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InspirationArt & Culture

Canadian suburban life by Kim Dorland

Toronto-based artist Kim Dorland is driven equally by his fascination with the materiality of oil paint and his interest in exploring his own life experiences, creating both quietly reflective and boldly visceral sculptural paintings.

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A figure with a red head viewed from behind stands in a sparse suburban lot with trailers, utility poles and parked vehicles under an overcast sky

Dorland builds up his images from multiple layers of thickly applied paint, sometimes adding mixed materials, like feathers, glass, string, and wood. “I draw my subject[s] from the experiences I have lived through and my impoverished upbringing,” he explains, referring to the images of wooded landscapes, trailers and low-income housing, open-air parties, fistfights, and Canadian flora and fauna that recur throughout his works.

Figure lying on bright green grass beside a suburban house and trees rendered in thick, textured oil paint by Kim Dorland
Expressionist oil painting of mobile homes beneath dark trees under a pale sky, rendered in thick gestural brushstrokes with vibrant colour accents
Heavily textured oil painting depicting an abandoned, rusted car sinking into murky water outside a dilapidated orange trailer surrounded by debris and overgrown vegetation
Kim Dorland's thickly painted scene of a dilapidated structure with bright pink and orange geometric shapes overhead, scattered debris and figures below, rendered with expressive brushstrokes and mixed materials
Snowy suburban street with bare trees, wooden fence, distant houses and evergreens under pale winter sky, painted with thick textured brushstrokes
Children skateboarding and gathering on a frozen pond surrounded by forested hills, painted in thick oils with vibrant pinks and muted greens
A colourful suburban backyard with a weathered grey fence, pink trampoline, and scattered debris, painted in thick oil with mixed materials including protruding wood and branches
Kim Dorland's mixed-media painting of a red and white trailer surrounded by tangled string, branches and paint marks on a grey ground
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