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...