A Sentimental Education (A Sinner Digresses)
1995
Oil on canvas
40 x 50 inches
While working with narrative painting, an apparently rational approach to art, I’ve always tried to take advantage of the way in which painting (art) allows the artist to bring together the conscious and the subconscious, the rational and the irrational, the realistic and the dreamlike.
Back in 1997, I started a series of paintings, “Studio of Sin (My Mind’s My Dark Room)”, in which I wanted to explore the deepest recesses of my psyche—using my mind as my studio. I thought of these paintings as giving me the opportunity to be as goofy and stream-of-consciousness as I could be. I thought of them as almost an antidote to my more structured “Sinner’s Progress” paintings and hand-made books.
“Lord Knows What I’m Thinking (About Drinking and Running Around)”, was the culmination of this series. To me it represents a portrait of the brain taken over by the body, the hormones and the subconscious.
Currently I’ve been working on a series whose working title is “Slumburbia”, a land where people live only in their dreams (in dream houses with their dream lovers, working at their dream jobs, etc.). The two paintings in this show, “Sleepy Beauty” and “Sleepy Brutey”, represent Disneyfield personifications of sloth, a state that Slumburbia’s denizens can fall prey to in this “retirement” community.
BORN Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1956
EDUCATION BA, University of Alabama, Birmingham: Fine Arts, 1979
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2002 “Sorror Falls…Joy Rises,” Gracie Mansion Gallery, New York, NY
2001 “Road to No...Where,” Gallery of the School of Art and Design, Lucerne, Switzerland
1999 “Road to No...Where? Road to Pair o’ Dice,” Gracie Mansion Gallery, NYC
“An exhibition of Recent Publications,” Printed Matter, NYC
“Road to No...Where? Road to Pair o’ Dice,” McIntosh/Panich Gallery, Atlanta
“David Sandlin: East Village Posters 1982–88,” Life Cafe, New York City
1998 “A Sinner’s Progress,” Agnes Gallery, Birmingham, AL
1997 “The Purely Happy Artist [Studio of Sin],” Gracie Mansion Gallery, New York City
1996 “Sinner’s Progress,” White Columns, New York City
“Welcome to Sinland,” Un Regard Moderne, Paris
1995 “The Beast Years of My Life [A Sinner’s Progress],” Carl Hammer Gallery, Chicago
“Seven Sips of Sin,” Sai Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1993 “Waltz Across Sinland,” Lake Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
“Waltz Across Sinland,” St. Kilda Art Centre, Melbourne, NSW, Australia
“Sanitized for Your Pleasure,” Sai Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2002 “Raw, Boiled & Cooked,” Yerba Buena Art Center, San Francisco
“Armory Art Fair,” Carl Hammer Gallery, New York City
“Uncommercial Art…,” La Luz de Jésus Gallery, Los Angeles
2001 “Dreams and Dreamers,” Carl Hammer Gallery, Chicago
“Legal Action,” CBGB Gallery, New York City
“Print 2001,” Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
“Unbearables,” ABC No Rio, New York City
“Cortexof Desire,” two-person show, CPop Gallery, Detroit
2000 “The Image of Text,” Sawhill Gallery, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA
“Fart Show,” Dirt Gallery, Hollywood, CA
“Drawn,” Barry Whistler Gallery, Dallas
“Sinner’s Paradise,” Forbidden Gallery, Dallas
“The Drawing Show,” La Luz de Jésus Gallery, Los Angeles
2000 “The End: An Independent Vision of Contemporary Culture 1982–2000,” exit Art ,New York City
“Selections 2000,” Carl Hammer Gallery, Chicago
“Bizarro World! The Parallel Universes of Comics and Fine Art,”
Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Winter Park, FL
1999 “Comics by David Sandlin, Chris Ware, Simon Grennan & Christopher Sperandio,” MoMA Library, New York City
1997 “Dernier Cri,” Les Halles St. Pierre, Paris
1996 “Do You Want New Wave or Do You Want the Truth?” Art Initiatives, New York City
“Summer 1996,” PPOW, New York City
“Transformation of the Work in Art,” Fosdick Nelson Gallery, Alfred, NY
Art 1996 Chicago, Chicago
Gramercy Park Art Fair, New York City
“Personal/Impersonal,” Gracie Mansion/Fred Dorfman Projects, New York, NY
“Out of Toon,” George Adams Gallery, New York City
“Paintings: Sandlin & Panter,” Mad River Post, New York City
1995 “On Beyond the Book,” Forum for Contemporary Art, St. Louis
“Sniper’s Nest: Art That Has Lived With Lucy R. Lippard,” Bard College,
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
“Pop Jamboree,” Bess Cutler Gallery, New York City
“Imaginary Beings,” exit Art, New York City
“Co-Mi x Art: Fine-Tooning Pop,” Carl Hammer Gallery, Chicago
“Alabama Impact,” FAMOS, Mobile, Huntsville, Alabama
“Ver-ruckte Kunst,” Galerie W, Wangen, Switzerland
1994 “It’s All About Love,” Lennon, Wineberg Gallery, New York City
“Single-Cel Creatures,” Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY
“Red Windows,” Barneys, New York City
“Comic Kunst,” Galerie W, Wangen, Switzerland
“Comic Power,” exit Art, New York City, Traveled to Boston
“Cadavre exquis,” Drawing Center, NYC, Traveled to Mexico City and Tokyo
“Lucifer Rising,” Galerie Rudolf Mangisch, Zurich, Switzerland
“reReading,” Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
“Our Last Picture Show,” Brody's Gallery, Washington, D.C.
