THE EMERGENCE / BURIAL / … SERIES, is informed by the unfolding of time and the cycles of life that exist within; the idea that everything comes from somewhere and is growing and changing into something else. White as the predominant color field is a metaphor for the potential of all possibility. The layered surface activity ranges from quiet to erupting; releasing and restricting the implied movement to suggest degrees of origin, growth, transformation, and the potential of what’s to come, or what might have once existed. While the content is confined by the surface edges, I suggest the visual activity extends and exists beyond, waiting to be revealed. Though each piece is considered finished, from early on I understood their need to be parts of a larger dynamic, that when viewed together would shape a more comprehensive whole. Ultimately a reflection of life and living.
Artwork has been included in Solo and Group exhibits in the United States and abroad including: the Rockford Art Museum in Illinois; the Chicago Cultural Center, Perimeter Gallery, Fassbinder Gallery, and Artemisia Gallery in Chicago; the Wustum Museum of Fine Arts in Racine, Wisconsin; David Adamson Gallery in Washington DC; Shirley Fetterman Gallery and Triplex Gallery in NYC; Iowa Contemporary Art and the Dubuque Museum of Art in Iowa; the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Camp Gallery and Muscarelle Museum of Art in Virginia, and the Deutsch-American Institute in Regensburg, Germany and a traveling exhibit throughout Virginia curated by Frederick Brandt of 20th Century Art at the Virginia Museum that included the Bayly Art Museum, Maier Museum of Art and Roanoke Museum of Fine Art. Artist residency fellowships beginning in 1982 include: Ragdale and Prairie Center of the Arts, Illinois; the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Virginia; Ox-Bow, Michigan and Paul Artspace in St. Louis, Missouri.
SOLO and TWO PERSON EXHIBITS
2019 Memoirs From the Emergence / Burial / Series, CSPS Hall, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
2017 Ken Dubin: Project Art at UIHC, Gallery 2, Iowa City, Iowa
2012 Poetry in Response to Painting, Maharishi International University Library Gallery, Fairfield, IA
2011 Ken Dubin: The Emergence / Burial / ... Series, ICON Gallery, Fairfield, Iowa
2012 Fish Nor Foul: Ken Dubin and Ty Smith, Times Club at Prairie Lights, Iowa City, IA, curator: Mary Laube
2010 The Emergence / Burial / … Series, Unity Gallery, Maharishi International University, Fairfield, Iowa
2008 The Emergence / Burial / … Series”, Teeple Hansen Gallery, Fairfield, Iowa
2004 Work From The Emergence / Burial / . . .Series, Ferguson Gallery, Concordia University, River Forest, Il
1989 Ken Dubin: Paintings, Reicher Gallery, Barat College, Lake Forest, Illinois
1988 Ken Dubin, Southport Gallery, Chicago, IL
1987 Ken Dubin: Recent Paintings, Pavillion For The Arts, Chicago, Illinois
1987 Ken Dubin, Camp Gallery, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Sweet Briar, Virginia
1981 Ken Dubin, Montgomery Ward Gallery, University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois
1979 O'Connor Gallery, Dominican University, River Forest, Illinois
1972 Jim Osborne and Ken Dubin, Jane Addams Hull House, Chicago, Illinois
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITS
2019 Alumni Invitational, Prairie Center Of The Arts, Peoria, IL
2017 Ken Dubin / Dennis Kowalski, Anomaly Gallery, Ottumwa, Iowa
2016 Fall Review, Sculptureworks Ferguson, MO
2016 74th Rockford Midwestern Biennial, Rockford Art Museum, IL, Juror: Sarah Krepp
2015 Three Visions: Ken Dubin, Benjamin Gardner, Dennis Kowalski, Transient Gallery, Des Moines, IA
2015 Dust, Viaduct Gallery, Des Moines, Iowa, curator: Benjamin Gardner
2014 Whimsy: Play, Quirk and a Tongue-in-Cheek Aesthetic, ICON, Fairfield, Iowa, curator: Ken Dubin
2013 2013 Biennial Exhibition, Dubuque Museum of Art, Dubuque, Iowa, Juror: James Welu
2012 ICON / IOWA / VCCA, ICON Gallery, Fairfield, Iowa, curator: Ken Dubin
2010 2010 Biennial Exhibition, Dubuque Museum of Art Dubuque, Iowa, Juror: Frank Paluch
2009 3rd Annual Large Works Show, ICON Gallery, Fairfield, Iowa, curator: Bill Teeple
2008 2nd Annual Large Works Show, ICON Gallery, Fairfield, Iowa, curator: Bill Teeple
2008 19th Evanston+Vicinity Biennial, Evanston Arts Center, Evanston, Il
2005 Silver Paper Gallery, Gallery Closing Show, Milwaukee, WI, Curator: Todd Groskopf
2004 Riverside Arts Center, Riverside, Illinois
2003 12 x 12, The Arts Center, Highland Park, IL
2003 60th Annual Salon Show, Northern Indiana Arts Association, Munster, Indiana, (cat.)
