Donald Moffett : The Extravagant Vein

V. Oliver

The first comprehensive survey of Donald Moffett's important investigations into art history, paint, and form, this beautifully designed and fully illustrated catalogue will provide deep insights into the breadth and range of the artist's practice over the past twenty years. Often provocative, and at times humorous, Moffett's works are always beautifully rendered. An astute and thoughtful painter, Moffett knows the power of the artist to critique the world at large, and his love of Goya and Morandi are manifested in his ability to blend the subtle with the outlandish, the image with social critique. As with much of Moffett's work, he is fearless in addressing issues that still resonate today, such as the rights of openly gay men and women to serve in the military; the aesthetics of gay subcultures; and the rampant scandals that mar the politics of our age, and in so doing he engages us in larger universal meditations on loss, alienation, life, and death. Organized by Valerie Cassel Oliver, curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Donald Moffett: The Extravagant Vein is the first survey exhibition and catalogue of this artist's prolific practice. The show and catalogue will present work created over the last two decades, bringing together nine important bodies of work that interrogate and blur the lines of painting through the incorporation of nontraditional materials and other media such as video and photography. Moffett's fascination with such media as video projection on paintings reflects his longstanding investigation of light and its relationship with flat, static surfaces. Regardless of format, Moffett's works are consistently built around deep and critical frameworks that engage the audience and help them to understand not only painting, but also the political and social issues that shape our contemporary lives. This catalogue will include an exhibition checklist, color reproductions of featured works, and the artist's biography and bibliography and promises to serve as a scholarly reader and a critical and lasting document. It is the first such survey of this artist's work to be published.