{{Short description|Canadian artist}} {{Infobox artist | bgcolour = | name = Moira Dryer | image = File:Moira_Dryer_(NYC_1989)_photo_by_Jeannette_Montgomery_Barron.jpg | imagesize = | caption = Moira Dryer (NYC 1989) photo by Jeannette Montgomery Barron | birth_name = | birth_date = 1957 | birth_place = Toronto, Canada | death_date = May 20, 1992 | death_place = New York City, U.S. | nationality = | field = Painter | training = School of Visual Arts | movement = | works = | patrons = | influenced by = | influenced = | awards = }} '''Moira Dryer''' (1957–1992) was a Canadian artist known for her abstract paintings on wood panels that bridged the gap between Conceptual Art and contemporary painting with a playful and poetic approach.<ref>[https://www.magentaplains.com/media/pages/exhibitions/moira-dryer/d173992194-1740605959/magentaplains_moiradryer_pressrelease_2025-2-11.pdf] Moira Dryer at Magenta Plains</ref>
Dryer was born the youngest of three children in Toronto, Canada. Her mother, Pegeen Synge, was an architect and her father, Douglas Dryer. was a professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto. Dryer attended Sir George Williams University in Montreal before moving to New York City to attend the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in Manhattan.<ref name=":0" /> At SVA she was a student of the painter Elizabeth Murray in 1978 and 1980 and became a friends and a studio assistant to Murray. She also became a studio assistant to the Neo-expressionist painter Julian Schnabel.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=March 7, 2020|title=Moira Dryer: Satisfyingly complete|url=https://www.twocoatsofpaint.com/2020/03/moira-dryer-satisfyingly-complete.html|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=Two Coats of Paint}}</ref> Dryer graduated from SVA with honors in 1981.<ref name=":0" />
Before working full time as painter, Dryer was a freelance prop and scenic design maker,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Moira Dryer - Artists - Van Doren Waxter|url=https://www.vandorenwaxter.com/artists/moira-dryer/biography|access-date=2020-12-29|website=www.vandorenwaxter.com}}</ref> and set designer for the avant-garde theater company Mabou Mines.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Moira Dryer: Back in Business {{!}} The Phillips Collection|url=https://www.phillipscollection.org/event/2020-10-09-moira-dryer-back-business|access-date=2020-12-29|website=www.phillipscollection.org|date=8 February 2020 |language=en}}</ref>
In 1982, Dryer married fellow painter and SVA classmate Victor Alzamora. Alzamora died of a congenital heart condition in 1983 at the age of 29.<ref name=":0">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/05/21/arts/moira-dryer-34-an-abstract-artist-painted-on-wood.html |title=Moira Dryer, 34, An Abstract Artist; Painted on Wood |newspaper=New York Times |date=May 21, 1992}}</ref>
Moira Dryer died of cancer at her home in New York City on May 20, 1992.<ref>[http://www.vulture.com/2014/01/seeing-out-loud-the-brief-career-of-moira-dryer.html Vulture, "Seeing Out Loud: Jerry Saltz on the Brief, Great Career of Moira Dryer" January 30, 2014]</ref> ==Exhibitions== Dryer had her first solo exhibition in 1986 at the John Good Gallery. Subsequent exhibitions include shows at Mary Boone Gallery in Manhattan; Fred Hoffman Gallery in Santa Monica, California; Mario Diacono Gallery in Boston; Jay Gorney Modern Art in Manhattan; Eleven Rivington in Manhattan and Magenta Plains in Manhattan.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/17/arts/design/moira-dryer-project.html The New York Times January 16, 2014]</ref><ref>[https://www.magentaplains.com/media/pages/exhibitions/moira-dryer/d173992194-1740605959/magentaplains_moiradryer_pressrelease_2025-2-11.pdf] Moira Dryer at Magenta Plains</ref>
During her lifetime, Dryer had one-person exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (1987) and at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. She was the focus of a Museum of Modern Art Focus exhibition curated by former Senior Curator of Painting and Sculpture Robert Storr.
