Writers and Artists Respond

Experience Paul Klee: Other Possible Worlds through the eyes of painter and educator Josh Dorman, whose work builds narrative scenes pulled together from poetry, dream-like images, and found printed materials. Dorman, who cites Klee as one of his key art historical references, creates multi-layered compositions that explore the mythical landscape, notions of collapsed time, altered boundaries and dream states.

Tickets: Free with Museum admission; advance RSVP required.

About the artist:

Josh Dorman (b. 1966 Baltimore, MD) is an artist and educator who recontextualizes antique images within fantastical drawn and painted worlds. Dorman sources antique maps, engravings and diagrams culled from textbooks, manuals and documents that were published prior to the widespread use of photography. In his work, Dorman considers obsolete and cryptic systems, resulting in non-linear, multi-layered narratives that explore the mythical landscape, altered boundaries and dream states. Essential to his oeuvre is Dorman’s reverence for artists Bruegel, Bosch and Klee, as well as to Sienese art and Mughal miniatures that transcend history and time.

Dorman holds a BA from Skidmore College and an MFA from Queens College, and lives and works in New York City and the Catskills. His work is represented by Ryan Lee Gallery in New York and Billis Williams in Los Angeles. He has exhibited widely, including at Georgia State University (2020), Longview Museum of Fine Arts (2019), Tang Museum (2011), Katonah Museum (2010), and The Drawing Center (2004). His work is included in numerous permanent collections, including the Addison Gallery of American Art, MA; Memorial Sloan Kettering, NY; Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN; Naples Museum, FL.