Moira Dryer (1957–1992) was a Canadian artist known for her abstract paintings on wood panel.
Early life and education
Dryer was born in Toronto, Canada; her mother was architect Pegeen Synge and her father Douglas Dryer was a professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto. She was the youngest of three children. She attended Sir George Williams University in Montreal before moving to the United States to attend the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in Manhattan.[1] At SVA she was a student of Elizabeth Murray, and she ultimately became a friend and a studio assistant to Murray. She also became a studio assistant to Julian Schnabel.[2]
Before working full time as painter, Dryer was a freelance prop and set maker,[3] and set designer for the avant-garde theater company Mabou Mines.[4]
Personal life
In 1982, Dryer married fellow painter and SVA classmate Victor Alzamora. Alzamora died of a congenital heart condition in 1983 at the age of 29.[1]
Exhibitions
Dryer had her first solo exhibition in 1986 at the John Good Gallery. Subsequent exhibitions include shows at Mary Boone Gallery, Manhattan; Fred Hoffman Gallery, Santa Monica, California; Mario Diacono Gallery, Boston; Jay Gorney Modern Art, Manhattan; and recently at Eleven Rivington, Manhattan.[5]
2014 Moira Dryer Project, Eleven Rivington, New York
2000 Moira Dryer, curated by Gregory Salzman; Forum for Contemporary Art, St. Louis, MO (8 Sept.-4 Nov., 2000); Art Gallery of York University, Toronto (29 Nov.-4 Feb., 2001); Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA (29 March- 20 May 2001); The Contemporary Museum, Baltimore (17 June- 26 August 2001)
1998 Moira Dryer & Shirley Wiitasalo, Greene Natfali Gallery, New York
1997 The Point of Departure: Moira Dryer/ Jessica Stockholder; Gallery of Art, Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS
Gallery 400, University of Illinois at Chicago
1995 Estate Paintings; Jay Gorney Modern Art, New York
1993 Estate Paintings; Jay Gorney Modern Art, New York Projects 42: Moira Dryer; The Museum of Modern Art, New York
1992
Mary Boone Gallery, New York
1991
Fred Hoffman Gallery, New York
Mario Diacono Gallery, Boston
1990
Mario Diacono Gallery, Boston
Mary Boone Gallery, New York
1989 New Work: Moira Dryer; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco
1988
John Good Gallery, New York
1987
Hoffman Borman Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
1986
John Good Gallery, New York
Group exhibitions
2017
"Fast Forward: Painting from the 1980s," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Jan 27-May 14, 2017
2013 Four Women and a Kosuth, James Barron Art, New York, September 13–22, 2013 I, You, We, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, April 25–September 1, 2013
2011 The Indiscipline of Painting Tate St. Ives, Cornwall,[6] touring to Warwick Art Centre (2011/12) Circa 1986, The Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, New York A Painting Show, Harris Lieberman, New York
2008 Charismatic Abstraction, James W. and Lois I. Richmond Center for Visual Arts, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, October 30–November 25, 2008
2007 Two Years, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, October 17, 2007 – February 17, 2008
2006 Women’s Work: Paintings 1970–1990, Greenberg Van Doren, New York Hunters & Gatherers: The Art of Collecting, The Shore Institute of the Contemporary Arts (SICA), Asbury Park, New Jersey
2005 The Painted World, MoMA PS1, New York
2001 As Painting: Division and Displacement, curated by Philip Armstrong, Laura Lisbon and Stephen Melville; Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio Side Show, curated by Augusto Arbizo; Lawrence Rubin-Greenberg Van Doren-Fine Art, New York
1999 The Stroke: An Overview of Contemporary Painting, curated by Ross Bleckner, Exit Art, New York
1998
Jay Gorney Modern Art, New York
1997 Coming Home Again, curated by Jeanne Siegel for the 50th Anniversary of the School for Visual Arts; Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island, NY After the Fall: Aspects of Abstract Painting since 1970, curated by Lily Wei; Visual Arts Gallery, New York
1996 Some Recent Acquisitions, Museum of Modern Art, New York Playpen & Corpus Delirium, Kunsthalle Zürich, Zürich Reconditioned Abstraction, curated by Martin Ball; Forum for Contemporary Art, St, Louis Painting In An Expanding Field, organized by Saul Ostrow; Usdan Gallery, Bennington College, Bennington, Vermont Natural Process, Center Gallery, Bucknell University, Lewisberg, PA; Williams Center for the Arts, Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania
1995 Pittura-mmedia, Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz, Austria A Selected Survey, 1983-1995, Pat Hearn Gallery, New York
1994 New York Abstract Painting, Salvatore Ala Gallery, New York
1993 Italia – America: L’astrazione ridefinita, Galeria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, San Marino
1992
Abstract Painting 1992; Schmidt Contemporary Art, St. Louis
1990 Gallery Group Exhibition, Lawrence Oliver Gallery, Philadelphia
1989 A Decade of American Drawing: 1980-89, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Santa Monica
1988
Lawrence Oliver Gallery, Philadelphia The Other Painting, Royal Canadian Academy of Arts Gallery, Toronto The Image of Abstraction The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Tom Cugliani Gallery, New York In Side, Barbara Kraków Gallery, Boston School of Visual Arts Alumni Exhibition, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
Pat Hearn Gallery, New York Ironic Abstraction, University of South Florida Art Galleries, Tampa
1987 Stimulation, John Good Gallery, New York Grand Design, Proctor Art Center, Bard College, Annandale-on Hudson, NY True Pictures, New York Studio School, New York Jennifer Bolande, Moira Dryer, Annette Lemieux, Lawrence Oliver Gallery, Philadelphia
1986 Selections, Artists’ Space, New York Paintings/Objects, Postmasters Gallery, New York Recent Abstract Painting, John Good Gallery, New York
Cash/Newhouse Gallery, New York
1985 New American Abstraction, John Good Gallery, New York
1984 New York, New Work, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York
1983
Limbo Lounge, New York
1982 Visionary Landscape, P.S. 122, New York
YYZ Gallery, Toronto White Room, White Columns, New York
1981
Visual Arts Gallery, New York
1980
Proposal Gallery, Baltimore
Group Material, New York
Public collections
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
The Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama
The Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
The High Museum of Art, Atlanta ('Picture This', 1989)
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC
Maramotti Collection, Reggio Emilia, Italy
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
The Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey
The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Later life
Moira Dryer died of cancer at her home in New York City on May 20, 1992.[7]
