Bruce Dorfman Bio
Affirmation, an exhibition of new
works by Bruce Dorfman -- arresting abstract assemblages in combined
media fusing painting and sculpture that resist predictable spatial
boundary, will open at the June Kelly Gallery, 166 Mercer Street, on
Thursday, June 16. The exhibition will remain on view through
July 29.
Dorfman with an impressive exhibition history
exceeding more than five decades has an abstract language of his own
that underlines his dual focus in creating a strong art experience
through geometric structure and through intriguingly sensuous
luminosity.
Dorfman’s innovative and provocative
abstractions often reflect his defiance of probable surface order by
his scrambling into rational space layers of additional visual
planes. There’s a certain physicality and redefinition of
space in his constructions with the adhering of mundane, discarded
and perhaps disparate objects, there is also emphasis, says Phyllis
Braff, former art critic for the New York Times and historian, on
risk, for Dorfman still seeks ways to examine and extend every
potential for an even stronger art experience.
Dorfman writes, “The act of artistic creation
is a wholehearted affirmation of life. I make I make no
separation between the many meanings of my art and whatever the many
meanings of my life may be. Whatever goes on in my paintings
is simply an extension of whatever else I do, think, feel and
believe, from day to day and year to year. The way my art
looks, and the feelings my art reflects, is not the result of a
self-conscious decision, but the result of a deeply felt need, and a
use of formal means, as necessary to the work. Both the need
and the formal means are rooted in an extreme intensity of
experience and choice.
I am very much driven by a lasting, abstract
notion and ideal of beauty. I try to get some of this into my
work through an ongoing process of strengthening and clarification.
In all my art, I seek strength of statement through refinement,
elaboration and simplicity of form. All of this is somehow
driven by a need to see a kind of beauty that is not already there.
If it were already there, I would not need to create it.
“My art is never 'about a subject,’ continues
Dorfman, nor does it deal exclusively with some consideration or
preoccupation about technique or form. Each work is a
summation and consolidation of innermost feelings and outlook.
I do not seek to associate or identify with any particular approach,
genre, agenda or 'school' of art. Emphases, risks and approach
evolve through time, from one work to another. It seems to me
that each and every work is inevitably new, with its own problems
and joys. The problems are always in abundance, but the joys
remain.” |
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Born New York City
Lives and works in New York City |
Education |
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1958 |
B.A., University of
Iowa, Iowa City, IA with Mauricio Lasansky, Stuart Edie and Historian
Roy Seibere |
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1951-52 |
The Art Students
League of New York; with Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Arnold Blanch,
Charles H. Alston |
Solo Exhibitions |
|
2022 |
Affirmations: New Works in Combined
Media, June Kelly Gallery, New York |
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2018-19 |
Inclusive Moments-Selected Works, 1952-2015, Gallery of the
American Fine Arts Society, The
Art Students League of New York |
|
2018 |
Currents: Paintings in Combined Media,
2016-2018, June Kelly Gallery, New York; catalogue |
|
2016 |
BRUCE DORFMAN: PRESENT PAST PRESENT,
Paintings, Drawings, and Combined
Media, DiMattio Gallery of Rechnitz
Hall, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ;
retrospective, catalogue |
|
2015 |
Bruce Dorfman: Recent Work, June Kelly Gallery,
New York |
|
2013 |
The Italian
Kimono: Selected Works 2002-2013, Elizabeth V. Sullivan Gallery, The
Art Students
League of New York, Vytlacil Campus,
