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Verne Dawson

Verne Dawson (b. 1955, Meridianville, Alabama) delves into heady topics concerning culture and nature, interlacing the present with the ancient past. His works cite a history of stories, symbols, and belief systems. Dawson’s work maintains a focus on timekeeping and the structures that have governed human lives. He depicts chimeric landscapes and cosmological scenes with a style that oscillates between Bosch and faux-naïf. Dawson’s formidable subjects are depicted with verdant, loose brushstrokes. By blending portraits, landscapes, still lifes, and abstraction, Dawson merges science and fantasy to create timeless images that convey the history of the relationship between humanity and the natural world. Dawson studied at The Cooper Union School of Art, New York, and the Art Student’s League of New York. 

Recent solo exhibitions include Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich (2023); Karma, New York (2022); Gavin Brown’s Enterprise (2019, 2017); Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin (2016); Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich (2016); and Victoria Miro, London (2013). Dawson’s work was included in the Yokohama Triennial (2011), the Whitney Biennial (2010), the Lyon Biennial (2006), and the Venice Biennial (2003).

Courtesy the artist. Photo by the artist.

Courtesy the artist. Photo by the artist.

Born 1955, Meridianville, Alabama
Lives and works in New York

EDUCATION

1980

The Cooper Union School of Art, New York

1978

Art Student’s League of New York

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2023

Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zürich, Switzerland, Verne Dawson: Fête Galante

2022

Karma, New York, Autochthones

2019

Gavin Brown’s enterprise, 439 W 127th Street, New York, The Theft of Fire, Expulsion & Mudslide

Galerie Eva Presenhuber, New York, Paintings

2017

Gavin Brown’s enterprise, 291 Grand St, New York, Tinnitus

2016

TM-Galleria, Helsinki, Horizon
The Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin

2015

Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich, Mermaid Money

2013

Galleria Il Capricorno, Venice

Victoria Miro, London, Apalachicola to Zirconia

2011

Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zürich

2009

Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York

2008

Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, The Paradise

2007

Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zürich, Paintings

2006

Le Consortium, Dijon, France

Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday

Victoria Miro Gallery, London

2004

Camden Art Center, London

Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York, The Days of the Week and other paintings

Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin

2003

Victoria Miro Gallery, London, Wheel of Fortune

Galerie Hauser & Wirth & Presenhuber, Zurich, Aerialists

2002

Kunsthalle Zurich

2001

Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York

2000

Monica de Cardenas, Milan

1999

Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York

1997

Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York

1995

Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York

1989

Viafora Gallery, New York

1985

The Portrait Studio, New York

Selected Group Exhibitions

2023

Fondation Carmignac, Porquerolles Island, France, The Inner Island

The Hill Art Foundation, New York, Beautiful, Vivid, Self-contained, curated by David Salle

White Columns, New York, Looking Back / The 13th White Columns Annual, selected by Olivia Shao

2022

Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zürich, Switzerland, Earthing

Consortium Museum, Dijon, France, The Drawing Centre Show

2020

Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich, All in one

Karma, New York, (Nothing but) Flowers

2019

MoMA PS1, New York, Theater of Operations: The Gulf Wars 1991–2011
Gavin Brown enterprise, New York, Just What is it That Makes Today So Different, So Appealing?
Peter Freeman, New York, Downtown Painting, curated by Alex Katz

2018

Hadrien de Montferrand Gallery, Beijing, New York By Night, curated by Spencer Sweeney

2017

New York, Ugo Rondinone: I love John Giorno

Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York, Get Outta That Spaceship and Fight Like a Man

2016

Karma, Amagansett, New York, Outside, curated by Matthew Higgs

2015

Victoria Miro, London, Forces in Nature

Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich, Works on Paper

Palais de Tokyo, Paris, Ugo Rondinone: I <3 John Giorno

2014

MART Museum, Rovereto, Italy, Paessaggio mon amour

Giovanni e Marella Agnelli, Torino, Italy, curated by Neville Wakefield

2013

Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, Paisaje 1969 – 2013

2012

Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich, Painting Now

Le Consortium, Dijon, Le Monde Comme Volonté et Comme Papier Peint

Art Basel, Basel, Switzerland, Art Unlimited

2011

Yokohama Triennale, Yokohama, Japan, Our Magic Hour

2010

Victoria Miro Gallery, London, In The Company of Alice

Hessel Museum of Art,  Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, At Home/Not at Home

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2010: Whitney Biennial, curated by Francesco Bonami and Gary Carrion-Murayari

Galerie Praz Delavallada, Paris, Order to See

2009

The Burger Collection, Berlin, Conflicting Tales: Subjectivity (Quadrilogy, Part 1)

