21 WADE AVE #2 | TORONTO

Kim Dorland | Nothing is good anymore | 14 Sept - 12 Oct 2024

Grief is a funny thing. It’s not a part of your life, nowhere to be seen, and then it’s just there, permeating every move, every breath, as it drains the colour from everything and slowly becomes part of your identity. 

Like everyone else in my shoes, I’ve made room for grief in my life - learned how to absorb it and work around it. This includes painting. 

Painting makes it so I can mostly deal. In my new role as caregiver I’ve had to learn to edit life to keep only what is needed. The paintings for this show are also only what is needed. 

Grief is a feeling more than a thing. It’s big and heavy, immersive and without color, just shades of black.   But there is beauty at the edges of these shades of black, beauty at the edges of everything, even grief.

– Kim Dorland 

Kim Dorland pushes the boundaries of representation through an exploration of memory, material, nostalgia, identity and place. Drawing heavily from the history and language of painting, the loose yet identifiable scenes are interjected with areas of heavy abstract impasto. His refusal to remain faithful to one medium or approach plays into the symbiotic nature of his work. He has exhibited globally, including shows in Milan, London, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. His work is featured in the Contemporary Art Foundation (Japan), The Sander Collection (Berlin); Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal; Musée d’art contemporain de Montreal; Glenbow Museum (Calgary); Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Art Gallery of Alberta, the Audain Art Museum and numerous important private collections.