Douglas Witmer CV
Solo Exhibitions
2017 Dubh Glas, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Philadelphia, PA
2016 Verse and Chorus, Gray Contemporary, Houston, TX
Naranja, boeckercontemporary, Heidelberg, Germany
2015 fourpart, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Philadelphia
Recent Paintings, Alumni Gallery, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
2013 All Kinds of Ways to Your Garden, Blank Space Art, New York, NY
School Papers, NIAD Art Center, Richmond, CA
2011 I Found A Reason, Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Rollins College, Winter Park, FL (catalogue)
Fruitville / The School Papers, AxD Gallery, Philadelphia
2010 Ring the Bells Anew, Blank Space Art, New York
Fruitville, Some Walls, Oakland, CA
2009 Field + Stream, Project Room, The Painting Center, New York
Joseph’s Coat, The Philadelphia Cathedral
Joseph’s Coat, Howard Conn Fine Arts Center, Plymouth Congregational Church, Minneapolis, MN
2008 Today is the Day, M55 Art, Long Island City, NY
2006 The Black Keys, and Other Paintings, Gallery Siano, Philadelphia
Contemplation, Red Door Gallery, Richmond, VA
2002 New Paintings, Peng Gallery, Philadelphia
Douglas Witmer, Goshen College, Goshen, IN
1997 Recent Paintings, University City Arts League, Philadelphia.
Recent Paintings, University of Montana―Western, Dillon
Selected Group Exhibitions
2020 Galerie Mathias Mayr, Innsbruck, Austria
Twenty One, Gray Contemporary, Houston
Carte Blanche, Galerie Biesenbach, Cologne, Germany
MNMLSM II, Galerie Biesenbach, Cologne
2019 Big Circle, curated by divisible, M17 Contemporary Art, Kiev, Ukraine
New Modern--The Road Paintings, curated by Billy Gruner, Five Walls, Footscray, Australia
Small World, Galerie Biesenbach, Cologne
Breathe, curated by Arvid Boecker, Museum St. Wendel, St. Wendel, Germany
In The Stillness, Freud Monk Gallery (online only)
2018 Bevel, works by Brett Baker, Casey Matthews, and Douglas Witmer, Gross McCleaf Gallery, Philadelphia
Into The Light, exhibition to benefit the Rail Park Philadelphia, curated by Bridgette Mayer, Philadelphia
MNMLSM, Galerie Biesenbach, Cologne
Irregular Symmetry of Pattern, Wright Gallery, Northport MI
Focus exhibition, Gebert Contemporary, Santa Fe NM
More or Less, Hemphill Fine Arts, Washington DC
Bodies of a Different Mass, Tiger Strikes Asteroid Los Angeles, CA
Beyond Black and White, Westbeth Gallery, New York
Juxtapositions, Galerie Biesenbach, Cologne
2017 Project Room, Gray Contemporary, Houston
Gallery artists, Gebert Contemporary, Santa Fe
Almost Black and White, The Curator Gallery, New York
Cities Like Dreams, Swamps Where Cedars Grow, The Provincial, Chief MI
Combined, Gray Contemporary, Houston
Better Late Than Ugly, oqbo--raum für bild wort ton, Berlin, Germany
2016 Alan Alldredge, Lisa Weiss, and Douglas Witmer, Aberson Exhibits, Tulsa OK
Fiction (with Only Daylight Between Us), Divisible, Dayton, OH. Traveled to boeckercontemporary,
Heidelberg, Germany
Opaque Transparency—Leiden edition, IS Projects, Leiden, The Netherlands
Rien à voir, curated by Jonathan F. Walz, Institute for American Art, Portland ME
Look Both Ways, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia
Lost in Transit, SOIL, Seattle, WA
Opaque Transparency—Paris edition, Le Pavé d'Orsay, Paris, France
Spring Exhibitions—the permanent collection, The Sheldon Museum of Art, Lincoln, NE
2015 Bag Check—A Tiger Strikes Asteroid project for “Artist Run,” Satellite Art Fair, Miami, FL
Tiger Strikes Asteroid at The Payne Gallery, Payne Gallery, Moravian College, Bethlehem, PA
Opaque Transparency, Look & Listen, Saint-Chamas, France. Therely Bare (Redux), Zeitgeist Gallery, Nashville, TN
Linear Function – Alex Mayer, Nick Primo and Douglas Witmer, Hemphill Fine Arts / Carroll Square Gallery,
Washington DC
2014 Jeffrey Cortland Jones, Tim McFarlane, and Douglas Witmer, Gray Contemporary, Houston
DEPENDENCIA inDEPENDENCIA, Galeria Sol del Rio, Guatemala City, Guatemala
Tiger Strikes Asteroid at Emerge Art Fair, Washington DC
Aloe Vera, Gray Contemporary, Houston
Summer Benefit Invitational, Bridgette Mayer Gallery, Philadelphia
To Tiger with Love, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Philadelphia
Should I Stay or Should I Go?, Gross McCleaf Gallery, Philadelphia
Mark Wethli and Douglas Witmer, ICON Contemporary Art, Brunswick ME
Off Line On Mark – Alain Biltereyst, Katrin Bremermann, Erin Lawlor, Lael Marshall,
Don Voisine, Michael Voss, and Douglas Witmer, Parallel Art Space, Ridgewood, NY
2013 Geometry as Sign, works by Timothy App & Douglas Witmer, Gross McCleaf Gallery, Philadelphia
A Random Walk, curated by Robert Solomon, Rowan University Gallery, Glassboro, NJ
Manic Episode 4, T.A.S. (Temporary Art Space), Groningen, The Netherlands
Chorus Effect, curated by Tabitha Piseno, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Philadelphia.
