{{Short description|American painter (born 1978)}} {{Infobox person | name = Chris Dorland | image = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = Montreal, Quebec, Canada | occupation = Artist, Director-at-Large at Magenta Plains | spouse = Erin Knutson | children = | website = [http://chris-dorland.com chris-dorland.com] }}
'''Chris Dorland''' (born 1978, Montreal) is a Canadian/American contemporary artist based in New York City. His paintings and digital screen-based works collapse hyper-representation and hyper-abstraction<ref>{{cite web|last=Emerling|first=Susan|title=Surface Tensions|url=http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/26706147/surface-tensions|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304025128/http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/26706147/surface-tensions|url-status=dead|archive-date=2016-03-04|publisher=Broder Crossings}}</ref> by manipulating together digital files and software and paint.<ref>[https://foundation.app/blog/chris-dorland "Chris Dorland on transforming glitches into artworks"]. ''Foundation'', Lindsay Howard April 26, 2021</ref> His work is included in numerous public and private collections, including the Bronx Museum, the Whitney Museum of Art and the Neuberger Museum of Art.
==Early life and education== Dorland was born in Montreal, Quebec. He received his BFA from State University of New York at Purchase.
==Artwork== Dorland is known for his interest in the merging of computer culture with the art of painting. His large-scale, glitchy<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.interviewmagazine.com/art/glitch-artist-chris-dorland-talks-transhumanism-author-carolyn-kane|title=Glitch artist Chris Dorland talks transhumanism with author Carolyn Kane|date=19 January 2018}}</ref> paintings and moving-image works reflect the cross sections of art history, artificial intelligence, Internet culture, video games,<ref>{{cite web|last=Charlesworth|first=JJ|title=VR Vertigo No 2: Chris Dorland|url=https://artreview.com/reviews-vertigo-vr-no2-chris-dorland|date=May 2020}}</ref> and machine vision.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.artcritical.com/2018/03/15/roman-kalinovski-on-chris-dorland/|title=The Willful Glitch: Chris Dorland and Technological Singularity|date=15 March 2018}}</ref> His neon-hued dystopian<ref>{{cite web|last=Wise|first=David Mark|title=Chris Dorland/Rhona Hoffman|url=http://art.newcity.com/2008/05/08/review-chris-dorlandrhona-hoffman-gallery/|publisher=New City|date=2008}}</ref> abstractions layer and compress digital detritus into glitch datascapes.<ref>{{cite web|last=Qiu|first=Serena|title=Chris Dorland Frightening Utopias|url=http://thewildmagazine.com/blog/frightening-utopias-chris-dorland-at-winkelman-gallery/|publisher=The Wild|date=2012|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130926073519/http://thewildmagazine.com/blog/frightening-utopias-chris-dorland-at-winkelman-garage/|archivedate=2013-09-26}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Gavin|first=Francesca|title=Off-Modernists|url=http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/15020/1/off-modernists|publisher=Dazed|date=November 2012}}</ref>
To achieve this, Dorland employs a combination of scanning, printing, and drone-based image capture to develop layered compositions that reference hyperreality, digital electronics, and capitalism<ref>[https://www.papermag.com/chris-dorland-civilian-nyc-1-2524835220.html "This Artist's Work is Like Entering an Episode of 'Black Mirror'"] ''Paper Mag'', Julia Gray January 12, 2018</ref> in an aesthetic reminiscent of tech noir. His work incorporates processes associated with computing and networked media<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/552d0271e4b054a6f094ddee/t/5abd61c2758d46d8ae3086f2/1522360794541/Hearts_4_58_63.pdf |title=Conversation with Chris Dorland |number=4 |magazine=Hearts |date=Spring–Summer 2018 |first=Paige |last=Silveria}}</ref> to construct accumulative, fragmented compositions.
