by JunYan He
When I first walked into the Angell Gallery, the smell of oil paint exploded throughout the gallery, filling my nostrils. This is where the exhibition of the Canadian painter Kim Dorland’s recent work took place. The exhibition contained drawings and paintings by the artist. Most of the drawings, however, seemed like preparatory work for his large-scale paintings.
Dorland exaggerates the expressive handling of paint and dynamic brushwork. The mixture of various painting mediums - acrylic, oil and spray paint all seem to have found a home within his compositions. Thick, generously applied pigment sits abundantly upon wood or canvas surfaces; “muscular mark making” describes foliage and terrain. Sometimes fluorescent under painting isolates reduced human forms, filled by an ultra-fat layer of directly squeezed dark black tube paint. He employs these unexpected devices to generate arrangements that combine beauty with vulgarity, only to depict that which is familiar.
Through the subject matter and the application of paint, his work is exceedingly referential towards the kind of paintings made by international contemporaries such as Daniel Richter and Peter Doig. Dorland, however, should be more focused on looking past those influences to create some work that are more his own. The reference could be employed in the works technical/material component but shouldn’t influence the subject matter as well. It is tiny nuances like this that distinguish the utility of each artist and his/her artwork, artistic innovation from mannerist variation.
JunYan He is a 4th year exchange student at OCAD University from Ecoles des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France.
Instructor: Pete Smith
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