Daniel Dove: Slab Citizen

14 March - 25 April 2026
  • The paintings begin in a very informal way. I brainstorm by making kind of cartoonish drawings in a sketchbook; I...
    Daniel Dove, Big Cat, 2025, Oil on canvas, 56 x 62 in; 142.2 x 157.5 cm

    The paintings begin in a very informal way. I brainstorm by making kind of cartoonish drawings in a sketchbook; I open myself up to anything that might have some kind of resonance. Sometimes that process includes going back through many folders of photographs that I have accumulated. Sometimes I just draw out of my head as a way of trying to come up with something that confirms its own right to exist.

  • There are many tangent points in the paintings, where forms barely touch the edge of the support, or barely touch...
    Daniel Dove, Bombay Beach 2, 2025, Oil on canvas, 24 x 40 in; 61 x 101.6 cm

    There are many tangent points in the paintings, where forms barely touch the edge of the support, or barely touch another form. Part of that is to assert flatness in a painting that might otherwise seem to expand into a landscape space.

  • There is a kind of modernist pictorial concern there, but part of it is also my need to regard the...
    Daniel Dove, Day Walker, 2026, Oil on canvas, 34 x 54 in; 86.4 x 137.2 cm
    There is a kind of modernist pictorial concern there, but part of it is also my need to regard the edge with a kind of authority or presence. I am very aware of the edge, and the way that I acknowledge it is to bounce ever so slightly off of it. This emphasizes its force in the picture, as if the edge of the painting is a solid form.
  • I have a deep love of naturalism in painting, the effects of light and shadow; the effects of atmospheric space;...
    Daniel Dove, E.N. Night, 2025, Oil on canvas, 30 x 34 in; 76.2 x 86.4 cm

    I have a deep love of naturalism in painting, the effects of light and shadow; the effects of atmospheric space; the tactile illusion of surfaces.

  • What I mean when I talk about tactility, in it's most basic sense, is the presence of human touch on...
    Daniel Dove, Flapper 1, 2025, Oil on canvas, 36 x 44 in; 91.4 x 111.8 cm

    What I mean when I talk about tactility, in it's most basic sense, is the presence of human touch on the surface of the painting. This also includes the illusion of what it would feel like to touch the subject matter that is depicted in the painting. So there is a dual thing that is happening at the base layer.

  • The illustrative function of the painting would be to execute, in a straightforward way, something that already exists in some...
    Daniel Dove, Cigarette, 2017, Oil on canvas, 52 x 100 in; 132.1 x 254 cm
    The illustrative function of the painting would be to execute, in a straightforward way, something that already exists in some other medium. The most satisfying thing for me is when there is some kind of meeting point between my control and the variables that comes out of the microstructure and structure of the surface of the support, or how hard you pressed on a scraper as you pull paint off the canvas.
  • I am attracted to the idea of making paintings that feel painterly, but do not have obvious brushstrokes in them....
    Daniel Dove, Cranbrook, 2017, Oil on canvas, 48 x 72 in; 121.9 x 182.9 cm

     

    I am attracted to the idea of making paintings that feel painterly, but do not have obvious brushstrokes in them. The material conditions cannot be pulled apart, and the physicality of the medium hopefully remains relevant without the gestural energy embedded in a visible brushstroke.

  • Daniel Dove, Bent, 2013
  • Additional Works by Daniel Dove

    • Daniel Dove, Reanimal 1, 2025
      Daniel Dove, Reanimal 1, 2025
    • Daniel Dove, Scavenger, 2021
      Daniel Dove, Scavenger, 2021
    • Daniel Dove, Reanimal 3, 2025
      Daniel Dove, Reanimal 3, 2025
    • Daniel Dove, Kitten, 2025
      Daniel Dove, Kitten, 2025
    • Daniel Dove, Atrium, 2020
      Daniel Dove, Atrium, 2020
    • Daniel Dove, Faint Heart, 2022
      Daniel Dove, Faint Heart, 2022