Douglas Witmer

Crystal Days pop-up show, West Philly Abstraction

admin — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 21:05:35 +0000

Please join me this coming Saturday evening for a pop-up exhibition with California-based artist Timothy Buckwalter. There will be good food and live music happening!

Crystal Days–recent work by Douglas Witmer & Timothy Buckwalter with Michael Macfeat
March 3-31, 2012
Sugar
21 West Willowgrove Ave map–>
Reception Saturday March 3 5-7pm

What’s a “pop-up exhibition?” In this case it’s a show in an historic former garage space that Tim and I were offered with just a few weeks notice. We decided to jump at the chance.

What’s the venue “Sugar?” It’s a new art/design boutique in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia.

What’s my connection to Timothy? Well, we both grew up in Lancaster County, PA, but we didn’t know each other until a few years ago. Since then we did discover that Timothy’s father once worked for my family’s greenhouse business. If you don’t already know Timothy Buckwalter’s work, please head over to his site and check it out.

What is the title “Crystal Days” all about? It’s a terrific Echo and the Bunnymen song from their classic 1984 album “Ocean Rain.”

West Philly Abstraction
March 9-30, 2012
University City Arts League, 4226 Spruce Street, Philadelphia
Reception, Friday, March 9,6-8pm

West Philly Abstraction is a show I’m super excited about…mainly because I organized it. Here’s my press release blurb about it:

West Philadelphia has long been been a favorite neighborhood for the independent and creative set, a hotbed for activists, anarchists, and D.I.Y. rockers alike rubbing shoulders with architects and Ivy League profs. In the midst of it all live some of Philadelphia’s most noted abstract artists. These are artists who bring fresh perspectives to the now-venerable tradition. Not unified by any particular style, West Philly Abstraction presents eight artists–artists whose works have been exhibited internationally and are part of major museum collections–who make West Philly their home.

With: Marina Borker, Robert Goodman, Todd Keyser, Paul King, Alice Oh, Caroline Letham Santa, and Tremain Smith.

Catalogue for “I Found A Reason” available for order

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:37:19 +0000

Essay by Chris Ashley
12 pages with 6 reproductions
The catalog is free ($3 US / $5 Int’l shipping). Order a copy by clicking below.

Exhibition Review, Public Lecture, Museum Acquisition

admin — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 16:40:14 +0000

I Found a Reason
Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Rollins College, Winter Park FL
Exhibition continues through October 9, 2011

From the Orlando Weekly review of the show: The aggregation of tiny variations develops like a meditation; the repeated interaction of color and paper slowly builds a body of knowledge, much as a child learns to write by repeating the same motions over and over…If there is any message imparted by I Found a Reason, it’s the importance of play to contemplation; and vice-versa… Read full review…

PUBLIC LECTURE
I will be a Visiting Scholar at Rollins College September 22 and 23. In addition to presenting a workshop and doing individual critiques with students, I will give a public lecture about my work at the Museum on Thursday September 22 at 6:00pm.

MUSEUM ACQUISITION

How Soon Is Now?, 2008. Black gesso and acrylic on canvas, 44 x 54 inches.

In July, the Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia acquired my 2008 painting “How Soon Is Now?” for their permanent collection. The painting will debut this fall in the exhibition “Flirting With Abstraction” which runs from September 25 through January 8, 2012.

In 2008, the artist Brent Hallard published an interview with me that included a discussion of this painting. The painting was also exhibited in New York in 2008 and in 2010.

I Found A Reason

admin — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 16:19:30 +0000

Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Rollins College, Winter Park FL
July 2 — October 9, 2011
Catalogue (12 pages, 6 reproductions, essay by Chris Ashley) available here.
Review by Jessica Bryce Young on Orlando Weekly here

Fruitville / The School Papers

admin — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 13:23:28 +0000

AxD Gallery, Philadelphia PA
February 25 – April 2, 2011
Review by Dennis D’Alesandro on The Artblog here

Fruitville

admin — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:06:00 +0000

By Chris Ashley
Accompanied the exhibition of the same title. Some Walls, Oakland, CA, June 2010.

Well-known for his paintings, most recently widely-exhibited works with precisely-placed bars of evocative color that float on casual-appearing yet skillfully-intercepted washy black-stained canvas grounds, Douglas Witmer’s Fruitville series might initially appear to be quite a different direction for the artist. The appearance of three dimensional art objects, small and intimate at no more than eight inches in any direction, might seem sudden, but actually Witmer has slowly worked on this series with great consideration for over ten years. These pieces have never been shown with his paintings, and in fact they have never before been publicly shown at all except on the artist’s web site. The Fruitville series are interestingly connected to Witmer’s paintings, and spark additional dialog about his overall ongoing project. More…

Photo by Chris Ashley

Fruitville

admin — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 14:51:39 +0000

Some Walls, Oakland CA, June 19-July 25, 2010
Images and essay here.

Photo by Chris Ashley

Douglas Witmer at Blank Space Gallery, NYC

admin — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 13:11:18 +0000

by P. Timothy Gierschick II
Published at Gierschickwork, March 2010.

A pair of paintings in Ring the Bells Anew arrested my attention quickly upon turning the corner: A Trace of Something I Want to Feel Again and We’ll get Away with It. It was an impulse for which I couldn’t find a reason (not that it was completely necessary to)…until I spoke briefly with Douglas Witmer about them, and found out that they had two related common denominators. They were the same size canvas, and that particular ratio was a new one for Witmer. That said, they fit nicely into my resonation with the show’s title: Witmer is ringing a very old bell, but the tintinnabulum never grows old: in fact, the results feel as fresh as does every toll from a bell tower greeting a new day. The possibilities continue. More…

Ring The Bells Anew

admin — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:16:27 +0000

Blank Space Gallery, Chelsea, New York. March 4-27, 2010
Review by Timothy Gierschick here.

Field + Stream | New Paintings

admin — Sun, 31 May 2009 15:42:21 +0000

The Painting Center, New York, April 28–May 23, 2009