I knew that I wanted to be painting subjects that did not exist or could not be painted from observation… I wanted to visualize the subject, like it was a thing that I wanted to see pictured, so that was a reason to paint it.
- Dana Schutz
Dana Schutz (born 1976) is a painter, sculptor and printmaker who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Her work frequently depicts scenarios that cannot be viewed in reality, with figures participating in violent or creative activities, or in impossible or contradictory situations. She studied art at the Cleveland Art Institute and received her masters at Columbia University in New York City in 2002. She first came to attention with her debut exhibition Frank from Observation based on the concept of Schutz as the last painter, representing the last subject “Frank”. Since then her fictive subjects have ranged from people who can eat themselves, a gravity fanatic, imaginary births and deaths, and public/private performers.
Dana Schutz's work has been shown both in New York City and internationally. Her work can be seen in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Solomon R. Guggenheim, New York; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Museum of Contemporary Arts, Los Angeles; Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas; Tel Aviv Museum; Israel, among many others.
Dana Schutz has been making monotypes and etchings at Two Palms since 2012. Her etching series titled Strangers was recently acquired by the Cleveland Museum of Art.