Galerie Patrick Seguin, Paris, We are sun-kissed and snow-blind, with Galerie Eva Presenhuber

Gresham’s Ghost, New York, Cave Painting: Installment #1, curated by Bob Nickas and Ajay Kurian

Benson Keyes Arts, Southampton, New York, Hello, Mrs. MacGruder, curated by Michele Maccarone

PSM Gallery, Berlin, Cave Painting, curated by Bob Nickas

Gallery Hyundai/doArt, Beijing

2008

Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, New York, Future Tense: Reshaping the Landscape

Gallery Hyundai/doART, Seoul

Gallery Hyundai/doArt, Beijing

Murcia, Spain, ESTRATOS Art Festival

2007

Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv,XXS (Extra Extra Small)

Palais de Tokyo, Paris, The Third Mind, curated by Ugo Rondinone

de Pury & Luxembourg, Painting as Fact – Fact as Fiction, curated by Bob Nickas

House Eva Presenhuber, Vnà, Switzerland, Jubilee Exhibition
Galleria Comunale d’Arte Contemporanea di Monfalcone, Italy, Painting Codes

2006

Deste Foundation, Athens, Panic Room

2005

Gallery 400, University of Illionois, Chicago, Interested Painting
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Down by Law

Palais de Tokyo, Paris, Translation

Lyon Biennale, Lyon, France, Experience de la Durée

2004

Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, Huts

2003

Grimm Rosenfeld, Munich, Game Over 

Venice Biennial, Venice, Utopia Station

Hauser & Wirth & Presenhuber Galerie, Zurich, Breathing Under Water

The Approach, London, Dirty Pictures

Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York, 20th Anniversary- Welcome home

2002

Jousse Entreprise, Paris, Five Years

Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, From the Observatory, curated by Bob Nickas

Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Urgent Painting

2001

The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Conneticut, Best of the Season

Victoria Miro Gallery, London, Works on Paper from Acconci to Zittel

Monica de Cardenas, Milan, Extended Painting

Victoria Miro Gallery, London

Elizabeth Cherry Fine Arts, Tucson, Arizona, How is Everything? Everything’s going to be…Alright, curated by Bob Nickas

2000

Invisible Museum, Memphis, Tennessee, Ghosts

Bellweather, Brooklyn, Cosmobiology

Le Consortium, Dijon, There is no Spirit in Painting

Sandra Gering Gallery, New York, Collected (in Mind), curated by Bob Nickas

1999

Lawrence Rubin Greenberg Van Doren Fine Art, New York, Another Country

AC Project Room, New York, Titles for Drawings

1998

Bronwyn Keenan Gallery, New York, Pets

1997

Bronwyn Keenan Gallery, New York, Landscape USA

1996

Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York

AC Project Room, New York

1993

Fesek Municipal Art Gallery of the Artists’ Union of Budapest, Budapest, Little Things

New York, Art in General

Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago

Delta Axis Center, Memphis, Tennessee

1990

Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York

White Columns, New York
Viafora Gallery, New York

1987

Ridge Street Gallery, New York

1986

Ridge Street Gallery, New York

1985

The Portrait Studio, New York

1984

Sharpe Gallery, New York

King Street Gallery, New York

1983

Olson Gallery, New York

1982

Olson Gallery, New York

1981

The Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina

High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia

Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, South Carolina

Greenville Art Museum, Greenville, South Carolina

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

Museum of Modern Art, New York City

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

2019

Hutchinson, John. Verne Dawson
Lund Humphries, New York
144 pages
11 x 9 ½ inches

Bradway, Todd. Landscape Painting Now: From Pop Abstraction to New Romanticism
D.A.P., New York
368 pages
11 x 10 1/4 inches

2017

Higgs, Matthew and Dawson, Verne. Bill Lynch
Ridinghouse, London
160 pages
11 1/2 × 9 ½ inches

2012

Dawson, Verne. Verne Dawson – Precision of the Equinoxes: Paintings 1994-2010
Les Presse du Reel, Paris
272 pages
8 × 10 1/3 inches

2009

Graw, Isabelle, et al. The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection: Catalogue Raisonné
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
296 pages
9 ½ × 11 ½ inches

2007

Alizard, Mark and Grossi, Frédéric. The Third Mind. Carte Blanche à Ugo Rondinone
Les Presse du Reel, Paris
308 pages
9 7/8 × 12 1/4 inches

2002

Schwabsky, Barry. Vitamin P-New Perspectives in Painting
Phaidon Press, London
352 pages
10 × 11 1/3 inches

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