In ''Frieze'', writer Natasha Stagg has situated Dorland's practice in relation to cyberpunk and science fiction, noting affinities with films such as Blade Runner, RoboCop, and Johnny Mnemonic, as well as the video game Cyberpunk 2077.<ref name="frieze1">{{Cite journal|url=https://www.frieze.com/article/natasha-stagg-chris-dorland|title=Painting the End of the World | Frieze|journal=Frieze|date=20 April 2021|issue=218|last1=Stagg|first1=Natasha}}</ref>
In his essay "Future Ruins and Haunted Screens in the Post-Digital Present," Robert Hobbs frames Dorland's work in relation to themes of simulation, entropy, and the condition of the ruin, drawing on his earlier scholarship on artists including Robert Smithson, Peter Halley, and Sterling Ruby.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hobbs |first=Robert |title=Chris Dorland : Future Ruins |publisher=Hirmer Verlag |year=2026}}</ref>
=== Architectural and World's Fair paintings === Beginning in the early 2000s, Dorland developed a body of paintings based on world's fair architecture, modernist pavilions, architectural models, and public spaces. Drawing on archival photographs and digitally manipulated source imagery, the works explored themes of futurity, technological progress, mediation, and historical memory. Writing in Art Papers in 2005, Sylvie Fortin described the paintings as reactivating the legacy of 1960s architectural utopianism through processes of excavation and reprocessing,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Fortin |first=Sylvie |title=Chris Dorland – Painting Utopia |journal=Art Papers |date=November 2005 |pages=20–22}}</ref> while Susan Emerling later placed the work within a broader investigation of photography, image degradation, and representation.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Emerling |first=Susan |title=Surface Tensions |journal=Border Crossings |date=August 2007 |issue=103 |pages=94–100}}</ref>
=== Video and architectural interventions === From the late 2010s, Dorland expanded his practice to include video works and large-scale architectural installations incorporating flat-panel displays, LED displays, steel wall stud systems, reflective surfaces, and other industrial materials.<ref>{{cite web |last=Gaughan |first=Graeme |title=A Conversation with Chris Dorland |work=The New Order |date=2019 |url=http://thenewordermag.com/tno/a-conversation-with-chrisdorland}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Riss-Schmitt |first=Phillipe |title=The Protipian Latent Space |work=Refresh Magazine |date=April 12, 2026 |url=https://www.refresh.art/reviews/chris-dorland/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Dillon |first=Noah |title=February's New York City Art Crawl |work=Elephant |date=5 February 2018 |url=https://elephant.art/february-new-york-city-art-crawl/}}</ref> The shift coincided with his increasing use of aluminum composite panel substrates in place of traditional canvas. In discussing Dorland’s 2018 exhibition ‘‘Civilian’’, Robert Hobbs described the steel stud structures as extending the work into what he termed an “architectural field,” enveloping and obstructing the gallery space and directing viewers’ movement in ways that reflect concerns present throughout the artist’s practice.<ref name="Hobbs2026">{{cite book |last=Hobbs |first=Robert |chapter=Future Ruins and Haunted Screens in the Post-Digital Present |title=Chris Dorland: Future Ruins |publisher=Hirmer Verlag |date=2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Chris Dorland at Lyles & King, New York |work=Contemporary Art Library |url=https://www.contemporaryartlibrary.org/project/chris-dorland-at-lyles-king-new-york-75044}}</ref>
=== Screenscrapes (2020–present) === The Screenscrapes are an ongoing series of large-scale paintings that combine digital image processing, generative image systems, scanning, filtering, and algorithmic manipulation with painting processes. Executed in acrylic polymer, pigment, gesso, UV coating, and printed film on linen, the works are developed through the collection and recombination of digitally sourced imagery before being translated into composite painted surfaces. A recurring feature of the series is the use of painted whiteouts that interrupt and obscure portions of the image field.<ref name="Hobbs2026" />