Sparkhill, NY |
|
2011 |
Bruce Dorfman:
Recent Work in Combined Media, Zane Bennett Gallery, Santa Fe, NM; brochure |
|
2010 |
Mixed Media in
Small Scale, Broadhurst Gallery, Pinehurst, NC
Windsock, Kouros Gallery, New York; brochure |
|
2008 |
Propeller:
Paintings in Combined Media, Kouros Gallery, New York; catalog |
|
2005 |
Aria, Kouros
Gallery, New York
Bruce Dorfman and the League, Kouros Gallery, New York |
|
2004 |
From Here to There,
Galerie Dionisi, West Hollywood, CA
Points, Roseline Koener Gallery, Westhampton Beach, NY |
|
2003 |
Piero’s Bell Tower, Kouros Gallery, New York; brochure |
|
2001 |
To Piero,
Roseline Koener Gallery, Westhampton Beach, NY
From Italy, The Reece Galleries, New York |
|
2000 |
Exodus, Skirball Museum, Los
Angeles, CA |
|
1999 |
Bruce Dorfman:
Assemblage-Paintings, Roseline Koener Gallery, Westhampton Beach,
NY;
catalog
Recent Work, The Reece Galleries, New York
Painting, Collage, Assemblage, J. J. Brookings Gallery, San
Francisco, CA |
|
1998 |
Bruce Dorfman,
Krisal Galerie, Geneva, Switzerland |
|
1996 |
Walter Wickiser Gallery, New
York |
|
1995 |
Stone Chime,
Korean Cultural Service, Gallery Korea, New York
Bronze Bell, The Bergen Museum of Art & Science, Teaneck, NJ |
|
1994 |
Recent Work, Hal Katzen Gallery,
New York
Recent Collages, Addison/Ripley Gallery, Washington, DC |
|
1993 |
Bruce Dorfman, Art Center of
Northern New Jersey, New Milford, NJ |
|
1992 |
Bruce Dorfman, New School for Social
Research, New York |
|
1990 |
Paintings and
Collages, 1989-1990, Susan Schreiber
Gallery, New York
Addison/Ripley Gallery, Washington, DC |
|
1988 |
Nightsongs and
Placefields, Arras Gallery, New
York |
|
1986 |
Placefields, Arras Gallery, New
York |
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1982 |
Recent Work,
Arras Gallery, New York |
|
1981 |
The Plumfields
Paintings, New School for Social Research, New York |
|
1978 |
Hillsides, Nobe Gallery, New
York |
|
1977 |
Bruce Dorfman, Barret House Gallery,
Poughkeepsie, NY |
|
1976 |
Recent Work, Nassau Community
College, Firehouse Gallery, Garden City, NY |
|
1975 |
Bruce Dorfman, Images Gallery,
Toledo, Ohio |
|
1972 |
Women, Kennedy Galleries,
New York |
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1971 |
Gallery Jose Alegria,
San Juan, Puerto Rico |
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1969 |
K Gallery, Woodstock, NY |
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1967 |
Female Images,
Krasner Gallery, New York
Marist College, Poughkeepsie, NY |
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1966 |
Polari Gallery,
Woodstock, NY
Roberts Gallery, Fort Lauderdale, FL |
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1964 |
Rudolph Galleries,
Woodstock, NY and Coral Gables, FL |
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1962 |
Bruce Dorfman,
The Norton Museum, West Palm Beach, FL
Roger Price Gallery, New York |
|
1960 |
Two Explorers
Gallery, New York |
|
1955 |
University of Iowa,
Iowa City, IA |
Selected Group Exhibitions |
|
2018 |
The Masters: Art Students League
Teachers and Their Students, Hirschl Adler Gallery, New
York;
511 Projects in Chelsea, New York;
Phyllis Harriman Mason Gallery, The Art Students
League of New York
Artistic Vanguard: The 1960s and the Art Students League
coinciding with Carnegie Hall’s
Music Festival The 60s: The Years
that Changed America, Phyllis Harriman Mason Gallery,
The Art Students League of New York |
|
2017 |
Celebrating 30 Years, Gallery Artists:
Drawings and Photographs, June Kelly Gallery, New York |
|
2016 |
Ways and Means: A New Look at Process
and Materials in Art, curated by Jason Andrew of
Norte Maar, 1285 Avenue of the Americas Art Gallery, New York
Art New York, NYC; Elizabeth Clement Fine Art, Boston, MA
Art Miami/Wynwood, Miami, FL - Elizabeth Clement Fine Art,
Boston, MA |
|
2015 |
Escola International de Arte Loule:
1993-1998, Museum of Art and Cloisters, Loule, Portugal
Eye on UI: Bruce Dorfman, Stan Brodsky, Robert Kipness, Ellen Lanyon,
