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To Whom Do We Tell
(excerpted from Czeslaw Milosz) is the title Bruce Dorfman has given
the exhibition of his recent works arresting abstract assemblages in
combined media fusing painting and sculpture that defy predictable
spatial boundaries. The exhibition will open at the June Kelly
Gallery on Thursday, May 15, and remain on view through June 24.
Dorfman, who boasts an impressive exhibition
history of more than six decades. This exhibition is his
sixtieth in the United States and abroad.
With the clarity and precision of traditional
geometric forms and structures, Dorfman's ongoing abstract language
underlines his inventiveness in creating intense art experiences,
imbuing contemporary sensibility.
The late C. L. Wysuph, noted art historian,
author, critic, lecturer, and curator, said Dorfman gives elan to
his assemblages through a visual contrapuntally that springs from
the interrelationship of applied bits and pieces of hard materials
set against soft, colorful grounds. Although his work is not
pedagogical, his titles reveal the deeper roots of inspiration for
his work in archeology, music, and other sources of artistic and
intellectual experience all of which are to underscore the subtle
symbolic complexity of his multi-faceted surfaces
Continuing, Wysuph says, Great art is always recognized by some
ineffable confluence of exceptional craft embedded with the spirit
investment of its maker. We find both in abundance in
Dorfman's work.
Dorfman writes, The act of artistic creation
is a wholehearted affirmation of life. I make no separation
between my art's many meanings and my life's many meanings.
Whatever goes on in my paintings is simply an extension of whatever
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 are not the
result of a self-conscious decision but a deeply felt need and the
use of formal means as necessary for the work. Both the need
and the formal means are rooted in an extreme intensity of
experience and choice.
Dorfman, like the Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz,
believes in the power of art to transcend the limitations of time
and place, offering solace and inspiration to future generations.
Dorfman lives and works in New York City.
He holds a B.A., degree from the University of Iowa. He has received
many awards, prizes, and honors for his art and work as a mentor and
teacher. Dorfman has continued teaching at the Art Students League
of New York for decades and at other international institutions.
He has participated in numerous one-person and group exhibitions
throughout the United States and Europe. His paintings are
represented in many museum, corporate and private collections,
including Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA.; Everson Museum of
Art, Syracuse, New York; the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art,
Kansas City, MO.; Norton Museum of Art, Palm Beach, FL; Stanley
Museum of Art at the University of Iowa, Skirball Museum, Los
Angeles, CA; Smithsonian Art Museum, Washington, DC; The Monmouth
University Permanent Art Collection, West Long Branch, New Jersey;
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; The Art Students
League of New York; Rockefeller Foundation, New York; Museum of Art
and Cloisters, Loul , Portugal; and Collection Mourlot, Paris,
France. |