==Grants and awards== Dorland is recipient of a number of awards, including the Rema Hort Mann Grant,<ref>{{cite web |last=Foundation Grant |first=Rema Hort Mann|title=Grant Recipients|url=http://rhmfoundation.org/visualarts.php|publisher=RHM Foundation |date=2005|url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130106054645/http://rhmfoundation.org/visualarts.php |archivedate=2013-01-06}}</ref> the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant,<ref>{{cite web|last=Foundation|first=PFK|title=Image Collection|url=http://www.pkf-imagecollection.org/artist/Chris_Dorland/works/#!4359}}</ref> and the Marie Walsh Sharpe Space Program. He is an alumnus of the Art & Law residency program.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Art & Law Program |url=http://www.artlawprogram.com/fellows/|publisher=The Law Office of Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento |accessdate= }}</ref>
==Exhibitions== Dorland's work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at institutions such as FRONT International: The Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://frontart.org/artists/chris-dorland/ |title=Chris Dorland |access-date=2018-11-02 |publisher=FRONT International |archive-date=2019-01-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190117230740/https://frontart.org/artists/chris-dorland/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://frontart.org/ |title=FRONT 2022 |publisher=Frontart.org |date= |accessdate=2022-09-23}}</ref> the Queens Museum of Art, the Museo Nacional De Bellas Artes in Santiago,<ref>{{cite web|title=Artista estadounidense crítica el capitalismo exponiendo sus obras en malls|date=8 August 2014 |url=http://www.elmostrador.cl/cultura/2014/08/08/artista-estadounidense-critica-el-capitalismo-exponiendo-sus-obras-en-malls/|publisher=El Mostrador |accessdate= }}</ref> White Flag Projects in St-Louis, and The Suburban in Oak Park, Illinois. He has exhibited at many galleries including Lyles & King,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://lylesandking.com/chris-dorland-civilian|title=Chris Dorland - Civilian|website=Lyles & King}}</ref> Martos LA, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Sikkema Jenkins, Marianne Boesky Gallery, Valentina Bonomo Gallery,<ref>{{cite web |title=AMERICAN DREAM- Valentina Bonomo, Roma|url=http://www.flashartonline.it/interno.php?pagina=onweb_det&id_art=693&det=ok&titolo=AMERICAN-DREAM-%E2%80%93-Valentina-Bonomo,-Roma/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150626150836/http://www.flashartonline.it/interno.php?pagina=onweb_det&id_art=693&det=ok&titolo=AMERICAN-DREAM-%E2%80%93-Valentina-Bonomo%2C-Roma%2F|url-status=dead|archive-date=2015-06-26|publisher=Flash Art Online|accessdate= }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Dream Team |url=http://www.ilgiornaledellarte.com/articoli/2011/4/107670/ |publisher=Il Giornale dell'Arte |accessdate= }}</ref> and Super Dakota,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.superdakota.com/exhibitions/chris-dorland-happiness-machines|title = Super Dakota » Chris Dorland Happiness Machines}}</ref> in Brussels.
==Publications and critical reception== In 2026, Robert Hobbs published ''Chris Dorland : Future Ruins'' (Hirmer Publishers) <ref>https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/C/bo265678899.html</ref><ref name="Hobbs2026">{{cite book |last=Hobbs |first=Robert |chapter=Future Ruins and Haunted Screens in the Post-Digital Present |title=Chris Dorland: Future Ruins |publisher=Hirmer Verlag |date=2026}}</ref>, the first monographic study dedicated to Dorland's work. The book situates Dorland's practice within a broader discourse on technological mediation, image degradation, and the aesthetics of digital systems. Drawing on themes that have recurred throughout his scholarship, including his writing on artists such as Robert Smithson, Hobbs frames Dorland's work in relation to concepts of entropy, fragmentation, and the evolving condition of the ruin. Within this context, Dorland's practice is discussed as engaging analogous concerns within contemporary networked and algorithmic environments.
