Douglas Witmer

Fruitville at Some Walls, Oakland CA

I’m very pleased to announce the opening of “Fruitville,” at Chris Ashley’s project Some Walls in Oakland, CA. This is a project that has been a long time in the making, and presents a virtually unknown body of work from the past 10 years. The exhibition is fully documented online and includes an excellent essay by Chris Ashley. Some Walls is also open by appointment if you are in California. In addition to the exhibition, I have updated the gallery of Fruitville works on my website with a dozen images. Press release follows:

Some Walls presents Philadelphia-based artist Douglas Witmer’s exhibition Fruitville from June 20 – July 25, 2010 . Douglas Witmer is well known for his paintings which intuitively combine simple geometric imagery, emphatic color, and subtle manipulation of surface physicality. In addition to this widely-shown and growing body of work, for the past several years Witmer has worked on a series small three dimensional pieces using found wood as a support called Fruitville. This exhbition is the first time the Fruitville works have been shown publicly. Witmer has said about this series:

The Fruitville Pike is a road where I grew up in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It’s a major thoroughfare, but it doesn’t go to, from, or through anywhere called Fruitville. My efforts to find Fruitville, if there ever was such a place at all, have been inconclusive.

So Fruitville exists in my imagination as a kind of Eden; a place of purity, clarity, and quiet delight. It manifests itself in an ongoing visual process of experimentation with wood, paint, glue, paper, ink, light, and shadows. The things that make up my Fruitville exist to be in relationship to the places where they can be seen, and also in relationship with each other.

The sensitive, direct, and quirky color, spatial, and textural qualities that appear in Witmer’s paintings and works on paper are also found in the Fruitville series, continuing his approach to making art that is lush, playful, and deceptively simple, yet rigorous, iconic, and commanding. Ten additional Fruitvilles works and five paintings- four on canvas, one on paper- are also available for viewing.

Some Walls is a curatorial and writing art project in a private home in Oakland, California. Some Walls is open by appointment only. To view the exhibition online please visit somewalls.com. To schedule a visit, or for more information, please contact Chris Ashley at info@somewalls.com.

First Light available as a free download

I make music under the name The Consolidated Hand Mouth & Ear Institute. My album of solo ambient guitar pieces is now available as a free download at bandcamp.com. Originally released at the end of 2007, it’s my gift to you. Enjoy!

Bridgette Mayer Gallery’s “Ready, Willing, and Able” benefit exhibition continues through July 2, 2010. Ready, Willing, and Able Philadelphia is an organization with a mission of ending homelessness, substance abuse and criminal recidivism by providing transitional work, supportive services and clean, safe housing to homeless and formerly incarcerated individuals in Philadelphia. This is the second year Bridgette invited me to participate, and the second time she has sold my piece before the opening. She invited me to make more work for the show, which I gladly did. So here’s a chance at two brand new works and the opportunity to support a great cause. The works I have created for these benefit exhibitions are quite unique in relation to my larger body of work. I do work in small formats, but these are quite a bit smaller than what I typically make. Also, except for the works for these benefit shows, I have not made square paintings in more than a decade. In fact as you see below, my first piece in this year’s show was actually two joined squares.

It Is Happening Again, black gesso and acrylic on canvas, two joined panels, 10 x 20 inches overall. SOLD.

What If We Give It Away?, black gesso and acrylic on canvas, 10 inches square. Now available.

Rise, black gesso and acrylic on canvas, 10 inches square. Now available.

Full press release here.
View all the work in the show here.

Hello friends. I hope this note finds you well. Here are some notes from the studio. Have a great summer!

Ring The Bells Anew
Blank Space Gallery, New York

Thanks to all of you who saw my show at Blank Space Gallery in New York back in March. The exhibition is over, but my friend Tim Gierschick wrote a very thoughtful review, which you can read here.

