Don Pollack

Solid Footings - Graphite Drawing on Antique Architectural Drawings of Bears

2023

Over a hundred years ago, my grandfather registered as a homesteader with the Department of the Interior Land Office in Buffalo, Wyoming. Building a cabin on a remote 640 acre plat,...

Postcards From the Edge of the West My work originates from journey and travel. The process often begins with extensive historic research, followed by an epic journey into the landscape as a means of experiencing the land. The paintings document a landscape that flows between two realities: one outside the picture attempting to capture nature and one inside the material flow of abstracting the experience of space. I utilize the traditional methods of landscape painting such as the observation of light, shadows, and transparency, and try and merge that process with the emotional space held by a direct experiences in the land, memory, and history. The white border surrounding each painting suggests a card and the souvenir printed material – a postcard – sent out when on a journey; much like the journey I take part of in my artistic process. This particular painting (card) is inspired from the landscapes along the Coeur d’Alenes trail in Northern Idaho. It is a place of rugged and stark beauty barely on the old maps and outside the edge of the Louisiana Colony. It is a place that is part image and part abstraction; color field painting and rendering; a place not yet born. –Don Pollack The lush landscape in Don Pollack's "Coeur d'Alenes Trail" brings a calm serenity to the viewer. The deep green pines in the are reflected on the calm water while a moon illuminates the entire scene. A deliberate white border on the canvas "frames" the entire piece and enhanced by the simple white frame measuring 37.5 x 61.5 inches. Don Pollack Coeur d'Alendes Trail oil on canvas 36h x 60w in 91.44h x 152.40w cm DJP027 Don Pollack BIOGRAPHY Don Pollack is a Painter and Adjunct Associate Professor of Visual Communication at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His work investigates among other things, the relationship between personal mythologies and representation in painting and how it may simultaneously give reference to a narrative.Working in cross disciplines has influenced his perspectives as projects begin with an epic adventure. Conceptually proceeding from the premise that all vision is historic and constructed, Pollack’s research starts with the planning of a long distance trek,– such as a 3000 mile journey via bicycle following Lewis and Clark. His work has utilized maps, documents, photography, painting, and installation.This work was routed in a previous investigation into the role of museums in the process of forming collective memory. Don studied design at the University of Illinois and painting at the Ohio State University where he received his MFA.The state of Illinois has recognized his history based work with a special bicentennial edition of the ‘Order of Abraham Lincoln’ award. He has exhibited nationally and internationally and has shown many solo shows in, Chicago, New York, Atlanta, and Canada. True Life Novelettes is the most recent addition to the bigger project; Crossing The Great Divide which is loosely a series of landscape and history projects I began in 2009. It explores among other things, current events and personal literary interests through the construction of large scale [48x72”] book cover paintings. I use a variety of images juxtaposed with bylines and misplaced authors in order to create new meanings. I read the print edition of the New York Times for current content and subject matter, and because I still like the feel of a large document and printed typography. Recently and with a twist of prescient irony, a found myself reading a special supplemental section of the Times declaring that “the post-text future is here!” Could that be good for painting, now that we are entering an online culture ruled by pictures! But if our information will become dominated by pictures, slogans, and emotional announcements, I do fear that the arguments driving political discourse will soon become completely supplicated by popular memes. What should the new best sellers look like? Do I have enough time to read them? Underneath all this fanfare is it possible that the discussion will also be reduced to the display of personal artifacts of material culture? In the fashion section of today’s Times the headline reads, “Can you wear Dior to the Protest March?” (Enter my books.) I first start by writing columns and mixing up the authors with made-up titles (from films and books) and looking for strange connections to create a metaphorical tension. I then look for popular images and taglines in the news, print media, and the publishing business, and search for catchy phrases from film dialog. Then I combine everything into a new design layout to form a hybrid of ‘true life novelettes’ and modern classics. Climate change denial and alt/fake news declarations become great sources for topics in the overwhelming modern noise machine too grim to