2001 Works on Paper, Riverside Arts Center, Riverside, IL
2001 O'Connor Art Gallery, Dominican University, River Forest, Il
2000 The Ragdale Experience, Gwenda Jay/Addington Gallery, Chicago, IL
2000 Peltz Gallery, Milwaukie, Wisconsin
2000 Perry Nicole Fine Art, Memphis, Tennessee
1999 30 times 15” x 15, Fassbender Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, Curator: Ingrid Fassbinder
1999 Return of the Men, Peltz Gallery, Milwaukee, WI
1998 Group Show, Perimeter Gallery, Chicago, IL
1997 Perimeter Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1997 Peltz Gallery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1996 Peltz Gallery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1995 Eastwick Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1994 51st Annual Salon Show, Bachman Gallery, South Shore Arts, Munster, Indiana, (cat)
1993 Shirley Fetterman Gallery, NY, NY, Selections from the BMCC Permanent Collection, curator: Linda Stein
1992 New Chicago Artists, Tough Gallery, Chicago, IL
1992 Triplex Gallery, New York, NY, Selections from the BMCC Permanent Collection, Curator: Linda Stein
1992 Open Spectrum, David Adler Cultural Center, Libertyville, Illinois, (cat.)
1991 Primary Visions: Ken Dubin, Richard Lange, Gyaeyoung Song, Temporary Space, Chicago, Illinois
1990 Judith Racht Gallery, Harbert, Michigan
1989 Judith Racht Gallery, Harbert, Michigan
1988 Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institute, Regensburg, Germany (cat.)
1988 Lynchburg Fine Arts Center, Lynchburg, VA
1988 Muscarelle Museum of Art, Williamsburg, Virginia, curator: Frank Gettings
1988 Van Straaten Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1988 Topeka Does Chicago, Topeka Gallery, Chicago, IL
1987 11th Annual Illinois Print and Drawing Exhibition, Harper College, Palatine, IL, Juror: Keith Achepohl
1987 Van Straaten Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1987 Adamson Gallery, Washington, DC
1986 Suburban Fine Arts Center, Highland Park, IL
1986 Mt. San Angelo Artists, Virginia Beach Arts Center, Virginia Beach, Virginia, curator: Frederick Brandt
1986 Mt. San Angelo Artists, Maier Museum, Lynchburg, Virginia, curator: Frederick Brandt
1985 Mt. San Angelo Artists, Roanoke Museum of Fine Art, Roanoke, Virginia, curator: Frederick Brandt
1985 Mt. San Angelo Artists, Bayly Museum, Charlottesville, VA, curator: Frederick Brandt
1985 Moming Dance and Fine Arts Center, Chicago, Illinois
1985 20th Anniversary Alumni Invitational:Fine Art Competition Winners, 1977-1984, Ward Gallery, U of I, Chicago
1983 Chicago Works on Paper-Abstracted, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL, Juror: Susan Senseman (cat.)
1983 Chicago Works on Paper-Abstracted, Wustum Museum of Fine Art, Racine, WI, Juror: Susan Senseman (cat.)
1983 Columbus Technical Institute, Columbus, OH
1983 Works:Paper, Ohio Foundation For The Arts
1982 Works: Paper, Siegfried Gallery, U of Ohio, Athens, Ohio, Jurors: William Olander, Kathryn Clark, (cat.)
1982 Ruth Volid Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1981 Open Spectrum, David Adler Cultural Center, Libertyville, Illinois
1981 Landscape Show, NAB Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1981 6/6, Artemesia Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1980 Best Of The Midwest, Artist Guild of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, Juror: Harry Bouras
1979 6/6, West Hubbard Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1972 Union Carbide Exhibition Hall, New York, NY: 46th National Scholastic Art Awards
1968 Oak Park Art League, Annual Exhibit, Oak Park, IL
PUBLICATIONS
New American Paintings, 15th Anniversary Edition, Open Studios Press, Boston, MA., February, 2010
Painters Bread (blog), Michael Rutherford, July 25, 2010, http://www.paintersbread.com/2010/07/ken-dubin.html
Wednesday Journal, "The Metaphysics of artist Ken Dubin", Anna Poplawska, August, 2004
New American Painting, Open Studios Press, Boston, MA. Juror: Carl Belz, August, 1998
New Art Examiner, "Ken Dubin", Garrett Holg, 1/’1989
Art Prose "The Emergence / Burial / ... Series", Elizabeth Carrera, 1989
Maier Museum of Art, Winter 1986, Vol. V111, #2
New Art Examiner, "Chicago Abstractionists rise above a bitter political legacy", Michel Segard, 3/’84
Milwaukee Sentinel, "New Chicago abstraction is earthbound", Dean Jensen, July, 1983
New Art Examiner, "6/6 Exhibition", Leon Upshaw, January, 1979
CURATORIAL
WHIMSY: Play, Quirk, and a Tongue-in-Cheek Aesthetic, ICON Gallery, Fairfield, Iowa, 2014
ICON/IOWA/VCCA: Virginia Center For The Creative Arts Fellows In Iowa, ICON Gallery, Fairfield, IA, 2013
COLLECTIONS
Borough of Manhattan Community College, NY
De Paul University, Chicago, Illinois
Dominican University, River Forest, Illinois
Hallmark Greeting Cards, New York
Harris Bank, Chicago, Illinois
The Kemper Group, Long Grove, Illinois
McDonald's Corporation, Oak Brook, Illinois
Moraine Valley Junior College, Palos Heights, Illinois
Ragdale Foundation, Lake Forest, Illinois
Virginia Center For The Creative Arts, Sweet Briar, Virginia
RESIDENCIES
Grinnell Artist Residency, Grinnell, Iowa, 2011
Michael Karolyi Memorial Foundation Fellowship, Vence, France, 1985
Ox-Bow, Saugatuck, Michigan, 1985
Paul Artspace, St. Louis, Missouri, 2016
Prairie Center of the Arts, Peoria, Illinois, 2012
Ragdale Foundation Fellowship, Lake Forest, Illinois, 1987,1998,1999, 2002, 2011
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Sweet Briar, Virginia, ’82, '85,-’87, '93, '97-'01, '03, '05, '11, '17
