ANDREW DENMAN: THE MODERN WILD

ANDREW DENMAN: THE MODERN WILD

Produced by David J. Wagner, L.L.C.

David J. Wagner, Ph.D., Curator/Tour Director

COAST-TO-COAST TOUR

September 19 - October 18, 2015: Lindsay Wildlife Museum, Walnut Creek (San Francisco Bay Area), CA

October 31, 2015 - January 3, 2016: Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson, AZ

February 1 - April 30, 2016: Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum, Oradell, NJ

“Tapestry” Palm Tanager, 21.25 x 31.5” Acrylic on Board, 2009

The result of Denman’s first international travel, in this case a trip to Trinidad in the West Indies, “Tapestry” represents a significant shift in style.  Here the stylistic and abstracted elements are melded seamlessly with hyper-realistic treatments in the artists’ portrayal of both habitat and wildlife.

A n d r e w   D e n m a n

“In the increasingly crowded field of wildlife artists, Andrew Denman [b. 1978], stands out for his distinctive look in addition to his masterful painting skill” writes veteran art writer and magazine editor Jennifer King in an editorial for Create Better Paintings.com. 

“Indigo” Indian Blue Peacocks, 24 x 48” Acrylic on Board, 2004

Not only was “Indigo” Denman’s first painting accepted into a major museum exhibition, in this case, “Birds in Art” at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, but it was also the first time his use of abstraction, previously limited to background applications, spilled over into his treatment of the animal subjects.

 Denman is an artist known for capturing diverse subjects, from wildlife, to landscape, to still life, in an equally diverse range of styles.  His recent work focuses on intimate wildlife portraits and scenes approached with a unique combination of hyper-realism, stylization, and abstraction.  While Denman does not eschew the term “wildlife artist”, his work has moved well beyond the genre, often incorporating modern art elements as well as subject matter that most traditional wildlife artists avoid. 

“Jigsaw” White Gyrfalcon, 28 x 20” Acrylic on Cradled Birch, 2011

 Denman holds a BA in Fine Arts from Saint Mary’s College in Moraga, CA.  He is well known in the San Francisco Bay Area as both an artist and teacher, and he has gained national attention through major gallery showings, numerous museum exhibitions, artist workshops and speaking engagements, and feature coverage in such publications as Southwest Art, American Artist, Wildlife Art, and The Artist’s Magazine, among others. 

Born in 1978, the Bay Area native showed a great degree of interest in art from an early age.  Denman organized his first one man show in high school at a local library, and soon after began participating in exhibitions with Pacific Wildlife Galleries in Lafayette, CA.  Since then, Denman has held four highly successful one-man shows at Pacific Wildlife. Locally, he has also participated in exhibits at the Bedford and Hearst Galleries, The Lindsay Wildlife Museum, the Oakland Museum of California, and the Bakersfield Museum of Fine Art. 

His work has toured nationally with Birds in Art and the Society of Animal Artists, which has thrice honored Andrew’s work with Awards of Excellence.  The artist has participated for four years running in the highly competitive Western Visions Miniatures and More Exhibition and Sale at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyoming, an institution that named him the Lanford Monroe Memorial Artist in Residence for Winter of 2009.  Denman’s work can be found in the National Museum of Wildlife Art, The Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin, and numerous private collections across the country.  The artist is a member of the Society of Animal Artists, NY, The International Guild of Realism, AZ, and Artists for Conservation, Canada.  Denman is currently represented by Trailside Galleries in Jackson Hole, WY, and maintains Denman Studios at his Orinda home.

“Modern Dance” Acrylic on Board, 35 x 24” 2004

Typical of his mature style, Denman uses the flamingos, as they shift musically between styles and stages of completion, as a vehicle for exploring the paint itself and the process of painting.

Whether painting an animal in its natural habitat or juxtaposing it against an abstract background,

Denman goes to great lengths to faithfully portray his subjects, taking frequent field trips to nature areas, parks, and zoos to observe his subjects and acquire reference material.  Yet while accuracy is always of great importance, Denman is an artist before he is a naturalist.  The sense of fearless experimentation and originality he brings to his paintings testifies to the artist’s true focus.  As Mary Nelson wrote in the Wildlife Art magazine, “In the end, it’s not the mood, the meaning, or the method that Denman craves.  It is the medium-art.” 

"Keep Searching Winki" Squirrel Monkey Acrylic on Board, 10 x 6.75" 2009

“This little fellow captured my heart one day on a trip to the San Francisco Zoo. Anyone who has ever named a pet is guilty of anthropomorphization and in some wildlife paintings, such sentiment creeps subconsciously into the artist’s portrayal of the anatomy. My goal is to not let my feelings of identification with an animal subject distort the accuracy of my representation, but I’m not at all above allowing emotion to shine through in the pose or expression I select or the title of the piece.

ANDREW DENMAN: THE MODERN WILD shall consist of thirty-five (35) artworks, plus preparatory drawings/sketches, photographs, poems, panels and labels.  For further information, visit: http://andrewdenman.com/Modern_Wild.html

Mine

by Andrew Denman

I drink jubilations of ignorant green;

I lap the clear quiet of blue;

I’m absorbed by the wisdom of yellow

And the violet mystery, too.

Mine is the hot, earthy passion of red

And orange with its zeal and its rage;

Mine is the vibrance and glory of black

And the pure, peerless white of the page.

It is my red lace eyelids that purple the sun;

In my brain burns the brilliance of sight;

Mine to breathe are the white buds of jasmine,

Unfurling like stars in the night.

I claim azure oceans that tug at my feet;

Mine as well are the sweet singing reeds;

Mine is the moss and the dust and the dross

And the root and the stem and the seed.

Mine