Porquois Pas...?/Why Not...?, international biennial of non-objective art, curated by Roland Orépük,
Pont de Claix, France (catalogue)
Light Conversation, Key Projects, Ridgewood, New York
Correspondence II, TSA, Brooklyn
Tiger Strikes Art Museum, artists intervene with the collection, The Philadelphia Museum of Art
BalletX Benefit Invitational, Bridgette Mayer Gallery, Philadelphia
Signs and Systems, Gross McCleaf Gallery, Philadelphia
Reason and Romance, 6b Gallery, Elingen, Belgium
What I Like About You, organized by Julie Torres, Parallel Art Space, Brooklyn
Winter Down, curated by Ryan McCartney and Timothy Belknap, The Icebox, Philadelphia
Surface as Signifier, University of Delaware Gallery at Crane Arts, Philadelphia
Never Underestimate a Monochrome, Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art, Chaffey College,
Rancho Cucamonga CA
2012 The Subjective Object—Louise Blyton, Roland Orépük & Douglas Witmer, ParisCONCRET, Paris
Surface as Signifier, Marlin Gallery, Camden County College, Blackwood, NJ
Manic Episode 3, Kunstlerhaus Dosenfabrik, Hamburg Germany
Never Underestimate a Monochrome, on-line curatorial project organized by Mariangeles Soto-Diaz for the
University of Iowa Museum of Art.
Douglas Witmer and Peter Zeebley, Studio:Christensen, Philadelphia
West Philly Abstraction, University City Arts League, Philadelphia
Crystal Days (with Timothy Buckwalter & Michael Macfeat), Sugar, Philadelphia
2011 Flirting With Abstraction, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia (catalogue)
Painted, Printed, Pressed, C2 Fine Art, St. Petersburg, FL
Faction, University of Dayton
The Life of the World to Come : Chase the Tear, NIAD Art Center, Richmond CA
Streamline, C2 Fine Art, St. Petersburg
It's All Good (Apocalypse Now!), Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2010 Informal Relations, Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art, IN
Escape from New York, The Engine Room, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
Invitational Exhibition of Small Works, New Arts Program, Kutztown PA
Ready, Willing, and Able Benefit, Bridgette Mayer Gallery, Philadelphia
2009 Preview 2010, Blank Space Gallery, New York
I Decree Today, Marx Gallery, Covington, KY
Touch Faith, Semantics, Cincinnati, OH
246 Editions, Pocket Utopia, Brooklyn
Back on My Feet Benefit, Bridgette Mayer Gallery, Philadelphia
My Certain Fate, Pharmaka, Los Angeles, CA
Escape from New York, Project Space Spare Room, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
2008 Minus Space, P.S.1/MoMA, New York, NY
Reload, M55 Art, Long Island City, NY
Considerable, University of Dayton, OH
2007 Escape from New York, Sydney Non-Objective, Sydney, Australia
Survey, 2007, Gallery Siano, Philadelphia
Across the Borderline, University of Dayton, OH. (2-person, collaborative works with Chris Ashley)
I Walk the Line―Three Abstract Artists in the 21st Century, University of Maryland, College Park
(with Mary Early and Linn Meyers)
2006 Suitcase, Bus-Dori project space, Tokyo, Japan
2005 Pfenninger Gallery, Lancaster, PA
The Urban Canvas, Gallery Siano, Philadelphia
2004 From the Studio, Center for Emerging Visual Artists, Philadelphia.
Repetition and Transformation, The Philadelphia Cathedral
2003 Peng Gallery, Philadelphia. (3-person with Dennis Lo and Leslie Wagner)
2002 New Talent, Signal 66, Washington
White Light, The Beehive Salon, Philadelphia.
