Dan Dempster: STATEMENT
Deep Seeing
"When we look deep into detail, subject and scale become irrelevant. Contemplating this paradox creates a crack in our façade of certainty about identity and meaning. Opened, it is possible to catch a glimpse of things as they are, rather than as we think. We are compelled to pay attention, to unknot our minds and wake up.
Seeing past concept and category, the mind opens to clarity and vastness. The boundaries between artist, subject, artwork and viewer dissolve. Through the window of such work, the viewer is drawn to share that selfless freedom. That is the art of seeing."
- Dan Dempster, CA
ORIGINAL STATEMENT OF INTENT (1997)
"Peace of mind is fast disappearing amidst the world's insatiable addiction to information and irrelevance. Information, thought and identity are still dangerously linked as reality. Our identity and character are vulnerable to challenge of a radical and fundamental nature, to a degree never before possible. The sheer volume and rate of change of the information environment are compounding stress on an already thought-laden existence, to the point that truth and identity are shorting out in a haze of trivializing media impression-bite. The proliferation and democratization of information alone is not necessarily a boon to humanity. To make wise use of it, concomitant education on the nature and limitations of information is imperative. Information is only a tool, and cannot ever adequately explain or substitute for reality, despite shallowly disguised claims otherwise. Until then, information remains the ideal product, offering perfectly legal asymptotic hop: we need more nd more to understand less and less. Further, information daringly offers itself as the solution to the contradictions it spawns. However, thought-based solutions fail because they are ultimately self-referential, and are therefore part of the pandemic.
The search for relief from though demands that the artist serve as an opening into the relic of things as they are, past the distorting screen of thought and word. It demands work that draws us toward centre rather than distracting us further from it. It demands of art purity of experience with least association; truth beyond technique. The immediacy of such work is achieved as far as possible by removing ego from the process. Technique is learned, then mastered, then ultimately forgotten in the fluidity of action. The artist is not so much creating work as being created by it. In listening to the piece rather than forcing his interpretation upon it, the artist allows the work to speak with purity and clarity. The boundaries between observer and the observed dissolve. With the dissolution of self embodied in creating the work, the work does not arouse the defensive ego of the observer that would block his experience. The observer is thus ushered through the window of the work to the magic of the experience itself. The perceptual boundaries between artist, subject, object, and viewer dissolve.
Agnes Martin in "Beauty is the Mystery of Life" wrote, "When your eyes are open, you see beauty in everything... Blake's right about there's no difference Between the whole thing and the one thing." But where Martin sought the expression of perfection as an ideal, I seek the expression of perfection in the incredible beauty of things as they are. Where she wrote that art work is enjoyed or not depending on the condition of the observer, I believe it is possible, and indeed the artist's responsibility, to induce the observer out of his or her condition. Yes, the observer brings his condition as ego and all its attachments to viewing the works, but as outline above, if the viewer is confronted with as little conscious ego in technique on the part of the artist, the work's truth may be electrically experienced by the observer.
Rodin turned a very elegant phrase when he, regarding his partial figures as finished works, retorted to intolerant criticism, "Beauty is like God; a fragment of beauty is complete!" This cogent expression is a fitting introduction to my work which "re-presents" the innate aesthetic of our surroundings. Rather than lecture the observer, the work explores those boundaries through indirection and subtlety. Its concession is in the paradox of thought. The obvious is not obvious at all, and the very complex is actually very simple.
In creating this work I am learning to articulate something that I have always intuitively understood - that definition by its nature automatically reduces experience rather than opening it up. Conversely, dissolving definition into experience restores our connection to experience. By "re-presenting" the obvious through the artist's aesthetic without ego the observer is able to "re-cognize" the spectacular in the mundane, the order in chaos in order that one had forgotten or simply become habituated to. My work uses the movement of water and light, and the change inherent in materials as vehicles for exploring and exposing the fundamental essence of the moment as it is.