Fruitville
Some Walls, Oakland CA

Over in Oakland, at his exhibition project Some Walls, Chris Ashley is about to exhibit and publish an essay about my little-known group of painted and drawn-upon objects called Fruitville. I have made these for over 10 years in fits and starts. The group numbers nearly 50 pieces at this point. If you know Chris Ashley’s art and writing, then you know he takes a uniquely sensitive and intelligent approach to viewing art. More info coming soon about this very exciting project.

Ready Willing & Able Benefit Show
Bridgette Mayer Gallery, Philadelphia
Opening Reception
First Friday, June 4, 6 – 8:30 pm
Exhibition runs through July 2

I was honored to again be invited by gallerist Bridgette Mayer to contribute a work to her annual benefit exhibition. It opens THIS FRIDAY NIGHT!

My piece, shown above, is brand new and titled “It Is Happening Again.”

This year Bridgette is partnering with Ready, Willing, and Able Philadelphia to help promote their mission of ending homelessness, substance abuse and criminal recidivism by providing transitional work, supportive services and clean, safe housing to homeless and formerly incarcerated individuals in Philadelphia.
Full press release here.
Preview all the work here.

Other Notes

One of my School Papers pieces is included in the Invitational Small Works Annual at the New Arts Program, Kutztown PA.
Through July 10
173 W. Main, Kutztown

Escape from New York, organized by Minus Space in Brooklyn, in which I am included, just ended at Massey University in Wellington, New Zealand. It was the third stop on a multi-venue tour throughout Australia and New Zealand.

Coming up this December, I am scheduled to be included in a group exhibition highlighting contemporary American abstraction at The Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art. More details forthcoming.

Douglas Witmer | Ring The Bells Anew
March 4-27, 2010
Reception, Thursday March 4, 6-8pm

Blank Space Gallery
511 West 25th Street, Suite 204
New York, New York, 10001
blankspaceart.com

Press Release
Blank Space Gallery is pleased to present Ring The Bells Anew, an exhibition of recent paintings by Douglas Witmer. This is the artist’s third solo show in New York, and his first with the gallery.

Over the past decade, Witmer has gained increasing attention for his uniquely distilled sensibility related to his paintings’ surface and color. His recent canvases feature one or two rectangles of solid color on top of and interacting with varied gray washes that cascade down the painting’s surface. Though reductive in their attitude and appearance, the resulting works are anything but “minimal.”

Contrary to first impressions, Witmer’s compositions are not planned or diagrammed. For the artist, painting is a process of inquiry; each piece is an individual result of decisions made intuitively and directly.

The critic and art historian Vittorio Colaizzi has written, “Witmer paints the inheritance of modernist abstraction, and perhaps, metaphorically, the more ecumenical spirituality of today, in the openness of his compositions, their perpetual almost-ness, and their refusal of closure or perfection.”

About the title for this exhibition the artist states, “I am trying to underscore the idea that my paintings embody new acts of declaration using long-existing means. Taken further, it communicates a hope in the continued relevance of abstract painting.”

Douglas Witmer holds a B.A. from Goshen College and an M.F.A. from The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In New York his work has recently appeared at P.S.1/MoMA in the group exhibition “Minus Space,” as well as The Painting Center and M55 Art in Long Island City. Other recent venues include: Pharmaka in Los Angeles, Gallery Siano in Philadelphia, The University of Maryland, The University of Dayton in Ohio, Sydney Non-Objective in Australia, and Bus-Dori Project Space in Tokyo, Japan. He lives and works in Philadelphia.

Greetings from snowy West Philadelphia!

Thank you for following and supporting my work this past year. Happy Holidays!

I wish you and your loved ones peace and fulfillment in 2010.

Sincerely,
Douglas Witmer

441 S 43rd Street
Philadelphia PA 19104 USA
tel 215.498.5754

douglaswitmer.com

Here’s an opportunity to purchase some very affordable original art, either for yourself or for a holiday gift.

But first, let me say thanks to the many folks who gave such enthusiastic response and feedback to my semi-daily “SKTCHBK“ postings this past October. Opening that book to the public was a personally challenging experiment and it ended up being energizing and worthwhile. It lead me to open up my flatfiles and sift through the visual activity of the past several years. What I found…what I always find…are interesting and compelling things that are rarely seen by anyone else.

