ART
Kim Dorland: The Edge of Town

when: Now through Sat 1.28 (Wed-Fri: 11am-5:30pm / Sat: 11am-5pm)
where: Kasia Kay Projects (1044 W Fulton Market St, 312.492.8828) map
price: free
links: Kim Dorland

Toronto-based painter Kim Dorland paints typical ne'er-do-well teenagers doing what teenagers do: drinking beer in the woods in hoodies, loitering in trailer parks and under graffiti-covered bridges with cigarettes in hand, or gathering around bonfires. He renders his subjects and the bleak landscapes around them with supremely confident, almost aggressive, strokes; piles of garbage or leaves are often created with blobs of dried paint scraped on directly with the palette knife. Dorland creates depth and texture through underpainting with fluorescent colors and juxtaposing the thicker sections with sparse areas where the canvas nearly shows through, skillfully building a dark, disaffected mood that seethes with raw emotion. (AM)