The information environment although ubiquitous, remains artificial. To survive and prosper, we must relearn innocence and trust in our intuition. Intuition is nothing more than the natural result of allowing oneself to become open and receptive to one's environment. We nee to learn to see again, as children do, the magic contained in the tiniest events that every moment surround us. This is what my work provokes the observer to do. Gradually, after time spent searching for associations or relations in the world, the observer is drawn to contemplate the fantastic beauty of things as they are, and gains understanding through peace of mind."
- © 1997 Daniel C Dempster. Statement of Intent, p.18. Dan Dempster "Waterworks" 1990-1997, Peninsula Fine Arts Center, Newport News, VA. ISBN 1-886845-03-4
Right: Bermuda Shallows
36x36" oil on canvas
private collection
Dan Dempster: Biography & C.V.
Dan Dempster, CA
Dan Dempster (b. 1963, Montreal) is a professional Copley Artist member of the Copley Society of Art, Boston (1879).
Having grown up in Bermuda, lived in Toronto, New York, Miami, Boston, and Los Angeles, he has finally settled in the Colorado mountain town of Pagosa Springs. All Dan Dempster's explorations in drawing, painting and sculpture are based on deep familiarity with nature. His interest is studying the vastness revealed in the close observation of fractal detail, in particular the movement of water and light.
He is a Copley Artist and a graduate of the University of Waterloo and Sheridan College. He has been a professional artist for thirty years, showing in New York and abroad, and has taught figure drawing for many of them.
His weathered sculpture was shown in New York by Fulcrum Gallery SoHo from 1994-2002. His work has been selected for exhibition in eight Bermuda National Gallery Biennials, the Bienniale Museo de Arte Moderno, St. Domingo, ten juried exhibitions at the Copley Society of Art, the Bermuda Biological Station for Research, won Best Painting at the New Hampshire Institute of Art Biennial and Best in Show at the Bermuda Society of Arts, and is in the collections of the Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art, HSBC Bank of Bermuda, Swiss Re and other private collections.
His philanthropic activity includes work selected for the British Red Cross Society "Art for Humanity" auction in London and the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy, among others.
*Copley Society of Art press release.
Education
1989 DCA, (magna cum laude) Sheridan College, Ontario
1988 BA, University of Waterloo, Ontario
Grants
Bermuda Arts Council
Professional Memberships & Appointments
The Springs Resort, Pagosa Springs, CO. Artist In Residence
Copley Society of Art, Boston, MA. Artist Member 2008, Copley Artist 2018
Bermuda Arts Council. Treasurer
Bermuda Society of Art. Vice President.
Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art. Fellow, Artist In Residence (2005, St. George's)
Mentors
Dennis Sherwin, Bermuda
Peter Barton, Hudson, NY
Dr. Charles Zuill, Bermuda
Bernard Poulin, Ottawa
Commissioned painting expeditions
2004 Seeing Bermuda through the eyes of American Impressionists, Bda Society of Arts
Inspired by the collection of Mr. David L White, facilitated by Laura Gorham, past Director of the Bermuda National Galley and the generous time and access given by museum curators abroad. Paintings commissioned in advance funded a research trip from Manhattan through Old Lyme, Connecticut to Halifax, Nova Scotia to study works by American impressionists who had travelled to and painted in Bermuda during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
2002 Water, Light and Architecture: Bermuda vs Santorini, Bermuda Society of Arts
Paintings commissioned in advance funded an extensive trip from Switzerland to Crete, resulting in an exhibition of oils that compared and contrasted the water, light and architecture of Santorini and Bermuda.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2024 Ithuriel: Fractal Shallows, Pagosa Springs Center for the Arts, Pagosa Springs, CO
