Dan Lydersen

Born: 1980

My recent paintings are a reconciliation between past and present, particularly in regard to Western cultures notions of spirituality and the relationship between society and nature. Drawing from a variety of contemporary and historical sources, from the Renaissance to modern cinema, literature and popular culture, the paintings are an attempt to come to terms with the present through the immediate marriage of todays visual culture with that of the past. Both theatrical and satirical, comical and somber, the paintings pose a view of humanity that is steeped in the existential turmoil that lies between materiality and spirituality, where society trudges persistently forward into the future while the human search for meaning and purpose as mortal animals remains unresolved.

Having its roots in the Renaissance and manifesting itself in all manner of contemporary media, the notion of the rectangle as a window into an alternate reality has become an inherent mode of viewing in human culture. Whether via canvas, computer or television screen, there exists an eager willingness to suspend one's disbelief and subscribe to the illusion of simulated space depicted on a two-dimensional surface. In my work, this notion of the r...

2007 MFA, Painting, San Francisco Art Institute.
2002 BA, Art, with emphasis in Painting and Drawing, University of California at Santa Cruz.
2001 Summer Study at the American University of Rome, Italy.

Solo Exhibitions:
2017 - Plebeian Rhapsody, Jack Fischer Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2013 - Dan Lydersen: New Work, Jack Fischer Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2010 - Blue Skies From Now On, Jack Fischer Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2008 - Yesterday’s Here, Jack Fischer Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Two Person Exhibitions:
2013 - Endless Vacation (with Jeff Ramirez), Thinkspace Gallery, Culver City, CA

Selected Group Exhibitions:
2017 - Play!, Palo Alto Art Center, Palo Alto, CA
2017 - LAX / DTW: Detroit Hustle II, Inner State Gallery, Detroit, MI
2017 - Flourish, Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum, Mesa, AZ
2017 - 8, Elizabeth Houston Gallery, New York, NY
2017, Thirty-Three: Celebrating 33 Years of Independent Spirit & Sundance Film Festival, Kimball Art Center, Park City, UT
2016 - Nexus, Brand Library and Arts Center, Glendale, CA
2016 - Unnatural Histories V, Antler Gallery, Portland, OR
2016 - LAX / ORD, Vertical Gallery, Chicago, IL
2016 - The New Vanguard, Lancaster Museum of Art and History, Lancaster, CA
2015 - Pow! Wow!: Exploring the New Contemporary Movement, Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu, HI
2015 - La Familia, Thinkspace Gallery, Culver City, CA
2014 - Connect & Collect, San Jose Institute of Contemporary A...