1993 “Artists Select,” Artists Space, New York City
“Cadavre exquis,” Drawing Center, New York City
“Comic Power,” exit Art, New York City
“Graf/ x ,” Bess Cutler Gallery, New York City
“The Pet Show,” Helander Gallery, New York City
“Comi x Brut!” Brody’s Gallery, Washington, D.C.
“Visceral Landscapes,” Carl Hammer Gallery, Chicago
“Snake Eyes,” CBGB Gallery, New York City
“Public Compound 7, Art Kits,” AC Project Room, New York City
“Psychological Impact,” Northampton Community College, Bethlehem, PA
1992 “New Images,” Carl Hammer Gallery, Chicago
“Goodbye to Apple Pie,” DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA
“Writing on the Walls,” Gallery 303, New York City
“Fear of Painting,” Arthur Rogers Gallery, New York City
“Misfit Lit,” L.A.C.E., Los Angeles, Traveled to Winnepeg, Alberta, Canada
“New Work, New York,” Itoya Gallery, Tokyo
“Reframing Cartoons,” Wexner Art Center, Columbus, OH
“Benefit for the Asian Women’s Center,” Asian Women’s Center, New York City
“Human,” Suburban Fine Arts Center, Highland Park, IL
“Seed Cake of the Insolent,” Art-O-Rama, Chicago
BOOKS, COMICS
2001 Chain No. 8, Special Comic Edition, Philadelphia
Legal Action Comics No. 1, New York City
1998 Road to No...Where? (A Sinner’s Progress, Vol. III), Sinland Press, New York City
Road to No...Where? Edition Cornelius, Paris Strapazin, Zurich, Switzerland
1997 The Purely Happy Artist, Sinland Press, New York City
Studio of Sin, Sinland Press, New York City
1996 Nozone, Nozone No. 7, New York City
Wrathland, (A Sinner’s Progress, Vol. II), Sinland Press, New York City
1995 The Beast Years of My Life, (A Sinner’s Progress, Vol. I), Sinland Press, New York City
Go Naked, Last Gasp Press, San Francisco
Strapazin, Zurich, Switzerland
Zero Fantagraphics, Seattle
U May Already B a Sinner, MTV, Viacom, New York City
1994 Rapture of the Depths of Desire, Sinland Press, New York City
1993 Burning Ring of Fire, Nexus Press, Atlanta
Snake Eyes III, Fantagraphics, Seattle
1992 Snake Eyes II, Fantagraphics, Seattle
1991 RAW, Vol. 2, No. 3, Penguin Publishing, New York City
RAW, Vol. 2, No. 2, Penguin Publishing, New York City
Snake Eyes, Fantagraphics, Seattle
1990 Cactus Valley, Fantagraphics, Seattle
1989 Gin and Comics, School of Visual Arts Press, New York City
1988 Land of 1000 Beers, Sinland Press, New York City
1987 He-Jesus, Sinland Press, New York City
1982–Present PIM, Public Illumination Magazine, Spoleto, Italy
LECTURES, RESIDENCIES AND TEACHING
Current: Thesis Coordinator, MFA Illustration Program, School of Visual Arts,
New York City
Printmaking Instructor, Undergraduate Program, SVA, New York City
2001 Visiting Printmaker, School of Art and Design, Lucerne, Switzerland
1999 Visiting Artist, University of Southern Illinois, Carbondale, IL
Lecturer, Atlanta College of Art, Atlanta
Lecturer, “Artists’ Books,” School of Visual Arts, New York City
1997 Visiting Printmaker, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Lecturer, “Cartoonists at the Brooklyn Museum,” Brooklyn, NY
Visiting Artist, Banff Center for the Arts, Banff, Alberta, Canada
1995 Visiting Artist, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY
1993 Visiting Artist, Melbourne College of Art, Melbourne, NSW, Australia
Visiting Artist, Queens College, St. Kilda, NSW, Australia
Lecturer, Linden Hall, St. Kilda, NSW, Australia
1992 Visiting Artist, Nexus Press, Atlanta
CRITICAL WRITING
1995 “Co-Mi x Art: Fine-Tooning Pop,” by David Sandlin and Joni Blackburn
1993 “From Myth to Muck: The Art of Fergus Delargy,” by David Sandlin and Joni Blackburn
1992 “Treasures of New York: The Art of John Kindness,” by David Sandlin and Joni Blackburn
AWARDS AND GRANTS
1999 New York State Foundation for the Arts Grant
1993 New York State Foundation for the Arts Grant
1992 Swann Award for excellence in Cartooning
Nexus Press Book Grant
1988 PM Foundation Grant
1979 Birmingham Museum Juror's Choice Award, Dennis Oppenheim, juror