From Abstraction to Representation, The College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA
2001 3rd Annual Young Painters Competition for the William and Dorothy Yeck Award,
Miami University of Ohio, Oxford
Art in City Hall, Philadelphia City Hall, Philadelphia
Selected Projects and Curated Exhibitions
2020 Forty, For You, a mulit-part cycle of paintings and musical compositions, released daily for forty days
between February 26 — March 11
2018 Louder Than Bombs--the resonance of reductive art in our world. The Curator Gallery, New York
2016 NEIGHBOR : WHO—a free international drawing action, 200 works of art created and
distributed freely as an act of kindness and connectivity
Louder Than Bombs--reductive abstraction in the midst of dark times, Works by Steven
Alexander Mary Bucci McCoy, Matthew Feyld, Emma Langridge, Linn Meyers, Jon
Poblador, Tim Schwartz, Nicholas Szymanski, Divisible, Dayton, OH. Hosted on-line at
www.curatingcontemporary.com
2014 heavylightweight—Lightness of color and action, gravitas of tradition and conviction.
Works by Karen Baumeister, Michael Brennan, Jeffrey Cortland Jones, Daniel Levine,
Warren Rohrer. Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Philadelphia.
2013 Ice Water / Flyswatter. Works by Alain Biltereyst, Mary Bucci McCoy, Donald Martiny,
Cary Smith, Mark Wethli, Ian White Williams. Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Philadelphia.
2012 West Philly Abstraction, University City Arts League, Philadelphia
2012 Optic Fiber, University City Arts League, Philadelphia
Related Experience
2018 Visiting Artist, Professional development program, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD
2017 Juror, Mercer Artists 2017, Mercer County Community College, West Windsor, NJ
Visiting Artist/Critic, Pennsylvania School of Art and Design, Lancaster, PA
2015 Visiting Artist, Professional development program, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD
Visiting Artist/Lecture, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
2014 Panelist, Contemporary Philadelphia Abstraction, Locks Gallery, Philadelphia
2013 Panelist, Surface as Signifier, University of Delaware
2012 Selected as one of nine artists for Philadelphia's inaugural Art CSA program, administered by Tiger Strikes
Asteroid and Grizzly Grizzly artist collectives with funding by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Gallery Committee, University City Arts League, Philadelphia
2011 Thomas P. Johnson Visiting Scholar, Rollins College, Winter Park, FL.
Founder and curator, The Museum of Art and Peace, Philadelphia http://artandpeacemuseum.org
2009 Visiting Artist/Lecture, Goshen College, IN
2007 Panelist, Artists in the Marketplace, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York City
Visiting Artist/Critic, University of Dayton, OH
2006 Artist-in-Residence/Critic/Lecture, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, St. Mary’s City
2005-10 Artist selection committee, 40th Street Artist-in-Residence program, administered by The University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
2005 Artist-in-Residence, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore / Glen Arbor Art Association Glen Arbor, MI
2003 Juror, Allentown Art Association Juried exhibition, Allentown Art Museum, PA
2002 Visiting Artist/Lecture, Goshen College, IN
2000 Residency Grant, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson
1998-present Curator of numerous exhibitions in the Philadelphia region
Bibliography & Published Writing
2020 Witmer, Douglas, “Plain and Beautiful: a younger artist considers Warren Rohrer,” Field Language: The
Painting and Poetry of Warren and Jane Rohrer, ed. Julia Kasdorf and Christopher Reed, The Palmer
Art Museum: Pennsylvania State University Press.