2022 River Paintings, Dempster Fine Art Gallery at The Springs Resort, PS, CO
2015 Mullions & Moonlight, Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art
2008 Tidepools: Fractal Shallows, M2L, Boston, Massachusetts
2005 Sky, Sand & Sea, Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art
1998 Waterworks, District of Columbia Arts Center, Washington, D.C.
1998 Ithuriel, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
1997 Bermuda Shallows: Drawings, Nicholas Lusher Fine Art, Bermuda
1997 Timewrack and Tide, Fulcrum Gallery SoHo, New York
1997 Waterworks, Peninsula Fine Arts Center, Newport News, Virginia
1996 Ithuriel, Bermuda Society of Arts, Hamilton, Bermuda
1996 Iron Moss, Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art
1996 The Water Planet, Fulcrum Gallery SoHo, New York
1992 Dempster, Bacardi International, Hamilton, Bermuda
Selected Group & Juried Exhibitions
Bermuda National Gallery Biennials, Hamilton, BDA since 1994 (8)
Fulcrum Gallery SoHo, New York, NY from 1994-2002
Copley Society of Art, Newbury Street, Boston, MA since 2008
Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art since 1996
Past established Bermuda galleries since 1991:
Bluck's, Windjammer, Desmond Fountain and Nicholas Lusher.
2024 Life on The Palos Verdes Peninsula, Destination Art, Torrance, CA
2023 Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking? The Muckenthaler Museum, Fullerton, CA
2022 Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking? Malaga Cove Library (1929), Palos Verdes Estates, CA
2020 Are YourThinking What I'm Thinking? La Venta Inn, Palos Verdes Estates, CA
2020 Regional Showcase, National Watercolor Society, San Pedro, California
2019 Fantastic Voyage, Art Directors Guild Gallery 800, NoHo Arts District, CA
2019 Summer, Palos Verdes Art Center, California
2019 Art Unites 12, Art Directors Guild Gallery 800, NoHo Arts District, California
2018 Copley Society of Art, Boston, Massachusetts
2018 Not always So, The Loft, San Pedro, California
2017 Winter, Palos Verdes Art Center, California
2016 Bermuda National Gallery Biennial
2016 Summer, Palos Verdes Art Center, California
2015 South Bay Focus, Torrance Art Museum, California
2009 Get the Lead Out 2, Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art
2009 Biennial 2009, New Hampshire Institute of Art, Manchester, NH
2008 Copley Society of Art, Boston, Massachusetts
2006 Bermuda National Gallery Biennial
2005 Art for Humanity, Red Cross Art Auction, London, England
2004 Bermuda National Gallery Biennial
2003 Art: New Genre, Bermuda National Gallery, Hamilton, Bermuda
2002-1994 Fulcrum Gallery SoHo, New York, NY
2002 Bermuda National Gallery Biennial
2001 Julie Coash & Dan Dempster, Burnaby Gallery, Hamilton, Bermuda
2000 Bermuda National Gallery Biennial
1998 Salomon Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1998 Sculpture: 3D, Charles Sumner Museum, Washington, D.C.
1998 Bermuda National Gallery Biennial
1996 3rd Bienniale, Museo de Arte Moderno, St. Domingo
1996 Bermuda National Gallery Biennial
1994 Dempster, Fugate-Wilcox & Kobayashi, Fulcrum Gallery SoHo, New York, NY
1994 Bermuda National Gallery Biennial
Publications
The Bermuda National Gallery Biennial
Catalogues. Bermuda National Gallery, Hamilton, Bermuda.
1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2016
Dan Dempster "Timewrack & Tide" new works of copper, steel and zinc
Fulcrum Gallery SoHo, 480 Broome Street, Broome & Wooster, New York, NY 10013.
Dan Dempster: "Waterworks"
ISBN 1-886845-03-4. Softcover, 20 pages, 12 colour plates, essay by Peter Barton. Peninsula Fine Arts Center, Affiliate of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, P.O. Box 6438, Newport News, VA 23606.
3rd Bienniale of Painting of the Carribean and Central America
Catalogue. Museo de Arte Moderno, Santo Domingo. Catalogue.
New York Contemporary Art Galleries
Renee Phillips, Manhattan Arts, New York, NY.
Copley Artist
"With the acceptance of his oil painting to the 2018 Copley Society's Winter Members Show: In the Style Of, juried by Tom Kellaway, Editor of American Art Review, Daniel became a Copley Artist. Achieving this status is a mark of excellent technique, hard work ethic, and superb artistry."
- Copley Society of Art press release.
Above: Tiddlywink
36x60 oil on canvas.
Portuguese Bend Beach Club
Rancho Palos Verdes, California