When I draw or work on paper the process is uniquely its own. And it doesn’t necessarily yield images that fit neatly with the paintings I’ve been steadily exhibiting over the years. Nevertheless, it has become the way of working that is incredibly dear to me. It seems a shame not to share this process in some way.

Here’s what I have decided to do this December:
–Each day a drawing or work on paper (or small group of works in series) will be posted on my site. The imagery, media, and dates could be all over the map. Generally if you see something in a certain direction, you can assume there are more pieces similar to it.
–Individual pieces will be available for purchase for $30 which will include prompt trackable Priority Mail shipping in the US. (If you buy several pieces to have shipped together, I will discount each piece by $5. I will quote shipping for international purchases on a per-item basis, but generally count on $5-10 additional).
–Upon request I will archivally mount and mat the piece with a white mat to the nearest appropriate standard frame size for the piece. This will add $20 to the cost (yes, that’s a steal for custom archival matting).
–The transactions can be handled securely through PayPal, so you can use a credit card, etc.

Fun and affordable, right?

Happy Holidays all!

Holiday Greetings, all!
I’d like to invite you to join me next week in Chelsea, New York for the opening of a group show. Also, here are some other current, recent, and upcoming exhibitions and projects.

Preview 2010

Blank Space | New York NY
December 10 – January 9, 2009
Opening reception : Thursday, Dec 10th, 6-8 pm
511 W 25th St, Suite 204 NYC
Tel 212-924-2025

A Drawing A Day from My Flatfile

Each day in December, I’m posting selected drawings and works on paper and making them available for purchase at very affordable prices. Full information here.

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Current Exhibitions

(photomontage) Joseph’s Coat, 2009. Installation at Plymouth Congregational Church, Minneapolis, MN. Click Here to enlarge image.

Joseph’s Coat
Through January 6, 2010
Howard Conn Fine Art Center, Plymouth Congregational Church
1900 Nicollet Ave | Minneapolis, MN
plymouth.org
Exhibition views here.

Faraway, So Close curated by Scott Grow and Jeffrey Cortland Jones
Takt Kunstprojektraum | Berlin, Germany
November 29 – December 29

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Recent Projects

Touch Faith curated by Jeffrey Cortland Jones
November 7-28
Semantics Gallery
1107 Harrison Ave | Cincinnati, OH
(No website)

SKTCHBK
Each day this past October, I published the contents of a recent sketchbook on my weblog. See the entire sketchbook here.

Highly Affordable Print edition
My digital print Sun Dog, published this summer, is still available through 246 Editions.
This is a special project. This is not a reproduction of a physical work, but rather a print made from a unique image I created digitally.
Give art for the holidays! The edition is available in two sizes and they’re very affordable. An edition of 100 at 8×10 is only $20. The edition of 50 at 11×14 is $50.

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Upcoming Exhibitions

Solo Exhibition (as yet untitled)
Blank Space | New York NY
April 2010

Fruitville
Somewalls | Oakland CA
Late Spring 2010 Dates TBA

My Joseph’s Coat panels, and a selection of recent work will be on view at Plymouth Congregational Church, Minneapolis, MN.
November 8, 2009–January 6, 2010
Reception Sunday, November 8, 11:30am–1:00pm

Plymouth Congregational Church
1900 Nicollet Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55403
612-871-7400
www.plymouth.org

Hello friends–
There’s a lot of news for the summer! Check it out!

Print Edition Released

My friend Matthew Langley down in D.C. recently started a new project called 246 Editions. He’s producing highly affordable print editions, and my edition has just been released.

For my print, titled Sun Dog, I used the occasion to try a new approach. I constructed the image digitally with scanned brushstrokes and utilized Photoshop’s layering functionality in a similar fashion to the way I layer actual paint. This image is exists only for this special edition.