Redekop, Magdelene, “Making Believe: Questions about Mennonites and Art,” University of Manitoba Press
2019 Fox, Adam Reid, interview with Douglas Witmer in conjunction with the online exhibition “In The Stillness,”
Freud Monk Gallery, https://www.freudmonkgallery.com/interviews/douglaswitmer, February
2018 Capps, Kriston, “At Hemphill Fine Arts, The Past, Present, and Future of Abstraction,” Washington City Paper
https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/arts/museums-galleries/blog/21006561/more-or-less-at-hemphill-
fine-arts-reviewed, May 24
Jenkins, Mark, “In the Galleries: Art that Thrives in Natural Light,” Washington Post, June 1
Shah, Ashley, “More or Less at Hemphill Fine Arts,” East City Art,
http://www.eastcityart.com/reviews/east-city-art-reviews-more-or-less-hemphill-fine-arts/ , June 4
Wirth, Hedrun, “Triumph der Einfachheit--Abstrakte Kunst in eine Gruppenschau bei Biesenbach,” Kölnische
Rundschau, July 17 (print only)
2017 Huff Hunter, Becky, “Douglas Witmer's Simplicity,” Two Coats of Paint,
http://www.twocoatsofpaint.com/2017/03/15116.html, March 2
Fallon, Roberta, podcast interview, “Douglas Witmer's world,” The Artblog,
http://www.theartblog.org/2017/03/man-on-the-go-douglas-witmers-world-neighbor-now-paintings-and-
music-at-tsa-family-and-the-green-line-cafes/, March 4
Zinn, Tamar, “Almost Black and White at The Curator Gallery,” Tamar Zinn blog,
http://tamarzinn.blogspot.com/2017/10/almost-black-and-white-curator-gallery.html, October 12
2016 Witmer, Douglas, “Bedrock: group interview with Rachel Klinghoffer, Adam Lovitz, and Robert Straight,”
published on the occasion of the exhibition of the same title, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Philadelphia
Witmer, Douglas, “Ten Years of the School Papers,” hardcover catalogue. Douglas Witmer studio, Phila
2015 Farley, Michael, “Who Wore it Better? ABMB Edition,” Art F City, http://artfcity.com/2015/12/05/who-wore-
it-better-abmb-edition/, December 2
Gat, Yifat, “The Black and White Project—a Survey of Contemporary Black and White Paintings,” with an
essay by David Rhodes, Look & Listen press, France, July
Jenkins, Mark, “In The Galleries—Line and Function Intersect,” The Washington Post, April 10
Singer, Matthew, “In Other Words: The Spirit of Fraktur in Modern and Contemporary Art,” Framing Fraktur,
ed. Judith Tannenbaum, Philadelphia: The Free Library of Philadelphia / University of Pennsylvania Press.
2014 Panero, James, “Gallery Chronicle,” The New Criterion, June
Raymond, David, “Mark Wethli and Douglas Witmer at ICON Contemporary Art,” Art New England, June/July
Tommaney, Jim J., “Gray Contemporary Hosts A Bright Colorful Show with Aloe Vera, “Houston Press,”
http://blogs.houstonpress.com/artattack/2014/08/aloe_vera.php, August 18.
2013 Alexander, Steven, “Douglas Witmer at Blank Space,” Steven Alexander Journal,
http://stevenalexanderjournal.blogspot.com, March 3
Brennan, Valerie, “Douglas Witmer” (interview), Studio Critical, http://studiocritical.blogspot.com, February 25
Fabbri, Anne R., “The Medium is the Message,” Broad Street Review, http://www.broadstreetreview.com,
March 2
Mattera, Joanne, “Painting in Chelsea,” Joanne Mattera Art Blog, http://joannemattera.blogspot.com,
March 3
Newhall, Edith, “Galleries : August Abstraction,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 26
Newhouse, Sam, “Chase the Dog Days Away—A Summer Themed Show at Tiger Strikes Asteroid,” The
ArtBlog, http://theartblog.org, August 19
Schwartz, Chip, “Little Barnes on the Prairie—Winter Down's Jewelbox Salon at the Crane's Icebox,”
The Artblog, http://theartblog.org, January 13
Schwartz, Chip, “Six Artists with Summery Abstraction at Tiger Strikes Asteroid,” Knight Arts Blog,
http://knightarts.org, August 8
2012 Rosof, Libby, “Douglas Witmer on art and modesty” (interview), The Artblog, http://theartblog.org, June 1
Mason-Gaines, Joel and Megan Matuzak, “University City: Making Space for the Arts,” Philadelphia
Neighborhoods, http://sct.temple.edu/blogs/murl/, April 30
Rosenthal, James, “Crystal Days at Sugar,” Pocket Intellectual, http://pocketintellectual.blogspot.com,
March 13
Rosof, Libby, “West Philadelphia Looking is Good,” The ArtBlog, http://theartblog.org, March 22
Sexton, Courtney, “Pop-up Art, Palpable Connections, and Papermade Fabulousness,” City Paper : Critical
Mass blog, http://www.citypaper.net/blogs/criticalmass/CURATOR-March-9.html, March 9
2011 Ashley, Chris, “A Way to Be in the World,” catalogue essay for I Found A Reason, Cornell Fine Arts
Museum, Rollins College, July Cognard-Black, Jennifer, “Streamline,” essay for exhibition of the same title, C2 Fine Art, St. Petersburg, July D’Alesandro, Dennis, “Douglas Witmer’s Fruitville and School Papers at AxD,” The Artblog, Mar 15
Young, Jessica Bryce, “Pulp Fictions—Douglas Witmer’s meditative works on wood and paper,”
