Brandan Doty: In the Viewing Room

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Brendan Doty, "Family Day," 2020

acrylic on canvas, 16" x 19.75"

TrépanierBaer is pleased to present new works by Canadian artist Brandan Doty in our Viewing Room. Brandan Doty’s paintings are characterized by their dry-brush application depicting everyday scenes of both public, and private and intimate spaces. In some instances, the subject matter of these paintings is not revealed at first and requires quiet contemplation as the content of the scene blooms in front of the viewer's eyes. His drawings present pronounced flowing lines fused with elegant curves. The harmony suggested by these lines contrasts dramatically with the stark and harsh scenes shown on paper of physical and verbal abuse, and mental health issues, all within a family context. 

Doty continues in a long line of artists who choose to portray taboo and violent subjects such as: Goya's The Disasters of War aquatint prints made between 1810 and 1820; Picasso's monumental painting Guernica, made at his home in Paris in response to the 26 April 1937 bombing of the Basque town in Northern Spain by Nazi Germany; and Louise Bourgeois's nightmarish installation titled The Destruction of the Father from 1974, inspired by a childhood fantasy whereby a boorish father is pulled onto the table by other family members, dismembered and gobbled up.

Brandan Doty's sensitive and adroit use of media pervades his practice, and is a delight to see. And he uses comedy and animism to tackle embarrassment and violence in the interest of staging a controlled demolition of his own personal and cultural totems.

Brandan Doty was born in St Thomas, Ontario in 1980: he holds a BFA in Painting from the Alberta College of Art + Design (2005), now known as the Alberta University of the Arts, and an MFA from the University of Guelph (2015). He lives and works in Toronto, Ontario. 

Recent solo exhibitions of note include: What’s The Best Dog You Ever Had? New Edward Gallery, Calgary (2019); and Big Pain of Glass, Crawley Theatre, Marfa, Texas (2018).  Selected group exhibitions include: Controlled Burn, Mini Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas (2017); Auto Feeling, Katzman Contemporary, Toronto (2015); and No Prressurrre, curated by Patrick Cruz, Capacity 3, Guelph, Ontario.

In 2004 Doty received the Ellen Battell Stoekel Fellowship from Yale University. In 2017, he was chosen as  Artist-in-Residence for the Underground Comedy Club in Toronto; in 2018 he began the publishing house The National Gallery of Saskatchewan Press, and that same year he was awarded the Little Mt. Rios Residency of West Texas, in Marfa.