==Reviews== Dorland has been featured and his art reviewed in several publications, such as The New York Times,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/31/arts/design/what-to-see-in-new-york-art-galleries-this-week.html|title=What to See in New York Art Galleries This Week|newspaper=The New York Times|date=31 January 2018|last1=Heinrich|first1=Will|last2=Schwendener|first2=Martha|last3=Smith|first3=Roberta}}</ref> Frieze magazine,<ref>{{cite web|last=Stagg|first=Natasha|title=Painting the End of the World|url=https://www.frieze.com/article/natasha-stagg-chris-dorland|publisher=Frieze|date=20 April 2021}}</ref> Art Review,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://artreview.com/reviews-vertigo-vr-no2-chris-dorland/|title=VR Vertigo No 2: Chris Dorland}}</ref> Artnet,<ref>{{cite web|last=Viveros-Fauné|first=Christian|title=Activism Is the Hot New Art Trend at NADA New York 2017|url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/activism-is-alive-and-well-at-at-nada-new-york-2017-878552|publisher=Artnet News|date=3 March 2017}}</ref> The Art Newspaper,<ref>{{cite web|last=Estorick|first=Alex|title=Art's New Hybrid Economy|url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/07/04/arts-new-hybrid-economy-who-is-making-creative-waves-in-a-sector-where-analogue-and-digital-media-exist-together|publisher=The Art Newspaper|date=4 July 2025}}</ref>, Right Click Save,<ref>{{cite web|last=Pereira|first=Annie|title=On Painting's Digital Ruins|url=https://www.rightclicksave.com/article/on-paintings-digital-ruins-interview-chris-dorland|publisher=Right Click Save|date=9 June 2025}}</ref>,Art Papers,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Fortin |first=Sylvie |title=Chris Dorland – Painting Utopia |journal=Art Papers |date=November 2005 |pages=20–22}}</ref> and Border Crossings (magazine).<ref>{{cite journal |last=Emerling |first=Susan |title=Surface Tensions |journal=Border Crossings |date=August 2007 |issue=103 |pages=94–100}}</ref>
==Curation== Dorland is co-director at [https://www.culturedmag.com/article/2018/03/08/magenta-plains/ Magenta Plains] gallery at Canal Street and Bowery in Manhattan. He has curated a number of art exhibitions; most notably ''Skin Jobs'' at Marc Selwyn Fine Art in Los Angeles<ref>{{cite web |title=Skin Jobs |publisher=Marc Selwyn Fine Art |url=https://www.marcselwynfineart.com/attachment/en/68389252fb89d017a10b3176/TextOneColumnWithFile/5f174ce43ac138b818c2cb64/}}</ref> and ''DATA TRASH'' at I-20 Gallery in New York City.<ref>{{cite web |title=Data Trash |publisher=I-20 Gallery |url=http://i-20.com/data-trash-2012/overview/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=A Spin Painting at I-20 Gallery |work=Observer |date=June 2012 |url=https://observer.com/2012/06/a-spin-painting-at-i-20-gallery/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Data Trash |publisher=Daily Art Fair |url=https://dailyartfair.com/exhibition/995/nathan-azhderian-gretchen-bender-lizzi-bougatsos-jim-brittingham-sean-dack-david-deutsch-matt-ducklo-valie-export-shane-hope-devin-kenny-josh-kline-erin-knutson-justin-lieberman-ken-lum-marlene-mccarty-walter-robinson-saki-sato-kiki-seror-josh-tonsfeldt-phil-vanderhyden-kandis-williams-group-show-i-20-gallery-closed-}}</ref>
==Commissions== Dorland has been commissioned to create public art projects by Art Production Fund<ref>{{cite web |title=Artists|url=http://www.artproductionfund.org/artists/chris-dorland|publisher=The Art Production Fund|access-date=2014-02-27|archive-date=2014-01-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140110133414/http://www.artproductionfund.org/artists/chris-dorland|url-status=dead}}</ref> and the New Museum,<ref>{{cite web|title=After Hours: Murals on the Bowery|url=http://archive.newmuseum.org/index.php/Detail/Occurrence/Show/occurrence_id/1508/|publisher=New Museum}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Cashdan|first=Marina|title=Inaugural 'Festival of Ideas for the New City' Kicks Off This Week in New York |date=4 May 2011|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/marina-cashdan/the-inaugural-festival-of_b_856484/|publisher=Huffington Post|accessdate= }}{{Dead link|date=November 2016}}</ref> and Juilliard School of Music.<ref>{{cite web|title=June Noble Larkin Lobby|url=http://www.juilliard.edu/about/newsroom/2010-11/juilliard-double-premieres-art-and-music-are-set-tuesday-september-28-5-pm?destination=node/11957|publisher=The Juilliard School |accessdate= }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
== External links == * {{official website|chris-dorland.com}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dorland, Chris}} Category:1978 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century American painters Digital Category:American male painters Category:American digital artists Category:Canadian digital artists Category:Anglophone Quebec people Category:Painters from Montreal Category:Purchase College alumni