Dennis Ashbaugh
Encyclopedia
Dennis John Ashbaugh is an American
painter
and artist from New York
. He is one of the first artists to employ DNA
marking patterns in paintings, in his 1992 work Designer Gene. Ashbaugh's use of light and colour in his large-scale paintings of autoradiograph
s have drawn comparison with Mark Rothko
. He is a Guggenheim Fellowship
recipient and has had his work exhibited by the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art
, the P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, the Seattle Art Museum
and the Whitney Museum of American Art
among others. Ashbaugh is particularly known for his large portraits of computer viruses and DNA, which have been acquired for the permanent collections of the Hirshhorn Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
, and the New York Metropolitan.
Dominant themes of Ashbaugh's works are networks and viruses — computer and biological — though he does not use computers to create the works. He is renowned for his 1992 collaboration with speculative fiction
novelist William Gibson
, an artists' book called Agrippa (a book of the dead)
. Gibson's writings
— as well as those of his friend, collaborator and fellow cyberpunk
Bruce Sterling
— influenced many of Ashbaugh's paintings: "Their writings have had a life-changing influence on me, … When I first read Gibson, I walked through the East Village and thought, 'Oh, what a lovely place this is.' It changed my notion of urban decay."
Ashbaugh purchased a trim frame house in Flamingo Park, West Palm Beach, Florida
with his companion, best-selling self-help
author Alexandra Penney
. The New York Times
has characterised Ashbaugh as "a charismatic ex-surfer whose address book can probably hold its own against that of the most aggressive jet set type."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
and artist from New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. He is one of the first artists to employ DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
marking patterns in paintings, in his 1992 work Designer Gene. Ashbaugh's use of light and colour in his large-scale paintings of autoradiograph
Autoradiograph
An autoradiograph is an image on an x-ray film or nuclear emulsion produced by the pattern of decay emissions from a distribution of a radioactive substance...
s have drawn comparison with Mark Rothko
Mark Rothko
Mark Rothko, born Marcus Rothkowitz , was a Russian-born American painter. He is classified as an abstract expressionist, although he himself rejected this label, and even resisted classification as an "abstract painter".- Childhood :Mark Rothko was born in Dvinsk, Vitebsk Province, Russian...
. He is a Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
recipient and has had his work exhibited by the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
, the P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, the Seattle Art Museum
Seattle Art Museum
The Seattle Art Museum is an art museum located in Seattle, Washington, USA. It maintains three major facilities: its main museum in downtown Seattle; the Seattle Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill, and the Olympic Sculpture Park on the central Seattle waterfront, which opened on...
and the Whitney Museum of American Art
Whitney Museum of American Art
The Whitney Museum of American Art, often referred to simply as "the Whitney", is an art museum with a focus on 20th- and 21st-century American art. Located at 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street in New York City, the Whitney's permanent collection contains more than 18,000 works in a wide variety of...
among others. Ashbaugh is particularly known for his large portraits of computer viruses and DNA, which have been acquired for the permanent collections of the Hirshhorn Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is an art museum in Los Angeles, California. It is located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles, adjacent to the George C. Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits....
, and the New York Metropolitan.
Dominant themes of Ashbaugh's works are networks and viruses — computer and biological — though he does not use computers to create the works. He is renowned for his 1992 collaboration with speculative fiction
Speculative fiction
Speculative fiction is an umbrella term encompassing the more fantastical fiction genres, specifically science fiction, fantasy, horror, supernatural fiction, superhero fiction, utopian and dystopian fiction, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, and alternate history in literature as well as...
novelist William Gibson
William Gibson
William Gibson is an American-Canadian science fiction author.William Gibson may also refer to:-Association football:*Will Gibson , Scottish footballer...
, an artists' book called Agrippa (a book of the dead)
Agrippa (A Book of the Dead)
Agrippa is a work of art created by speculative fiction novelist William Gibson, artist Dennis Ashbaugh and publisher Kevin Begos Jr. in 1992. The work consists of a 300-line semi-autobiographical electronic poem by Gibson, embedded in an artist's book by Ashbaugh. Gibson's text focused on the...
. Gibson's writings
Works of William Gibson
The works of William Gibson encompass literature, journalism, acting, recitation, and performance art. Primarily renowned as a novelist and short fiction writer in the cyberpunk milieu, Gibson invented the metaphor of cyberspace in "Burning Chrome" and emerged from obscurity in 1984 with the...
— as well as those of his friend, collaborator and fellow cyberpunk
Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a postmodern and science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life." The name is a portmanteau of cybernetics and punk, and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk," published in 1983...
Bruce Sterling
Bruce Sterling
Michael Bruce Sterling is an American science fiction author, best known for his novels and his work on the Mirrorshades anthology, which helped define the cyberpunk genre.-Writings:...
— influenced many of Ashbaugh's paintings: "Their writings have had a life-changing influence on me, … When I first read Gibson, I walked through the East Village and thought, 'Oh, what a lovely place this is.' It changed my notion of urban decay."
Ashbaugh purchased a trim frame house in Flamingo Park, West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach, is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and is the most populous city in and county seat of Palm Beach County, the third most populous county in Florida with a 2010 population of 1,320,134. The city is also the oldest incorporated municipality in South Florida...
with his companion, best-selling self-help
Self-help
Self-help, or self-improvement, is a self-guided improvement—economically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a substantial psychological basis. There are many different self-help movements and each has its own focus, techniques, associated beliefs, proponents and in some cases, leaders...
author Alexandra Penney
Alexandra Penney
Alexandra Penney is an American author best known for her 1982 best-selling book How to Make Love to a Man who was also an editor at Self magazine and has been credited as one of the creators and popularizers of the pink ribbon as a symbol for awareness of breast cancer.Penney attended Smith...
. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
has characterised Ashbaugh as "a charismatic ex-surfer whose address book can probably hold its own against that of the most aggressive jet set type."
External links
- Dennis Ashbaugh at Paradise Now
- Dennis Ashbaugh at Wingate Studio