Dana Schutz
Encyclopedia
Dana Schutz is a painter in New York.
She graduated with a BFA the Cleveland Institute of Art
in 2000 and an MFA from Columbia University
in 2002. She grew up in Livonia, Michigan a suburb of Detroit and graduated in 1995 from Adlai E. Stevenson High School (Livonia, Michigan)
.
Her work is present in many of the major museums in North America and Europe, as well as in several important private collections. A number of her works are in the Saatchi Gallery
and a large canvas titled "How we cured the plague, 2007" is currently on display in the permanent collection of the prestigious Mart Museum (Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Trento e Rovereto) in Italy http://www.martmuseum.com. She exhibits at Zach Feuer Gallery
in New York and at Contemporary Fine Arts in Berlin. Her first European solo show, Self Eaters and the People Who Love Them, was in Paris's Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin. Her bright, fantastical works have been compared to Currin
, Goya
, and Katz
.
In an article on Schutz, Mei Chin
wrote that "dissection and dismemberment abound in Dana Schutz's work, all offset by sunny colors and a pert sense of humor. Among other things, she has created a race of people who eat themselves; a guy called Frank who is the last man on Earth; a gravity-phobic person who has tied herself to the ground; and a variety of characters that are spliced, for different reasons, on operating tables. Schutz loves to give her characters life and then cut them up. Yet hers is a blithe cruelty, the curiosity of a child playing at being a creator. Even when she hates, she does it with whimsy." When asked where she comes up with her fantastical subject matter, she has said that, "The paintings are not autobiographical. Only recently have I started painting some of the things in my life. I respond to what I think is happening in the world. The hypotheticals in the paintings can act as surrogates or narratives for phenomena that I feel are happening in culture. In the paintings, I think in terms of adjectives and adverbs. Often I will get information from people or things that I see, a phrase, or how one object relates to another. I construct the paintings as I go along." She discussed working on her Self Eaters series, and described her imaginative approach: "I was thinking of the paintings as real artifacts from that invented situation. As the series was going on, I questioned whether I should fictionalize my role as the artist."
In an essay for Schutz' catalog, Dana Schutz: Paintings 2002-2005, Kathy Seigel addressed Schutz' work as paintings that "speak so vividly of their making," claiming that Schutz' paintings are an "allegory for the process of making art." Seigel goes on to write "by rendering the process of creation as one of drawing on oneself, recycling oneself and making oneself, Schutz creates a model of creation that blurs beginnings and endings, avoiding the dramatic genesis of the modernist blank canvas, as well as the nihilistic cul-de-sac of the appropriated media image." Examples of the content that Seigel speaks of can be seen in Schutz' paintings Twin Parts, Holding Hands With the Computer, and Chicken and Egg.
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2002
She graduated with a BFA the Cleveland Institute of Art
Cleveland Institute of Art
The Cleveland Institute of Art is a private college of art and design located in University Circle, Cleveland, Ohio. It was founded in 1882 as the Western Reserve School of Design for Women. From 1891 until 1948 it was named Cleveland School of Art. During the Great Depression the school...
in 2000 and an MFA from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in 2002. She grew up in Livonia, Michigan a suburb of Detroit and graduated in 1995 from Adlai E. Stevenson High School (Livonia, Michigan)
Adlai E. Stevenson High School (Livonia, Michigan)
Adlai E. Stevenson High School is a public high school in Livonia, Michigan, a suburb west of Detroit.-History:Adlai E. Stevenson High School was built in 1965 to accommodate the rising population in Livonia due to the increased migration of people from the nearby city of Detroit to the suburbs...
.
Her work is present in many of the major museums in North America and Europe, as well as in several important private collections. A number of her works are in the Saatchi Gallery
Saatchi Gallery
The Saatchi Gallery is a London gallery for contemporary art, opened by Charles Saatchi in 1985 in order to exhibit his collection to the public. It has occupied different premises, first in North London, then the South Bank by the River Thames and currently in Chelsea. Saatchi's collection, and...
and a large canvas titled "How we cured the plague, 2007" is currently on display in the permanent collection of the prestigious Mart Museum (Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Trento e Rovereto) in Italy http://www.martmuseum.com. She exhibits at Zach Feuer Gallery
Zach Feuer Gallery
The Zach Feuer Gallery is a contemporary art gallery located in Chelsea, New York.-History:The Zach Feuer Gallery was founded in 2000 as the LFL Gallery, by Nick Lawrence, Russell LaMontagne and Zach Feuer. It was originally located on a fourth floor space on 26th Street...
in New York and at Contemporary Fine Arts in Berlin. Her first European solo show, Self Eaters and the People Who Love Them, was in Paris's Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin. Her bright, fantastical works have been compared to Currin
John Currin
John Currin is an American painter. He is best known for satirical figurative paintings which deal with provocative sexual and social themes in a technically skillful manner. His work shows a wide range of influences, including sources as diverse as the Renaissance, popular culture magazines, and...
