Kyle Dunn
Kyle Dunn
A Night Off, 2023
acrylic on panel
30 x 24 ins.
76.2 x 61 cm
Luminous domestic scenes address boundaries between public and private selves; gay identity and social norms.
The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art presents figurative painter Kyle Dunn in his first museum exhibition featuring recent works and new paintings created in response to the museum’s extraordinary collection. This exhibition is the 194th in the nearly 50-year-old MATRIX contemporary art series at the Wadsworth. Kyle Dunn / MATRIX 194 will be on view June 7 – September 1, 2024.
Kyle Dunn
Envelopes and mango, 2024
acrylic on wood panel
11 x 14 ins.
27.9 x 35.6 cm
“Kyle Dunn’s exciting work proves the continued relevance of figurative painting to address contemporary experiences, identities, and relationships. Setting art history in dialogue with the present moment, Dunn represents the best of the MATRIX program, and I’m thrilled to share his work with our visitors this summer,” said Jared Quinton, Emily Hall Tremaine Associate Curator of Contemporary Art.
Kyle Dunn
Studio Still Life, 2024
acrylic on wood panel
60 x 48 ins.
152.4 x 121.9 cm
Dunn’s paintings dramatize themes of intimacy and alienation in domestic scenes set against city backdrops that blend surrealism and modernism with hints of popular culture and cinema. Spatially ambiguous settings collapse interior and exterior worlds often referencing Dunn’s studio. His scenes are cinematic, with some figures sitting alone in quiet contemplation, while others are seemingly caught in the aftermath of romantic encounters or perhaps in anticipation of them. Moments of still life and trompe l’oeil puncture the compositions adding subtle humor, subversive messages, and nods to art history. His technique calls to mind great American realist painters like Edward Hopper and Andrew Wyeth, as well as the magical realism (and unapologetic gayness) of Paul Cadmus, George Tooker, and Pavel Tchelitchew. Dunn’s work is at once familiar and disquieting, timeless and unavoidably of the moment.
Kyle Dunn
Still Life with Bleeding Heart, 2023
signed and dated, verso
acrylic on panel
20 x 16 ins.
50.8 x 40.6 cm
Kyle Dunn lives and works in Brooklyn, NY, and received a BFA in Interdisciplinary Sculpture from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD. His work has been included in exhibitions at P·P·O·W, New York, NY; Marlborough Gallery, London, UK; GRIMM, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Maria Bernheim, Zurich, Switzerland; and Galerie Judin, Berlin, Germany; among others. His work is in the collections of the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL; the Sunpride Foundation, Kowloon, Hong Kong; and X Museum, Beijing, China. In 2022, his work was exhibited at the ICA, Miami, FL, in Fire Figure Fantasy: Selections from ICA Miami’s Collection. Dunn has been featured in various publications including The New York Times, AnOther Magazine, W Magazine, and Juxtapoz among others.
Kyle Dunn
Hyacinth and pears, 2024
acrylic on wood panel
20 x 16 ins.
50.8 x 40.6 cm
Kyle Dunn
Envelopes and mango, 2024
acrylic on wood panel
11 x 14 ins.
27.9 x 35.6 cm
Kyle Dunn
Lucky Star, 2024
signed and dated on verso
acrylic on wood panel
30 x 24 ins.
76.2 x 61 cm
Kyle Dunn
Sea Bell, 2024
acrylic on wood panel
48 x 60 ins.
121.9 x 152.4 cm
Kyle Dunn
Studio Still Life, 2024
acrylic on wood panel
60 x 48 ins.
152.4 x 121.9 cm
Kyle Dunn
Still Life with Bleeding Heart, 2023
signed and dated, verso
acrylic on panel
20 x 16 ins.
50.8 x 40.6 cm
Kyle Dunn
A Night Off, 2023
acrylic on panel
30 x 24 ins.
76.2 x 61 cm
Kyle Dunn
Paper Angel, 2023
acrylic on wood panel
70 x 50 ins.
177.8 x 127 cm
Kyle Dunn
Initiation, 2023
acrylic on wood panel
60 x 48 ins.
152.4 x 121.9 cm
Kyle Dunn
Coat, 2022
flashe and acrylic on wood panel
60 x 48 ins.
152.4 x 121.9 cm
Kyle Dunn
The Hunt, 2022
flashe and acrylic on wood panel
72 x 60 ins.
182.9 x 152.4 cm
Kyle Dunn / MATRIX 194 (Installation View) Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT, June 7 – September 1, 2024. Photo: Allen Phillips.
Kyle Dunn / MATRIX 194 (Installation View) Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT, June 7 – September 1, 2024. Photo: Allen Phillips.
Kyle Dunn / MATRIX 194 (Installation View) Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT, June 7 – September 1, 2024. Photo: Allen Phillips.
Kyle Dunn / MATRIX 194 (Installation View) Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT, June 7 – September 1, 2024. Photo: Allen Phillips.
Kyle Dunn / MATRIX 194 (Installation View) Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT, June 7 – September 1, 2024. Photo: Allen Phillips.
Kyle Dunn / MATRIX 194 (Installation View) Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT, June 7 – September 1, 2024. Photo: Allen Phillips.
Kyle Dunn / MATRIX 194 (Installation View) Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT, June 7 – September 1, 2024. Photo: Allen Phillips.
Kyle Dunn / MATRIX 194 (Installation View) Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT, June 7 – September 1, 2024. Photo: Allen Phillips.
Kyle Dunn / MATRIX 194 (Installation View) Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT, June 7 – September 1, 2024. Photo: Allen Phillips.
Kyle Dunn / MATRIX 194 (Installation View) Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT, June 7 – September 1, 2024. Photo: Allen Phillips.
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford // June 07, 2024 - September 01, 2024
This week in Newly Reviewed, it’s Walker Mimms on Andrew Wyeth, Zoë Hopkins on Truong Cong Tung and Arthur Lubow on Kyle Dunn.
At the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, the artist’s cinematic tableaux announce his arrival on the mainstage of queer figurative painting.
The Brooklyn-based artist's works are now on view in "Matrix 194" at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Connecticut.