Grant Recipients Grants to Artists Visual Arts 1998

David Dupuis

A close up black and white portrait of David Dupuis against a bare dark background. Dupuis looks directly at the camera with an intent expression on his face. There is a rip down the entirety of the photograph on the left side.

There was a small chain reaction which could have developed into a minor nightmare, but the grant enabled me to keep pace... There is one thing that I most appreciated. It was wonderful to have a group of people in the art community, apart from the commercial sphere, select my work for praise and support. That gave me a sort of mental and emotional boost, or kick in the pants, if you will, which is still felt a year later.

- David Dupuis, May 5, 2000

Artist Statement

I consider myself to be an aesthetic nomad. I attempt to make art out of the greater and smaller themes of my day-to-day existence. The changing forms of my work are a visual diary of things I may not understand, yet know intimately, or of things I am unable to, or dare not speak of with words. I want to create a playful intimate arena to invite an individual viewer to project their thoughts and desires upon.

- 1998

Biography

David Dupuis is a surrealist-symbolist artist who works in a variety of mediums, including graphite, colored pencil, and collage on paper. His works often feature evocative surreal landscapes and biomorphic forms.

Since receiving his Grants to Artists award, Dupuis has had numerous solo exhibitions at Derek Eller Gallery, where he premiered a series of self-portraits that explored themes of death and the body in 2006. In 2012, his work was exhibited in Utopia/Dystopia: Construction and Destruction in Photography and Collage at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and It's Always Summer on the Inside at Anton Kern Gallery.

Dupuis' work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at White Columns and Schmidt Contemporary in Los Angeles. His work has been included in group exhibitions at the New Museum, MoMA PS1, the Rubin Museum of Art, apexart, Paula Cooper Gallery, Paul Kasmin Gallery, Matthew Marks Gallery, and Andrea Rosen Gallery. Dupuis' work is included in public collections at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the New Museum, the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, The New School for Social Research, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

In 1982 Dupuis received a B.F.A. in Art and a B.A. in Theater at the University of Washington, Seattle. He also attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture the same year.

This image is broken into two horizontal sections. On the bottom, several grey abstract shapes are arranged closely together. On top of this, there is only white.
Rocks In My Bed, 2000.
Two ovals made of differently colored lines emanating from one center are arranged side by side. In the wedge shaped openings of each circle, there is a gray tongue like shape.
The Kiss, 2000, graphite, color pencil on paper, 50" x 76."
On the left side of an otherwise white sheet, there are three red rectangles patterned with a wood grain design. Beside each rectangle, there is an abstract gray shape.
Untitled, 1999.
On the bottom right corner of an otherwise white sheet, there is an abstract shape made from patterned brigh pink designs. The top of this shape has a tan design.
Untitled, 1999.
On the middle bottom of an otherwise light blue sheet, there is an abstract shape made from a pattern of touching, differently sized rectangles colored in green, blue, and purple. On the bottom right edge of this shape, there is a orange tube shape besides an orange shape that looks like a speech bubble.
Untitled # 121005, 1999.
On the left edge of a white sheet, there is a large blue rectangle made of swirling blue lines. To the right of this rectangle, there are four abstract shapes in a vertical line. To the right of these shapes there is a faint sunburst shape.
Untitled # 217001, 2000.
Several red squares are arranged in an otherwise white sheet. Within some of these squares, there are abstract gray shapes.
Untitled # 926002, 2000.