Dan Addington
In the past few years, travels in Europe and Ireland have had a profound visual effect on my work. Upon returning from that first trip, I began a series of paintings initially inspired by feelings and imagery experienced there. These influences were coupled with my own interest in medieval and gothic forms, historical European religious subject matter, and European history. With this new body of paintings I began to aggressively explore the use of alternative, often-organic materials like wax, tar, wood, and fabric to achieve a more elemental and tactile connection with the work. The exploration of ideas about memory, history, and the passage of time have become an important part of this process.
My paintings often include combinations of anatomical imagery, memorial sculpture, romantic symbolism, and religious iconography. The works are created using deep supports, like boxes, which stand out from the wall and assert themselves in the viewer's space. In many cases, the physical qualities of the work are meant to suggest the physical weightiness associated with monuments and memorial sculpture.
Collaged materials, including heavy fabrics and printed matter, contribute to the initial surface of the work. After this weathered, heavily worked, abstract surface is established, it is sealed in a layer of beeswax, and the more figurative elements of the imagery are rendered in tar and varnish. The organic qualities of the wood, wax, and tar communicate a feeling of timelessness. I believe that the processes of building, weathering, eroding and layering are important to the work's identity—it creates a history that can be traced, investigated, and experienced by the viewer. The materials and processes used emphasize the paintings as visceral objects with an evocative physical presence. Often, these materials are meant to recall and engage the physical body, and with the accompanying image, evoke a meditational response from the viewer. Through a mixed use of painterly languages, these works explore the nature of mortality, express a sense of loss, and address mankind's desire to locate spiritual meaning.
RESUME
Education MFA, Illinois State University, Normal, IL 1990
MA, Art, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR 1987
BA, Double Major, Theater and Art, Northwestern College, Orange City, IA 1985
Solo Exhibitions
2007 From Ancient Earth, Irish Heritage Center Gallery, Chicago
2006 New Paintings, Aliya| Linstrom Gallery, Atlanta
New Work, Malton Gallery, Cincinnati OH
2005 Monuments and Memories, Aliya Gallery, Atlanta
2004 Memory of a New Land, Northwestern College, Orange City, IA
Feature: Janine Calsbeek, Sept. 2, 2004
New Work, Aliya Gallery, Atlanta
6 Year Survey, University Galleries, St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN
2003 Gwenda Jay / Addington Gallery, Chicago
Review: Victor Cassidy, Artnet, 2003
2002 Aliya Gallery, Atlanta
2001 Aliya Gallery, Atlanta
2000 Aliya Gallery, Atlanta
1999 Loyola University Medical Center Gallery, Chicago
University of Wisconsin, Osh Kosh, WI
1998 Riverside Art Center, Riverside, IL
Aliya Gallery, Atlanta
Review: Jerry Cullum, Atlanta Constitution, Nov. 13, 1998
Evan Glasman Gallery, Chicago, IL
Group Exhibitions
2007 Wax Philosophical, Wired Gallery, Bethlehem, PA
2006 Hot Wax, Cool Artists – National Encaustic Survey, University Gallery, University of Nebraska, Lincoln NE
Something Old, Something New, 3 Person Show, Hinsdale Center for the Arts
Group Show, Irish American Heritage Center
2005 Oil and Wax, Community Arts Center, Wallingford PA, Traveling Exhibition to 7 regional museums and art centers across the US
2004 Chicago Painters. University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point WI
Waxworks III, Gwenda Jay / Addington, Chicago, IL
2003 Childhood Revisited, Aliya Gallery, Atlanta GA