Kim Dorland BFA, MFA (1974)

A Canadian painter and sculptor, Kim Dorland was born in Wainwright, Alberta; grew up in Red Deer, Alberta (about 150 miles west of Wainwright); and currently lives in Toronto, Ontario. He is best known for his sculptural use of impasto*. The paint is applied so thickly on many of his paintings that parts of it need to be anchored to the support with screws.

His mediums include oil, acrylic, ink, spray paint, glitter, found objects* (taxidermy, wood and string), collage*, mixed mediums and digital art*. His subjects are portraits, landscapes, figures, family, forests, camp grounds, adolescence, nostalgia, horror, dreams, animals, genre*, allegory* and social commentary. His styles include Fauvism*, Expressionism*, Surrealism*, Dada*, and Pop Art*. AskART Images have some good illustrations of his work.

His formal art education includes a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Vancouver (1998), where he studied under Ian Wallace (see AskART); and a Master of Fine Arts degree from York University, Toronto (2003).

Dorland's works were included in the "RBC Canadian Painting Competition Exhibition" (two of them - 2006 and 2007); "Impression/Ism: Contemporary Impressions", City of Brea Art Gallery, Orange County, California (2006); "Carte Blanche Vol­ume 2: Paint­ing", Museum of Con­tem­po­rary Canadian Art, Toronto (2008); "Substantial Resources", Art Gallery of Sud­bury, Sud­bury, Ontario (2009); "Oppenheimer@20", Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, Kansas (2012); "Ideal­iz­ing the Imag­i­nary: Illu­sion and Inven­tion in Con­tem­po­rary Paint­ing", Oak­land Uni­ver­sity Art Gallery, Rochester, Michigan; and "The Tree: Form and Sub­stance", McMichael Cana­dian Art Col­lec­tion, Kleinburg, Ontario (2012). (1)(2)

He has also been included in solo and group exhibitions at numerous prominent commercial galleries in North America and Europe such as Angell Gallery, Toronto; Clint Roenisch Gallery, Toronto; Har­bourfront Cen­tre, Toronto; Divi­sion Gallery, Mon­treal; SAW Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario; Skew Gallery, Calgary, Alberta; Mike Weiss Gallery, New York, NY; Sue Scott Gallery, New York, NY; Freight + Volume, New York, NY; Jim Kemp­ner Fine Art, New York, NY; Marl­bor­ough Chelsea, New York, NY; Nicholas Robin­son Gallery, New York, NY; Richard A. and Rissa W. Gross­man Gallery, Lafayette College, Eas­ton, PA; Kasia Kay Art Projects, Chicago, IL; Mark Moore Gallery, Santa Mon­ica, CA; ADA Gallery, Rich­mond, VA; Gal­le­ria Bianca, Palermo, Italy; Bonelli Arte­Con­tem­po­ranea, Man­tova, Italy; and Hans Alf Gallery, Copen­hagen, Denmark.

Dorland's works are in the permanent collections of the Glenbow Museum (Calgary, Alberta), Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art (Overland Park, Kansas), and the Blanton Museum of Art (University of Texas, Austin). (3)


Footnotes:
(1) Established in 1999, the RBC Canadian Painting Competition, with the support of the Canadian Art Foundation, is an initiative to help nurture and support promising artists in the early stages of their careers. A regional jury panel of distinguished members from the arts community select five paintings from their regions as follows: Eastern (Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI, Newfoundland and Labrador); Central (Ontario); Western Canada (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut). The three jury panels then select one national winner and two honorable mentions from the 15 semi-finalists. The national winner receives a purchase prize of $25,000 and the two honorable mentions each receive $15,000. The list of previous winners includes Regina Williams, Chris Dorosz and Etienne Zack. Sources: Royal Bank of Canada website; and "RBC Canadian Painting Competition: Ten Years" (2008) by Robin T. Anthony, et al (see AskART book references).

(2) The 2006 RBC Canadian Painting Competition Exhibition showed at the Museum of Con­tem­po­rary Cana­dian Art, Toronto; Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitch­ener, Ontario; Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art, Quebec; The Art Gallery of Calgary, Alberta; and the Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, B.C. The 2007 RBC Canadian Painting Competition Exhibition, showed at the Ontario Col­lege of Art and Design, Toronto; Galerie d'art Louise-et-Reuben-Cohen, Uni­ver­sité de Monc­ton, New Brunswick; MacLaren Art Cen­tre, Bar­rie, Ontario; Win­nipeg Art Gallery, Manitoba; and the Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Vancouver. Source: "RBC Canadian Painting Competition: Ten Years" (2008) by Robin T. Anthony, et al (see AskART book references).

(3) Please note: The museums listed were confirmed on their websites as collectors of Dorland's works. Dorland's website lists three more museums (as well as several other institutions and corporations) as collectors of his work, the museums are: the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art, Museum of Con­tem­po­rary Art San Diego, and the Mon­treal Museum of Fine Arts; unfortunately, while there is no reason to doubt it, they could not be independently confirmed online.

Sources:
RBC Canadian Painting Competition: Ten Years (2008), by Robin T. Anthony, et al (see AskART book references).
"Kim Dorland: Beautiful Stuff" (2013), by Tim Powis; Canadian Art (magazine), Spring 2013 Issue
"Kim Dorland" (2012), by Richard Rhodes; Canadian Art (magazine), Winter 2013 Issue
Art Sync (website), Kim Dorland interviewed by Michael Hansen, January 28, 2011
Canadian Heritage Information Network*
Mike Weiss Gallery, New York, NY
Kim Dorland website
Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Alberta

* For more in-depth information about these terms and others, see AskART.com. Glossary http://www.askart.com/AskART/lists/Art_Definition.aspx.

Written and Submitted to askART by M.D. Silverbrooke.