David Dornan: Relics

Dav id D orna n Relics

Meyer Gallery

Relics

June 10 - June 2 3, 202 2

Meyer Gallery

225 Canyon Road Santa Fe, NM 87501 505.983.1434 800.779.7387 www.meyergalleries.com

Santa Fe, NM (March 28, 2022): For his 2022 solo exhibition at Meyer Gallery, Utah artist David Dornan presents a new body of work titled Relics, featuring paintings and sculptures inspired by the artist’s process and his connection to objects from the past. Dornan’s subject matter aligns closely with the definition of a relic, which is “an object surviving from an earlier time, especially one of historic or sentimental interest.” In Dornan’s paintings, Relics take shape as Tabasco bottles, Campbell’s Soup cans and other nostalgic items, while his paint tube sculptures act as physical relics from the artist’s studio.

Relics opens on Friday, June 10th with an opening reception from 5-7pm. Artwork is also available to view online at meyergalleries.com.

“For me, a relic is a utilitarian thing that has many different lives,” says Dornan, who collects simple items like coffee cups, old cans and jars that fill his studio and eventually make their way into his compositions. Splattered with paint, they are depicted as repurposed tools for the hasty, economical artist.

New imagery in Dornan’s latest work includes vintage Hills Brothers Coffee cans as well as old Santa Fe canned food labels. Dornan is interested in painting objects that have intriguing shapes and visuals but even more importantly, that contain layered meanings and stories familiar to viewers. “My paintings are as much about the object as they are about the history of the object,” he says. “I’m bringing them back in the form of a relic.”

For this show, Dornan also presents a collection of paint tube sculptures made of steel and splattered with oil paint. These larger-than-life paint tubes symbolize physical relics from the artist’s process, squeezed and oozing with paint as if they are about to be discarded. Dornan meticulously paints a label on the surface of each tube inspired by real or imagined color names that he finds absurd or humorous, such as “Bazooka Joe,” “Spinach Verde,” or “Cadmium Red Hot.” He then splatters each tube, giving it a realistic feel as if it came directly from the studio.

No matter the medium, the common theme in Dornan’s work is the painting process, which appears to be haphazard and chaotic but in reality, has a honed and calculated approach. Dornan has been working as a professional artist for over 30 years. His work has been widely collected for private and public collections across the country; most recently, his work was acquired by the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, Georgia, the Zions Bank art collection and the Utah Governor’s Collection. He also received a statewide honor as the visual artist recipient of the Governor’s Mansion Award in Utah.

Dornan currently lives and works in the artistic community of Helper, Utah.

Echo

oil

45 x 52

Elevations

oil

40 x 45

Elevations II

oil

32 x 36

Studio Relics

oil

45 x 40

Camouflage

oil

36 x 32

Constituents

oil

40 x 45

Relics II

oil

26 x 24

Tower I

oil

32 x 26

Tower II

oil

32 x 26

Tower III

o il

32 x 26

Corona I

oil

22 x 17

Corona II

o il

22 x 17

Corona III

oil

22 x 17

Reli

SCULP

ics

TURES

Bazooka Joe

mixed media

17x6x8

Cadm ium Red Hot

mixed media

17x6x8

Cottage Cheese

mixed media

17x6x8

Factory Red

mixed media

17x6x8

Spina ch Verde

mixed media

17x6x8

D av i d D o r n a n Relics Price list

Echo

oil

45 x 52

$17,600

Elevations

oil

40 x 45

$13,800

Elevations II

oil

32 x 36

$7,800

Studio Relics

oil

45 x 40

$13,800

Camouflage

oil

36 x 32

$7,800

Contituents

oil

40 x 45

$13,800

Relics II

oil

26 x 24

$4,500

Tower I

oil

32 x 26

$5,800

Tower II

oil

32 x 26

$5,800

Tower III

oil

32 x 26

$5,800

Corona I

oil

22 x 17

$2,200

Corona II

oil

22 x 17

$2,200

Corona III

oil

22 x 17

$2,200

D av i d D o r n a n Relics Sculptures Price list

Bazooka Joe

17 x 6 x 8

$1,200

Cadmium Red Hot

17 x 6 x 8

$1,200

Cottage Cheese

17 x 6 x 8

$1,200

Factory Red

17 x 6 x 8

$1,200

Spinach Verda

17 x 6 x 8

$1,200

Meyer Gallery

225 Canyon Road Santa Fe, NM 87501 505.983.1434 800.779.7387 www.meyergalleries.com