Orlando Weekly, August 18
2010 Ashley, Chris, “Fruitville,” essay for exhibition of the same title, Some Walls, Oakland CA.
http://somewalls.com, June
Gierschick, P. Timothy, “Douglas Witmer at Blank Space Gallery,” Gierschickwork,
http://gierschickwork.blogspot.com, March 16
2009 Kirsch, Andrea, “Philadelphia Notes: Contemplative Minimalism” The ArtBlog, http://theartblog.org,
February 9
Mattera, Joanne, “Witmer and Patterson at The Painting Center,” Joanne Mattera Art Blog,
http://joannemattera.blogspot.com, June 17
2008 Hallard, Brent, “How Soon is Now?,” interview, Visual Discrepancies blog, http://brenthallard.wordpress.com,
December 5
2007 Collaizi, Vittorio, “A Vigilant Turn from Complacency,” Brick Weekly, Richmond VA, January 11
Koo, Li, “Gallery Notes: I Walk the Line,” podcast interview, University of Maryland, March
Newhall, Edith, “Summery Summary,” The Philadelphia Inquirer,” August 3
Wagner, Laura, "'Art Pals' Feature Works in Rike," Dayton Flyer News, January 19
2006 Strickland, Heather, “Eclecticism on Display at Red Door Gallery, The Collegian, University of Richmond,
December 7
2005 Ashley, Chris, “In Conversation with Douglas Witmer,” Minus Space, Brooklyn, NY. December
Hallard, Brent, “X Marks the Spot,” Project 131 (on-line), July 2005. www.brenthallard.com
Hill, Lori, “First Friday Focus: Gallery Siano,” Philadelphia City Paper, Thursday, October 6
Holzman, Paula, “Two Takes on the Abstract,” Lancaster Intelligencer Journal, October 21
Romaniello, Vincent, “Douglas Witmer,” on-line video documentary, www.vincentromaniello.com/vlog, winter Silverthorne, Alexandra, “Artists Interview Artists,” Thinking About Art (on-line), August.
www.thinkingaboutart.blogs.com
2004 Doering, Elizabeth H., “Repetition and Transformation,” essay for exhibition of the same title,
The Philadelphia Cathedral, January
Fallon, Roberta, “A-List: Repetition and Transformation,” Philadelphia Weekly,” January 21
2002 Hill, Lori, “First Friday Focus: Peng Gallery,” Philadelphia City Paper, Thursday, April 4
Patterson, Carrie, “From Abstraction to Representation,” exhibition catalogue essay for exhibition of the
same title, Andrews Gallery, The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, November
Walz, Jonathan F., “Reality Check,” exhibition brochure essay, Peng Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, April.
2001 Knapp, Tom, “Uncommon Ground,” Lancaster Intelligencer Journal, August 3
Collections
The Columbus Museum, Columbus, GA
Sheldon Museum of American Art, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
The Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia
The Columbus Museum, Columbus GA
The Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
The City of Philadelphia
Duane Morris, LLP, Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, Atlanta, Lake Tahoe, San Diego, Singapore,
Ho Chi Minh City
Wolf, Block, Schorr, and Solis-Cohen, LLP, Philadelphia
NanoSystems, King of Prussia, PA
Private collections worldwide
Affiliations
Gray Contemporary, Houston
Galerie Biesenbach, Cologne, Germany
Minus Space flatfile, Brooklyn
Aberson Exhibits, Tulsa OK
Sol del Rio Arte Contemporanea, Guatemala City
Geoform – geoform.net, an online scholarly and curatorial resource on contemporary geometric art
Education
2001 M.F.A., The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
1993 B.A., Goshen College, Indiana
Biography
1971 Born in Winchester, VA, childhood in Lancaster County, PA
1995-present Lives and works in Philadelphia