Masonite, 11 3/4 x 16 inches
House at Dusk, 2008, oil on Masonite, 13 x 17 inches
Lit House, Foggy Night, 2007, oil on Masonite, 13 1/8 x 19 inches
Lily Buds, 2007, oil on Masonite, 19 1/8 x 11 inches
Columbine, 2007, oil on Masonite, 11 x 10 7/8 inches
View from the Bakery, Blairstown, April, 2004, oil on Masonite, 10 x 19 3/4 inches