Dan Gunn b. 1980

  • Dan Gunn’s carved draperies often have a strong sense of compositional intentionality and landscape imagery, with folded forms and three-dimensional appendages. Gunn’s work interrogates how the Midwestern artistic identity, often associated with 'folk' traditions like quilting, pottery, and woodworking, serves as a foundation for constructing notions of authenticity tied to region. At the same time, Gunn's dislocated and stylized representations of regional motifs prompt viewers to internalize and reinterpret their personal connections to place. The work is able to intimately blend collective cultural identity with individual experiences.

  • Exhibitions

  • Dan Gunn(b.1980) received an MFA in Painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2007). Recent solo exhibitions include Geary, New York, NY (2024); KMAC Contemporary Art Museum, Louisville, KY (2023); Flyweight Projects, New York, NY (2022); moniquemeloche, Chicago, IL (2021); The University Club of Chicago, Chicago, IL (2019); and Good Weather Gallery, North Little Rock, AR (2019). Gunn has also participated in group presentations at Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH; Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO; Elmhurst Art Museum, Elmhurst, IL; the University of Missouri at Kansas City, Kansas City, Missouri; Elephant Gallery, Nashville, TN; University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL; Marine Contemporary, Santa Monica, CA; Art Los Angeles Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL; the Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL; Lloyd Dobler Gallery, Chicago, IL; Columbia College, Chicago, IL; the Poor Farm, Manawa, WI; the Loyola University Museum of Art, Chicago, IL; and the Lubeznik Center for the Arts, Michigan City, IN. Gunn was awarded residencies at the Wassaic Project (2021), University of Arkansas (2019), Anderson Ranch Art Center (2018); Vermont Studio Center (2015); and The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, ME (2012). Public collections include the DePaul University School of Music, Chicago, IL; Fidelity Corporate Art Collection; Kentucky Museum of Art and Crafts, Louisville, KY; Marciano Art Foundation, Los Angeles, CA; Mayo Clinic Corporate Art Collection, Rochester, MN; TD Bank, New York, NY; and The Joyce Foundation, Chicago, IL. Gunn currently lives in New Milford, Connecticut. 

  • Works