{"id":22315,"date":"2013-12-19T19:55:35","date_gmt":"2013-12-20T00:55:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artoronto.ca\/?p=22315"},"modified":"2014-02-18T21:16:09","modified_gmt":"2014-02-19T02:16:09","slug":"kim-dorland-and-the-return-to-painting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/?p=22315","title":{"rendered":"Kim Dorland and the return to painting"},"content":{"rendered":"

You are here<\/em>: Kim Dorland and the return to painting<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Kim Dorland, French River, <\/span><\/em><\/span><\/em>2013, oil and acrylic on jute over panel, each panel: 243.8 x 182.9 cm. Courtesy of the artist<\/span><\/p>\n

Rachel Weiner, who kindly guided me through the exhibition on a rainy Sunday afternoon, told me that the idea of showing Kim Dorland\u2019s paintings among the Group of Seven\u2019s came from chief curator Katerina Atanassova who initially approached Kim Dorland to exhibit at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection and offered him a residency.Dorland spent some time during his residency at the McMichael and at the memorial to the late Group of Seven painter, Tom Thompson, at Canoe Lake.\u00a0\u00a0It was a lucky thing that he paints quickly and was able to produce a rather large body of work.\u00a0\u00a0One of my favourite is Lost mother 2. <\/em>I like the way the snow\u00a0is three dimensionally painted and how the spray paint makes the homes and yards look like they\u00a0are glowing with warmth amid the cold snowy scene.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Kim Dorland, Lost mother, 2<\/em>, 2012-13, oil and acrylic on jute, 180 x 240 cm. Courtesy of the artist.<\/p>\n

Dorland is not an outdoorsman. You can tell from his landscape paintings that he is uncomfortable in the woods. He is pictured in a self-portrait as wearing running shoes rather than hiking boots which is indicative of a city boy rather than a Plein Air painter who is comfortable in the Canadian forest. There is a horror movie look to some of the paintings as if Dorland is afraid to be there, in an unfriendly landscape surrounded by menacing black trees. Maybe his fear of his surrounding explains why his body radiates an unnatural energy of neon colours. Perhaps the running shoes afford the quick escape he is longing for.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Kim Dorland, You Are Here, <\/span><\/em><\/span><\/em>2013, oil and acrylic on jute over wood panel, 50.8 x 40.6 cm. Courtesy of the artist<\/span><\/p>\n

The show contains two of the walls of Kim Dorland\u2019s studio complete with photos and sketches which were some of his inspiration and references for his paintings. A screen embedded in the wall shows a video shot out of a car window taken during a family road trip – mostly of forest.<\/p>\n

There are several images of what was purported in the media to be Tom Thomson\u2019s skull. He had been a lauded natural painting genius and outdoorsman who spent a lot of time canoeing and being a guide in Algonquin Park. After Thomson died on July 8, 1917, his body was found in Canoe Lake with damage to his skull. Rumors abounded at the time that he may have had an untimely death at the hand of a jealous husband or boyfriend as he was a known womanizer. Dorland\u2019s portrait of Tom Thomson shows the late artist in profile. Rolls of paint cover his whole face, put on the surface straight from the tube, scrawling like maggots. The eye socket is a dark hole giving us the feeling that Dorland started with the skull and covered it with paint. The structure created in this way is very disturbing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Kim Dorland, Portrait of Tom Thomson, <\/em>2013, oil and acrylic on wood panel, 50 x\u00a040 cm\u00a0inches. Courtesy of the artist.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some other portraits too have 3D paint sticking out in a sculptural fashion having almost a blood and guts appearance. People tend to either love it or hate it. Dorland builds up the paint until it feels like the model\u2019s personal energy and considers them loving portraits of people, such as the one of his wife, Laurie. He wants to make it clear that these are paintings, not photographs, and purposely makes you notice the paint.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Kim Dorland, Untitled (Painter in a Canoe), <\/span><\/em><\/span><\/em>2013, oil and acrylic on jute over wood panel, 182.9 x 243.8 cm. The Bailey Collection.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is as much of an adventure for Kim Dorland to go to the woods to paint as it was for some members of the Group of Seven, except for Tom Thompson, who was more at home there. Dorland\u2019s work is homage to the Group of Seven, but he doesn\u2019t consider\u00a0it as a\u00a0continuation of their work. He wants it to be known that landscape painting can be part of contemporary art.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Tom Thomson (1877\u20131917), Woodland Waterfall, <\/span><\/em><\/span><\/em>1916\u20131917, oil on canvas, 121.9 x 132.5 cm. Purchase 1977 with Funds Donated by The W. Garfield Weston Foundation. McMichael Canadian Art Collection 1977.48<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Kim Dorland, Woodland Waterfall (after Tom Thomson), <\/span><\/em><\/span><\/em>2013, oil, acrylic and spray paint on canvas over panel, 182.9 x 243.8 cm. Courtesy of the artist<\/span><\/p>\n

During his residency\u00a0Dorland had access to the Group\u2019s work for inspiration and could pick along with curator Katerina Atanassova any artworks that would be shown alongside his in the exhibition. The piece he chose to copy in his own style was Waterfall by Tom Thomson. The original painting is very soft and muted and of course Dorland\u2019s is very vibrantly colored \u201crock and roll\u201d style with a fearful, aggressive look and has spray painted elements. The original was classically painted with Golden Section design, so he has made a very unusual choice to paint in a modern style but as he said, he was interested in how people would respond to it.<\/p>\n

Margaret Irving<\/p>\n

*Exhibition dates: October 26, 2013 \u2013 January 5, 2014, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 10365 Islington Avenue, Kleinburg, Ontario. Gallery hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10 \u2013 4 p.m. Open all holiday Mondays, closed December 25.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Margaret Irving<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is a horror movie look to some of the paintings as if Dorland is afraid to be there, in an unfriendly landscape surrounded by menacing black trees. <\/p>\n

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