Carroll Dunham

The American artist Carroll Dunham (b. 1949) began his painting career in the 1980s. His works were mostly abstract until the ‘90s, whereupon he developed a visual language of organic forms with humanoid characteristics. Dunham typically creates semi-figurative paintings which combine cartoon-like drawing with strong chromatic colour. Here body parts and idiosyncratic shapes are often staged against saturated coloured fields. In Big Orange Planet (2005-6) we see an orb covered with trees and houses and populated with animated figures making rude poses. While some of the faceless figures suggestively expose themselves, others point weapons at one another and are embroiled in aggressive, violent and yet inexplicable confrontations. The ambiguous form floating above the planet seems like an absurd synthesis of the activities going on below, for it could be interpreted as either a phallus or a weapon. The figures and shapes in the painting thus combine raw sexuality with comic aggression. Dunham is known for this type of painting filled with psycho-sexual, angst-ridden content and aggressive energy. Demonic cartoon-like figures are found throughout his works. The orange planet appears to be a dystopian universe; a chaos of eroticised forms and figures, aggression and sexuality.

Dunham belongs to the same generation of painters as Sigmar Polke. Yet because he is interested in exploring painting as an arena with psychological dimensions, he is more often compared with artists such as Roberto Matta, Jean Dubuffet, Cy Twombly or the Surrealists. Another artist discussed in relation to Dunham is Philip Guston, who was a great inspiration for many figurative expressionists. The cartoonish manner also relates to Pop Art (see Andy Warhol) and other forms of expression common to pop culture, e.g., graffiti (see Aaron Young). But as far as content is concerned, Dunham’s libidinous and aggression-driven figures call to mind works by Marcel Duchamp and Francis Picabia. In sum, Dunham borrows elements from genres such as abstraction, figuration, surrealism, graffiti, pop art and comic strips, and feels no compunction to focus on one 'pure' form of artistic expression.

TK