Alley by Kim Dorland

Provenance:
Private Collection, New York

Exhibited:
“Homecoming”, Contemporary Calgary, Calgary, October 16, 2014 - January 18, 2015

Literature:
Katerina Atanassova, “You are Here: Kim Dorland and the Return to Painting” in Katerina Atanassova, Robert Enright and Jeffrey Spalding, “Kim Dorland”, Vancouver/Berkeley and Kleinburg, Ontario, 2014, pages 6, 44, 52, 108, reproduced page 102
Jeff Hamada, “Kim Dorland” [online article], Booooooom.com, Vancouver, June 16, 2014, reproduced
Katy Cowan, “Canadian suburban life by Kim Dorland” [online article], CreativeBoom.com, UK, June 19, 2014, reproduced
Murray Whyte, “Angst and Exuberance”, Galleries West Fall/Winter 2014, September 1, 2014, page 42 reproduced

A native of Wainwright, Alberta, Kim Dorland relies heavily on his tumultuous experiences growing up, translating into works that challenge preconceived notions of the Canadian wilderness. Known for his paintings of landscapes, often including figures, Dorland seeks to demystify the idea of “terra nullius”—the void, pristine, virgin land often idealized by historical Canadian painting and art history. Rather, the artist often incorporates contemporary figures and objects in a rugged environment emphasizing one’s place in the landscape. Graffiti, cars, toys and modern infrastructure populate his landscapes, making a contemporary comment on the traditionally barren Canadian landscape throughout art history. Dorland works in a variety of media, including neon pigments, spray paint and even inkjet technologies. The artist excels at creating imagery that is simultaneously abrasive and attractive.

Kim Dorland was inspired by artists such as Tom Thomson, Emily Carr, David Milne, and members of the Group of Seven - and their quest for bold, authentic, and expressive visual language. The artist goes so far as to credit the art of these painters with saving him, proclaiming: “Before I found art, I had no sense of the future. I could have ended up in a dead-end job or even jail, not because I was violent but because I was thoughtless. Then I found this. It was all I wanted.”

“Alley” was painted in 2006, when Dorland had solidified his personal artistic style and was beginning to see significant success in the gallery world. The oil painting depicts activity in an alley, likely in winter or early spring, with two trailers parked on a lawn alongside a garage. The ground and sky are painted in heavily textured shades of grey; the trailers, though predominantly white, appear to have a neon pink and orange glow surrounding them and three standing figures. The scene, with graffiti on the garage door, recalls the gritty, working-class environment Dorland grew up in and often references. Curator Katerina Atanassova observes that “Dorland’s world - although referencing locales in his native Wainwright, Alberta - is no longer focused on a specific place but rather represents a kind of ‘anywhere’.” In many of Dorland’s works, including “Alley”, the artist has challenged the conventional notion of the romantic Canadian landscape. Jeffrey Spalding remarks on how Dorland’s scenes of Canadian life and terrain are important because they are truthful. He writes “It may still be plausible to manufacture an encounter with pristine wilderness, but it is not our predominant, day-to-day lived reality. [...] Kim Dorland’s figuration and landscapes sit as a continuity of Canadian art history, not as an anomaly.”

“Alley” is a particularly gestural work, with thickly-applied paint in the sky and long slashes of paint moving upward and into the sky. In an interview with Kim Dorland, Robert Enright inquires about specifically this oil painting, asking: “Alley, an early work, is like a scatter of pick-up sticks that reads less as landscape depiction than as a kind of abstraction. ... Were you aware at the time that you were mixing abstraction with a version of realism?” The artist responded with: “That was exactly what I was trying to do. My master’s thesis was about combining representation and abstraction at the same time. I was trying to crumple up a piece of representation and pull it apart. I was also thinking a lot about cubism. The two things I was dealing with were abstraction and overt play.”