=== Solo and two-person exhibitions ===
2025<br /> ''Moira Dryer: Perpetual Painting'', Magenta Plains, New York
2014<br /> ''Moira Dryer Project'', Eleven Rivington, New York
2000<br /> ''Moira Dryer'', curated by Gregory Salzman; Forum for Contemporary Art, St. Louis (8 Sept.-4 Nov., 2000); Art Gallery of York University, Toronto (29 Nov.-4 Feb., 2001); Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA (29 March- 20 May 2001); The Contemporary Museum, Baltimore (17 June- 26 August 2001)
1998<br /> ''Moira Dryer & Shirley Wiitasalo'', Greene Natfali Gallery, New York
1997<br /> ''The Point of Departure: Moira Dryer / Jessica Stockholder''; Gallery of Art, Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS
Gallery 400, University of Illinois Chicago
1995 <br /> ''Estate Paintings''; Jay Gorney Modern Art, New York
1993<br /> ''Estate Paintings''; Jay Gorney Modern Art, New York<br /> ''Projects 42: Moira Dryer''; The Museum of Modern Art, New York
1992<br /> Mary Boone Gallery, New York
1991<br /> Fred Hoffman Gallery, New York<br /> Mario Diacono Gallery, Boston
1990<br /> Mario Diacono Gallery, Boston<br /> Mary Boone Gallery, New York
1989<br /> ''New Work: Moira Dryer'', San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco
1988<br /> John Good Gallery, New York
1987<br /> Hoffman Borman Gallery, Santa Monica, CA<br /> Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
1986<br /> John Good Gallery, New York
=== Group exhibitions === 2017 ''Fast Forward: Painting from the 1980s'', Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Jan 27-May 14, 2017
2013<br /> ''Four Women and a Kosuth'', James Barron Art, New York, September 13–22, 2013<br /> ''I, You, We'', Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, April 25–September 1, 2013
2011<br /> ''The Indiscipline of Painting'' Tate St. Ives, Cornwall,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Clark |first1=Martin |last2=Sturgis |first2=Daniel|last3=Shalgosky |first3=Sarah|author-link2=Daniel Sturgis |title=The Indiscipline of Painting: International Abstraction from the 1960s to Now |url=https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-st-ives/exhibition/indiscipline-painting |website=Tate |access-date=20 May 2021}}</ref> touring to Warwick Art Centre (2011/12)<br /> ''Circa 1986'', The Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, New York<br /> ''A Painting Show'', Harris Lieberman, New York
2008<br /> ''Charismatic Abstraction'', James W. and Lois I. Richmond Center for Visual Arts, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, October 30–November 25, 2008
2007<br /> ''Two Years'', Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, October 17, 2007 – February 17, 2008
2006<br /> ''Women's Work: Paintings 1970–1990'', Greenberg Van Doren, New York<br /> ''Hunters & Gatherers: The Art of Collecting'', The Shore Institute of the Contemporary Arts (SICA), Asbury Park, New Jersey
2005<br /> ''The Painted World'', MoMA PS1, New York
2001<br /> ''As Painting: Division and Displacement'', curated by Philip Armstrong, Laura Lisbon and Stephen Melville; Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio<br /> ''Side Show'', curated by Augusto Arbizo; Lawrence Rubin-Greenberg Van Doren-Fine Art, New York
2000<br /> ''D'', Sandra Gering Gallery, New York, curated by Robert Nickas
1999<br /> ''The Stroke: An Overview of Contemporary Painting'', curated by Ross Bleckner, Exit Art, New York
1998<br /> Jay Gorney Modern Art, New York
1997<br /> ''Coming Home Again'', curated by Jeanne Siegel for the 50th Anniversary of the School of Visual Arts; Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island, NY<br /> ''After the Fall: Aspects of Abstract Painting since 1970'', curated by Lily Wei; Visual Arts Gallery, New York
1996<br /> ''Some Recent Acquisitions'', Museum of Modern Art, New York <br /> ''Playpen & Corpus Delirium'', Kunsthalle Zürich, Zürich <br /> ''Reconditioned Abstraction'', curated by Martin Ball; Forum for Contemporary Art, St, Louis <br /> ''Painting In An Expanding Field'', organized by Saul Ostrow; Usdan Gallery, Bennington College, Bennington, Vermont<br /> ''Natural Process'', Center Gallery, Bucknell University, Lewisberg, PA; Williams Center for the Arts, Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania
1995<br /> ''Pittura-mmedia'', Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz, Austria<br /> ''A Selected Survey, 1983-1995'', Pat Hearn Gallery, New York
1994<br /> ''New York Abstract Painting'', Salvatore Ala Gallery, New York
1993<br /> ''Italia – America: L’astrazione ridefinita'', Galeria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, San Marino
1992<br /> Abstract Painting 1992; Schmidt Contemporary Art, St. Louis
1991<br /> ''Moira Dryer, Roni Horn, Sherrie Levine'', Hiram Butler Gallery, Houston
1990<br /> ''Gallery Group Exhibition'', Lawrence Oliver Gallery, Philadelphia
1989<br /> ''A Decade of American Drawing: 1980-89'', Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Santa Monica
1988<br /> Lawrence Oliver Gallery, Philadelphia<br /> ''The Other Painting'', Royal Canadian Academy of Arts Gallery, Toronto<br /> ''The Image of Abstraction'' The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles <br /> Tom Cugliani Gallery, New York<br /> ''In Side'', Barbara Kraków Gallery, Boston<br /> ''School of Visual Arts Alumni Exhibition'', Leo Castelli Gallery, New York <br /> Pat Hearn Gallery, New York<br /> ''Ironic Abstraction'', University of South Florida Art Galleries, Tampa
1987<br /> ''Stimulation'', John Good Gallery, New York <br /> ''Grand Design'', Proctor Art Center, Bard College, Annandale-on Hudson, NY<br /> ''True Pictures'', New York Studio School, New York<br /> ''Jennifer Bolande, Moira Dryer, Annette Lemieux'', Lawrence Oliver Gallery, Philadelphia
1986<br /> ''Selections'', Artists Space, New York <br /> ''Paintings/Objects'', Postmasters Gallery, New York<br /> ''Recent Abstract Painting'', John Good Gallery, New York <br /> Cash/Newhouse Gallery, New York
1985<br /> ''New American Abstraction'', John Good Gallery, New York
1984<br /> ''New York, New Work'', New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York
1983<br /> Limbo Lounge, New York
1982<br /> ''Visionary Landscape'', P.S. 122, New York<br /> YYZ Gallery, Toronto<br /> ''White Room'', White Columns, New York
1981<br /> Visual Arts Gallery, New York
1980<br /> Proposal Gallery, Baltimore<br /> Group Material, New York
=== Public collections ===
*Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY *Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto *Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama *Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh *Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York *High Museum of Art, Atlanta ('Picture This', 1989) *Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC *Maramotti Collection, Reggio Emilia, Italy *Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles *Museum of Modern Art, New York *The Newark Museum of Art, Newark, New Jersey *Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
==References== {{reflist|2}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dryer, Moira}} Category:20th-century Canadian painters Category:1957 births Category:1992 deaths Category:Canadian contemporary painters Category:Canadian abstract painters Category:Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Category:Sir George Williams University alumni Category:School of Visual Arts alumni Category:20th-century Canadian women painters