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DENNIS AUFIERY
“GOING DEEPER INTO PAINT: IMAGE AND ABSTRACTION”
Presented on: Tuesday, Apr 1st, 2014
Until his passing, Dennis Aufiery, was an Artist and Faculty Member at the Armory Art Center. At this Salon, he shared his thoughts on the relationship between contemporary figurative painting and abstraction. Dennis was known for the strength of his painting and drawing practice, and for his perceptive critiques and ability to inspire others through his teaching and depth of knowledge about contemporary and classical art.

“The problem for artists”, he said, “is to explore new ways of doing things or going deeper into existing territory. Either way the enterprise requires risk. It is important to recognize that good contemporary landscape or figure painting is a matter of inventing a way of painting to investigate how we see....I’m looking for an emotional connection when I paint; the meaning hidden in ordinary things. At the same time, I'm interested in the abstract organization of a painting, the energy of the marks, the structure of the color and other formal issues.

Social and cultural issues, identity and the individual human condition are subjects as much as composition. Power, time, desire, loss, ambiguity, the environment and who I am all are mixed in my work.... My discussion will include how contemporary artists see influences from Claude Lorrain and Corot to Courbet, Matisse, Giacometti, and Pollock, and a history of the many forms my art has taken.”

Dennis Aufiery attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he received the Thomas Eakins prize for painting. He received his BFA and MFA degrees at the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a fellowship, and a Post Graduate fellowship to the Skowhegan School. He has studied with Alex Katz, Neil Welliver, Janet Fish, Rackstraw Downes, and Graham Nickson.

Mr. Aufiery collaborated with Robert Venturi on a number of projects, including the TREEHOUSE in Philadelphia, which won an A.I.A. gold medal, and HIGH STYLES at the Whitney Museum of Art. Mr. Aufiery has shown work at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York, and exhibited in solo shows in Los Angeles, Philadelphia and South Florida. His exhibition history also includes the Museum of American Art, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, The Harn Museum of Art, the Portland Museum of Art, and the Boca Raton Museum of Art.


DENNIS AUFIERY'S WEB SITE