The limited-edition archival pigment print comes in two sizes and price points:
$20–8×10
$50–11X14
(plus shipping and handling)
Affordable…right?
Order through 246 Editions here.

New work still on view in Philadelphia

A very new painting, called Snap & Crackle, is still on view through July at Bridgette Mayer Gallery here in Philadelphia. Bridgette invited me to be part of a group exhibition to benefit the organization Back on My Feet, which helps people transition out of homelessness. I’m happy to tell you my piece was sold before the opening, and glad to be able to participate and contribute to this cause. There’s a lot of great work in this show. Read more about the exhibition here.

Drawing Published

In 2006, Chris Ashley and I produced hundreds of collaborative drawings, culminating in the exhibition “Across the Borderline“ at the University of Dayton in early 2007. One of our collaborative works, from the series Tethered and Untethered Stars, has recently been published in Hawk & Handsaw–The Journal of Creative Sustainability, published by Unity College in Maine. More info here.

Album Art

My good friend, ex-pat, and consummate guitarist Daryl Shawn, has just released two very different albums of instrumental music. I designed the album art for each. Body of a Poet features Daryl solo nylon string guitar, the art and design comes from my personal photographs. Repetitive Miniatures is a completely unique concept for an album. Rather than listening sequentially, Daryl intends for each track to be put on repeat and listened to for as long or as short as you desire. The album art features small drawings I made in the late 1990s hanging in various spots in my studio.

Daryl is currently on tour across the US. More info here.

No Rest for the Weary

This fall my work hits the road again…this time it heads west to Ohio and Minnesota.
Stay tuned for details about upcoming projects in Cincinnati and Minneapolis.

Have a great summer!

Snap & Crackle, 2009. Black gesso and acrylic on canvas over panel. 10 inches square

I’ve been invited to participate in an upcoming benefit exhibition at Bridgette Mayer Gallery here in Philadelphia. The list of participating artists is pretty impressive. My contribution is the above piece, titled “Snap & Crackle.” The press release from Bridgette Mayer follows below:

BRIDGETTE MAYER GALLERY CELEBRATES EIGHT YEARS IN PHILADELPHIA WITH BENEFIT EXHIBITION SUPPORTING NON-PROFIT, BACK ON MY FEET

Please contact the Bridgette Mayer Gallery for additional information. Contact: Sophie Peezick 215-413-8893

List of Participating Artists:
Elyce Abrams, Stefan Abrams, Margery Amdur, Neil Anderson, Radcliffe Bailey, Wylie Belasik, Arden Bendler Browning, Allen Bentley, Susie Brandt, Mark Brosseau, Jenny Brown, Charles Burwell, Steve Bye, Debra Caiola, Brad Carney, Patty Castner, Keith Crowley, Kate Davis Caldwell, Liam Dean, Candy Depew, James Erikson, Clara Fialho, Abi Galloza, Timothy Gierschick, Clark Gibson, Wendy Greenberg, Dana Hargrove, Daniel Heyman, Aaron Igler, Jeanne Jaffe, Tom Judd, John Kemp, Tristin Lowe, Jon Manteau, Michael Manuel, Michelle Marcuse, Joe McAleer, Zoe McCloskey, Tim McFarlane, Scott McMahon, Dan Mills, Tyrone Moore, Deirdre Murphy, Eileen Neff, Paul Oberst, Odili Donald Odita, Alex Paik, Nathan Pankratz, Matthew Parrish, Jeffrey Peezick, Yanosh Phenzing, Alex Proctor, Jessica Puma, Beth Reisman, Paul Rodriguiez, Rebecca Rutstein, Paul Santoleri, Rebecca Saylor Sack, Jeff Schaller, Mallory Scoppa, Alexis Serio, Jessica Kirsten Singer, David Slovic, Tremain Smith, Michael Solomon, Brooke Steytler, Mike Stifel, Ivan Stojakovic, Clint Takeda, Jackie Tileston, Chris Vecchio, Shira Walinsky, Lauren Whearty, Scott White, and Douglas Witmer.