Lydia Dona Art

1982-84 Hunter College, New York (M.F.A.) 1978-80 School of Visual Arts, New York 1973-77 Bezalel Academy of Art, Jerusalem (B.F.A.) American, born in Romania Lives and works in New York City Solo Exhibitions 2008 Michael Steinberg Fine Art, New York 2006 Galeria Joan Prats, Barcelona 2005 Karpio + Facchini Gallery, Miami Jacob Karpio Galeria, San Jose (Costa Rica) 2004 Michael Steinberg Fine Art, New York 2001 Marella Arte Contemporanea, Milan 2000 Von Lintel & Nusser, New York Galerie Von Lintel & Nusser, Munich 1998 Galerie Thomas von Lintel, Munich 1997 Galerie des Archives, Paris 1995 Galerie Samuel Lallouz, Montreal L.A. Louver, Los Angeles 1994 Marc Jancou Gallery, London Galerie des Archives, Paris 1993 Galerie Barbara Farber, Amsterdam Real Art Ways, Hartford (Connecticut) 1992 Tom Cugliani Gallery, New York Galerie Marc Jancou, Zurich Galerie des Archives, Paris 1989 Tom Cugliani Gallery, New York Galerie Barbara Farber, Amsterdam Studied at bezalel from 1973 to 1977. And it was a very fascinating time because it was a highly conceptually based school. Very much influenced by Joseph Beuys, and European Conceptualism, I didn’t really like the atmosphere there that much, because it was dominated by male painters like Jörg Immendorf, Marcus Lupertz, and a few others. then came to New York to study at SVA for two years. New York in 1978 was exciting. I was very lucky to be in a class that was full of very bubbly and very energetic artists like Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf, Tim Rollins, Moira Dryer, Frank Holliday, and Tom Cugliani (who later became one of my dealers).The eighties were dominated largely by Neo-Expressionist paintings. There were Germans, such as Baselitz, Kiefer, Richter, Penck, and the Italians, Clemente, Chia, Cucchi, Palladino as well as Schnabel, Fischl, Basquiat, Salle, and many others, but all of their paintings were figuratively based. But below the popular consent, there was a group of painters who were working more in the vein of what Stephen Westfall referred to as “Neo-Surrealism,” including George Condo, Jeffrey Wasserman, Kenneth Scharf, David Humphrey. However, I felt that Carroll Dunham and you were the only two painters who seemed to be less interested in the kind of narrative, lyrical, or let’s say, stationary composition. He belongs to the generation of Terry Winters, Elizabeth Murray, David Reed and Jonathan Lasker but in some strange way, if we’re looking back to the mid-eighties, we have to include New Image painters like Susan Rothenberg, Neil Jenney, and Robert Moskowitz who were working in between the figure and abstraction with a kind of condensation and compression, in relationship, lets say, to cartoon imagery. There are artists like Jeff Koons, or even Damien Hirst who took the Duchampian aspect and brought it into the continuity of his readymade. But for me, I see no difference between the crack in “Large Glass” and the drips in Jackson Pollock’s paintings. There was something that I felt in my own equation of the continuity between Paul Klee, Duchamp, Picabia, and, oddly enough, Clyfford Still. What essentially is important is how different artists carry on a dialogue among themselves so that they can all keep their work vital. Whether from the abstract paintings of Richmond Burton, Fabian Marcaccio extending the borders of his paintings on to the wall, or Cady Noland’s early scattered installation, my own pre-occupation with machinery, urban environment, and the Duchampian models has always materialized in relationship to other forms of art making. Selected Group Exhibitions: 2014 Drawing on Difference: An Ambition by Saul Ostrow and Lidija Slavkovic, Studio Vendome Gallery, New York. 2013 Drawing on Habit: An Ambition by Saul Ostrow and Lidija Slavkovic, South Carlton Beach and The Betsy-South Beach Exhibition Programs, Art Basel, Miami Beach. 2013 Imprinted Pictures: Lydia Dona...