I first came upon Dorman’s work in a show at New York’s CUE Foundation and was thrilled. More work and information here.
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a multi-disciplinary dialog
Posted by Arthur Whitman on February 7th, 2007
I first came upon Dorman’s work in a show at New York’s CUE Foundation and was thrilled. More work and information here.
Filed in abstraction,drawing,landscape,painting,paper
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Wow, I love this work as well!
The map pieces really resonate with me. It is easy to fall into a gimmicky range with manipulating maps as it is so hackneyed. But these are so rich and evocative.
And the little organic clusters floating around in these watercolors remind me of Terry Winters at his best. thanks for the intro to Dorman.
I like the colors and the whimsy of these drawings, but I prefer Dorman’s paintings for their richness of color. Is there a reason you chose these to show? What appeals to you most about Dorman, or do we have to guess? I hate guessing games… :)
I put these up because I had large images and because I have a weakness for work on paper.
Arthur,
I’ve read about your interest in paper before on you blog. Can you tell us a bit more about why you find it special as an art material?
I love his landscapes because of their grand perspective, 3-dimensionality. The ability to achieve this great 3-D, I think, will keep drawing, painting and textile art alive.
Leslie,
Glad you like them. I’m a big fan of Winters’ work as well. Louise Bourgeois’ drawings come to mind too, but these are better. The map works are my favorites, but these come off better in reproduction. The paintings are too dense and heavy for my taste.
Karl,
What a great idea for another post; I’ll keep it in mind.
Arthur.
I have the deepest appreciation for works that require no explanation.
Its nice not to have to write one!
Thanks, Arthur, for this introduction.
I really enjoyed poking about Dorman’s work and will go back to it often. His works on paper remind me a bit of Twomby’s skittering across the plane of vision, although when I say that I realize that I’m laying Twomby on top of Dorman in order to see Dorman better. I don’t know if that’s fair. It might have to do with that “stretching [of] the symbolic language of [my] own intellect.” Re Bioboot’s comment (Comment #17 here
http://www.artandperception.com/2006/09/what-is-art.html#comments
Your weakness for work on paper resonates with me, and for me, it’s often about texture (also about a certain lightness of being, I think). But the texture of paper is lost on the internet — really frustrating to me. I love hand-pulled prints, but only when I see them in person.
On the other hand, as Birgit points out, the landscapes have a three-dimensionality, appropriate to the heavy weight of textile art…. I’d snort here, but I’m too lazy to look up the coding. I’m reluctant to admit too much heaviness to my textile art, but push comes to shove, I guess I have to admit it anyway.
I wrote a long and elegant (!!) comment on Dorman, and it got et up by something or other. So I’ll just say, thank you, Arthur for the introduction.
Long and elegant? Haven’t been able to that in awhile myself. But you’re welcome.
Arthur,
Thank you for not asking what I’d been smoking — and I think I’ll just let the phrase fade away as though I’d never said it.
I remembered one thing, though, that I had been thinking about and that was that I too like works on paper — the fragility of the medium often means the images have a lightness to them.
And I like the texture of paper. The web images drive me nuts because I want to see what kind of paper is used. Hand-pulled prints are wonderful, but I find it essential to see them in person — the imprint of the support medium onto the paper becomes an important element of the process.
Hi there.
I found these exchanges recently, and I am very moved by the words.
I did want to let you and your readers know that I just launched my new website, with many new images.
http://www.joshdorman.net
Thanks for your interest in my work.
-Josh Dorman
June,
Yes, the appeal of art on paper has much to do with texture. You don’t have to work it over, cover it up, the way you do with canvas and other supports. (Granted there are artists like Morris Louis who do interesting things with raw canvas.) For me, this appeal is as much tactile as it is visual. I project on to the work memories or ideas of making marks on paper–drawing, painting and writing.
Hi Josh,
I wrote about your work before here, as you may remember. Keep up the good work.
Josh,
Thanks for the link to your new site. Arthur, thanks for telling us about Josh.
I also like the trompe l’oeil “paper” in Gerry Bergstein’s canvases, although the effect is different.
The fake tape, too.