Orange Girl, 2008

Private Collection

'Kim Dorland Interview', "NBB Gallery" [online publication], 14 March 2022, accessed 26 March 2025 Allison Meier, 'Painting Through Your Obsession About Love', "Hyperallergic" [online publication], 23 August 2011, accessed 26 March 2025

Kim Dorland challenges traditional notions of painted representation by delving into themes such as memory, material, nostalgia, identity, and place. Dorland’s pictures are built up with vibrant, thick layers of paint that create a sculptural effect, extending outward from the canvas. In "Orange Girl", Dorland employs a hallmark of his work by skillfully contrasting bold abstract impasto with softer stains and washes. He describes this technique as a visual hook, stating, “Even though I’m often regarded as a ‘thick’ painter, I find all of the techniques at my disposal equally interesting. I think my paintings would look boring if they were only thick. It’s the mix of several approaches to painting that (I hope!) makes them pack a visual punch.” Dorland further explains his creative process, saying, “If I find a tube of colour I like, I just buy all of them because I hate to run out of materials halfway through a painting. I try to approach painting in an experimental manner, meaning I let the materials interact with each other to help tell part of the painting's story. I don’t have a specific colour or paint that I would call a staple because I’m always changing my approach, but whatever I’m using, I need a lot of it. I guess I can’t live without neon pink and neon orange." His wife and muse, Lori, appears in many of his paintings, even naming exhibitions after her. In a gallery interview conducted by Lori, when asked why he paints her so frequently, Dorland responds, “I paint you because I adore you.” His portraits of his wife are characterized by a blend of chaotic and passionate brushwork, featuring thick globs of oil paint that are dragged and slashed in a manner that conveys raw emotion and spontaneity.