bear. I cancel my cable subscription. But what are the conditions for making a painting in a world saturated with images? While the representational, abstract, and technical concerns of painting collapse into the same memory well, what are we to say especially when we have “seen all the films and seen all the pictures”? The works of Tursic and Mille have pointed me into this new direction. In order to visually reclaim myself from disappearing into the ruins, I adopt a strategy combining editorial cartooning, oil painting and graphic design. I am attracted to those handsome publisher’s design formats, especially the ones that utilize carefully-placed typography and eclectic images– such as Everyman’s Library, Penguin Books, and Barnes and Noble. There are colored stripes running along the sides of the covers identifying the modern story collections, with the authors’ names set in script fonts. These various formats also hold the space to paint a combination of historic events and contemporary imagery from popular culture. I also patrol the web and search for vintage advertising campaigns for copy. Perhaps this grimness can have an uplifting thread. However, Virginie Vuillaume in Another Girl warns, “desire leads to disaster, partly bound up with fiction but also with death and catastrophe. The fate of those who are in love with images is always tragic, desire always leads to disaster.” So now Tursic and Mille’s painting that appropriated an image of a house on fire from a scene from Andrei Tarkovski’s film The Sacrifice also becomes my subject matter for the cover of the Year of Living Dangerously. For 2017, The Year of the Eclipse, the cover takes direction from a modern classic rendition of Frankenstein, with his head screwed on backwards. Maybe the only way left to paint now is by moving things forward by the only way possible,– through other mediums. The byline lyric for Eclipse is now taken from the Youngbloods popular song of 1967, Get Together,–so come on Frankenstein, ‘Smile on Your Brother’. Don Pollack EDUCATION m.f.a. Ohio State University Columbus,Ohio b.f.a. University of Illinois Urbana, Illinois SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2018 Gallery Victor Armendariz, Story Tellers, Don Pollack: True Life Novelettes, Chicago, Illinois 2016 Bridgeport Art Center, this land is not empty, Chicago, Illinois Carnegie Museum for Art and History, bernheim arboretum, New Albany, Indiana 2013 Perimeter Gallery, 34 days to washington, Chicago, Illinois 2011 Newzones Gallery, far from home, Calgary,Alberta, canada MarciaWood Gallery, far from home, Atlanta,Georgia 2010 Perimeter Gallery, mysterious island, Chicago, Illinois Marquette University Law Library, laying the foundation [a Lincoln Portrait], Milwaukee, Wisconsin 2009 Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, the lincoln project, Springfield, Illinois The Union League Club, the lincoln project, Chicago, Illinois 2007 Newzones Gallery, the sheltering sky, Calgary,Alberta, canada Merwin andWakeley Galleries, IllinoisWesleyan University, american inheritance, Bloomington, Illinois MarciaWood Gallery, night, Atlanta,Georgia 2006 MargaretThatcher Projects, american gothic, past imperfect, NewYork,NewYork Perimeter Gallery, improvisation, Chicago, Illinois 2005 Newzones Gallery, missives, Calgary,Alberta, canada MarciaWood Gallery, south of the tennessee, remains of the campaign, Atlanta, Georgia 2004 Perimeter Gallery, voyages of discovery, from the earth to the moon, NewYork, NewYork 2003 Newzones Gallery, garden of forking paths, Calgary,Alberta, canada Perimeter Gallery, a search for heroes, lincoln & the illinois landscape, Chicago, Illinois 2002 Perimeter Gallery, ancien regime, NewYork,NewYork MarciaWood Gallery, ancien regime, Atlanta,Georgia 2001 Newzones Gallery, ancien regime, Calgary,Alberta, canada 2000 Perimeter Gallery, between heaven and earth, Chicago, Illinois Newzones Gallery, preview, Calgary,Alberta, canada 1999 Newzones Gallery, north american inheritance, Calgary,Alberta, canada MarciaWood Gallery, american inheritance, Atlanta,Georgia 1998 MarciaWood Gallery, entering the circle, Atlanta,Georgia 1997 Newzones Gallery, crossing the next meridian, Calgary,Alberta, canada 1996 Peter Miller Gallery, landscape and memory, Chicago, Illinois MarciaWood Gallery, mythopoeia, an american portrait, Atlanta,Georgia 1995 Elliot Smith Gallery, St.Louis,Missouri Marx-Saunders Gallery, International Art Exposition, Chicago, Illinois 1994 Deson-Saunders Gallery, shadowlands, Chicago, Illinois 1993 Monte Clark Gallery, Vancouver,British Columbia, canada Bess Cutler Gallery, NewYork,NewYork 1992 Deson-Saunders Gallery, Chicago, Illinois 1991 Bess Cutler Gallery, NewYork,NewYork Deson-Saunders Gallery, between earth and sky, Chicago, Illinois 1989 Deson-Saunders Gallery, Chicago, Illinois 1988 Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago, Illinois 1987 Houghton College, Houghton,NewYork SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2015 architectural biennial, Brininstool and Lynch, Chicago, Illinois 2014 black and