in conjunction with the
University of Iowa Museum of Art, The Figge Museum, Davenport, IA |
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2014 |
Making/Breaking
Traditions: Teachers of Ai Weiwei: Bruce Dorfman, Richard Pousette-Dart,
Knox
Martin, (with lineage mentors:
Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Vaclav Vytlacil and Will Barnett); Phyllis
Harriman Mason Gallery, The Art
Students League of New York |
|
2012 |
17 - Annual Selected
Group, Zane Bennett Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Annual Selected Group, Zane Bennett Gallery Santa Fe, NM |
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2011 |
Seeing Blue,
University of Kentucky Museum of Art, Lexington
Color Speaks, Heather James Gallery, Jackson, WY
Color Speaks, Heather James Gallery, Palm Desert, CA. |
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2008 |
Summer Color,
R. H. Ballard Gallery, Washington, VA |
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2007 |
Object of One’s
Collection, organized by Broadhurst Gallery, Pinehurst, NC,
Fayetteville
Museum of Art, NC |
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2006-08 |
Highlights From
the Permanent Collection, The Art Students League of New York;
traveling exhibition |
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2006 |
Works on Paper,
Kouros Gallery, New York |
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2004 |
Small Works II:
Love, Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, New York, New York |
|
2003 |
Process,
Harvey Dinnerstein, Bruce Dorfman, Lorrie Goulet, organized and curated
by
Pamela N. Koob, The Art Students League of New York; catalogue |
|
2002 |
Looking Forward,
Kouros Gallery, New York
Small Works, Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, New York
Roseline Koener Gallery, Westhampton Beach, NY |
|
2001 |
The Reece Galleries,
New York |
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2000 |
Woodstock School of
Art, Woodstock, NY
Intermission III, The Reece Galleries, New York
Skirball Museum, Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA
Terrain, Roseline Koener Gallery, Westhampton Beach, NY |
|
1999-00 |
Intermission II,
The Reece Galleries, New York |
|
1999 |
Artists/Mentors,
Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York
5, Bruce Dorfman, Judith Dolnick, Robert Natkin, Joel Perlman,
Larry Poons, curated and
organized by Jason, Andrew, Axis Gallery, NY; catalogue |
Selected Public and Corporate Collections |
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Albright-Knox Art Gallery,
Buffalo, NY
Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH
Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, PA
McNay Museum, San Antonio, TX
Museum of Art, University of Kentucky, Lexington
Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
The Bergen Museum of Art and Science, Paramus, NJ
The Everson Museum, Syracuse, NY
Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
The Skirball Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Art and Cloisters, Loulé, Portugal
Rice University, Sewall Gallery, Houston, TX
University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
Marist College, Poughkeepsie, NY
Rockefeller Foundation, New York
Woodstock Artists Association Museum, Woodstock, NY
The Art Students League of New York
The New School for Social Research, New York
Museum of Art and Cloisters, Loulé, Portugal
Collection Mourlot, Paris, France
Atlantic Richfield Corporation, Los Angeles, CA
Baer Bank, Geneva, Switzerland
Commerce Trust Company Foundation, Kansas City, MO
The Cook Company Foundation, Chicago, IL
Dart-Kraft Corporation, Chicago, IL
Searle Corporation, Chicago, IL
The Faber-Castell Corporation, Lakewood, NJ
American Embassy, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Government of Israel, Tel Aviv, Israel
Government of Monaco, Permanent Mission to the United Nations, New York |
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