, Goya
Francisco Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown, and through his works was both a commentator on and chronicler of his era...
, and Katz
Alex Katz
Alex Katz is an American figurative artist associated with the Pop art movement. In particular, he is known for his paintings, sculptures, and prints and is represented by numerous galleries internationally.-Life and work:...
.
In an article on Schutz, Mei Chin
Mei Chin
Mei Chin is a fiction and food writer living in Dublin.Her short stories have appeared in Fiction and Bomb Magazine and are characterized by a combination of the fantastic and the mundane.She won the James Beard Foundation's M.F.K...
wrote that "dissection and dismemberment abound in Dana Schutz's work, all offset by sunny colors and a pert sense of humor. Among other things, she has created a race of people who eat themselves; a guy called Frank who is the last man on Earth; a gravity-phobic person who has tied herself to the ground; and a variety of characters that are spliced, for different reasons, on operating tables. Schutz loves to give her characters life and then cut them up. Yet hers is a blithe cruelty, the curiosity of a child playing at being a creator. Even when she hates, she does it with whimsy." When asked where she comes up with her fantastical subject matter, she has said that, "The paintings are not autobiographical. Only recently have I started painting some of the things in my life. I respond to what I think is happening in the world. The hypotheticals in the paintings can act as surrogates or narratives for phenomena that I feel are happening in culture. In the paintings, I think in terms of adjectives and adverbs. Often I will get information from people or things that I see, a phrase, or how one object relates to another. I construct the paintings as I go along." She discussed working on her Self Eaters series, and described her imaginative approach: "I was thinking of the paintings as real artifacts from that invented situation. As the series was going on, I questioned whether I should fictionalize my role as the artist."
In an essay for Schutz' catalog, Dana Schutz: Paintings 2002-2005, Kathy Seigel addressed Schutz' work as paintings that "speak so vividly of their making," claiming that Schutz' paintings are an "allegory for the process of making art." Seigel goes on to write "by rendering the process of creation as one of drawing on oneself, recycling oneself and making oneself, Schutz creates a model of creation that blurs beginnings and endings, avoiding the dramatic genesis of the modernist blank canvas, as well as the nihilistic cul-de-sac of the appropriated media image." Examples of the content that Seigel speaks of can be seen in Schutz' paintings Twin Parts, Holding Hands With the Computer, and Chicken and Egg.
Solo exhibitions
2011- Dana Schutz: If the Face Had Wheels, Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, NY
- Dana Schutz: Drawings & Prints, Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, GA
2010
- Dana Schutz, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, Ireland / Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Rovereto, Italy
- Dana Schutz: The Last Thing You See, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, Germany
2009
- Missing Pictures, Zach Feuer Gallery, New York, NY
2008
- If It Appears In The Desert, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, Germany
2007
- Stand By Earth Man Zach Feuer Gallery, New York, NY
2006
- Dana Schutz: Paintings 2002-2005 Rose Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA / Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH
2005
- Dana Schutz, Site Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM
- Teeth Dreams and Other Supposed Truths, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, Germany
2004
- Dana Schutz, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS
- Panic, Zach Feuer Gallery, New York, NY
- Self Eaters and the People Who Love Them, Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris, France
- Run, Mario Diacono Gallery, Boston, MA
2002
- Frank From Observation, LFL Gallery, New York, NY
External links
- http://www.martmuseum.com
- http://www.cfa-berlin.com
- The Saatchi Gallery; About Dana Schutz and her art Additional information on Dana Schutz including artworks, text panels, articles, and full biography
- http://www.indexmagazine.com/interviews/dana_schutz.shtml
- Interview with Mei Chin in Bomb Magazine
- Dana Schutz, Lyon ENBA