white, Perimeter Gallery- Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 2012 art miami , Perimeter Gallery- Chicago, Miami, Florida Group Show, Perimeter Gallery, Chicago, Illinois 2011 art chicago, The Merchandise Mart, Perimeter Gallery, Chicago, Illinois Group Show,Kenise Barnes Gallery, Larchemont,NewYork 2010 pull, MarciaWood Gallery, Atlanta,Georgia memory is a metaphor, Kenise Barnes Gallery, Larchmont,NewYork our kind of town, Rena Sternberg Gallery, Glencoe, Illinois 2009 nature satisfies by its loveliness, Kenise Barnes Gallery, Larchmont,NewYork the exquisite corpse, Renaissance Society, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois the big picture show, Newzones Gallery, Calgary,Alberta, canada 2008 this just in, MarciaWood Gallery, Atlanta Georgia portraying lincoln, Madden Arts Center, Decatur, Illinois contemporary art institute of detroit, Curator’s Choice, Detroit,Michigan art chicago, The Merchandise Mart, Perimeter Gallery, Chicago, Illinois 2007 artwork 5, Gallery 2,Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois artscapes, Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville,Tennessee atlanta gallery association preview, rep: MarciaWood Gallery, Eatonton,Georgia out of the garden, Rena Sternberg Gallery, Glencoe, Illinois art chicago, The Merchandise Mart, Perimeter Gallery, Chicago, Illinois 2006 states of seige, Fine Arts Center Galleries, University of Rhode Island, Kingston,Rhode Island landscape x10, Newzones Gallery, Calgary,Alberta, canada pulse, MargaretThatcher Projects, NewYork,NewYork 2005 summer sensation, Thatcher Projects, NewYork,NewYork Perimeter Gallery, Chicago, Illinois landscape x9, Newzones Gallery, Calgary,Alberta, canada 2004 Perimeter Gallery, Chicago, Illinois landscape x9, Newzones Gallery, Calgary,Alberta, canada 2003 landscape x9, Newzones Gallery, Calgary,Alberta, canada San Francisco Art Exposition, Newzones Gallery of Contemporary Art Calgary,Alberta, canada contemporary landscape, Perimeter Gallery, Chicago, Illinois deck the walls, Newzones Gallery, Calgary,Alberta, canada 2002 landscape x9, Newzones Gallery, Calgary,Alberta, canada San Francisco Art Exposition, Newzones Gallery of Contemporary Art Calgary,Alberta, canada 2001 departure: american contemporary landscape, Indiana University Northwest Gary, Indiana Rena Sternberg Gallery, Glencoe, Illinois International Art Exposition:Chicago, Perimeter Chicago, Illinois Miami Art Exposition, Newzones Gallery of Contemporary Art Calgary,Alberta, canada 2000 landscape x8, Newzones Gallery, Calgary,Alberta, canada San Francisco Art Exposition, Newzones Gallery of Contemporary Art Calgary,Alberta, canada International Art Exposition:Chicago, Perimeter Gallery Chicago, Illinois 1999 requiem, Nexus Contemporary Art Center Atlanta,Georgia family album, MarciaWood Gallery Atlanta,Georgia 1998 the nature of landscape, South Bend Regional Museum of Art South Bend, Indiana cornucopia, Winston-Wachter Gallery NewYork,NewYork paradise and its transformations, Georgia State University, School of Art & Design Gallery Atlanta,Georgia landscape x six, Newzones Gallery of Contemporary Art Calgary,Alberta, canada land, air, & sea, Elliot Smith Gallery St.Louis,Missouri 1997 Marguerite Oestricher Gallery New Orleans, Louisiana MarciaWood Gallery Atlanta,Georgia Peter Miller Gallery Chicago, Illinois International Art Exposition:Chicago, Peter Miller Gallery Chicago, Illinois Seattle International Art Exposition, Newzones Gallery of Contemporary Art Calgary,Alberta, canada 1996 Center for the Arts Calgary,Alberta, canada Newzones Gallery of Contemporary Art Calgary,Alberta, canada International Art Exposition:Chicago, Peter Miller Gallery Chicago, Illinois Seattle International Art Exposition, Newzones Gallery of Contemporary Art Calgary,Alberta, canada introductions, Newzones Gallery of Contemporary Art Calgary,Alberta, canada Peter Miller Gallery Chicago, Illinois 1995 contemporary realists, Newzones Gallery of Contemporary Art Calgary,Alberta, canada the nature of landscape, Fontbonne College St. Louis,Missouri first in flight, Deson-Saunders Gallery Chicago, Illinois Newzones Gallery of Contemporary Art Calgary,Alberta, canada MarciaWood Gallery Atlanta,Georgia International Art Exposition:Chicago, Deson-Saunders Gallery Chicago, Illinois 1994 contemporary realists, Newzones Gallery of Contemporary Art Calgary,Alberta, canada Monte Clark Gallery Vancouver,British Columbia, canada 10th anniversary group exhibition, Elliot Smith Gallery St.Louis,Missouri International Art Exposition:Chicago, Deson-Saunders Gallery Chicago, Illinois 1993 Robert Berman Gallery Santa Monica, California the dreamer awakes, Deson-Saunders Gallery Chicago, Illinois west art...

Sir Bear – Graphite 10.0 x 8.0 x 0.25, 5.0 lbs Graphite on paper Hand signed by artist Artist's Commentary: "This 10″ x 8″ graphite sketch is a foundational study for the bronze...

The Bear is an original lithograph on ivory-colored paper, realized by Paul Gervais (1816-1879). The artwork is from The Series of "Les Trois Règnes de la Nature", and was published ...