Michael Dopp

From afar, the washy Old Masterish monochromacity of Michael Dopp's drawings suggests pictures one would find hanging in a musty museum or library display case rather than on the walls of a contemporary gallery. Closer observaton reveals that the venerable academic semblance belies impishly fanciful compositons. Most depict classical architectural or statuary ruins inside globular vessels resembling cocktail glasses, fishbowls, or snow globes. Underlying the drawings’ cartoonish appearance are sober reflections on timeless binaries: of the anxiety and cavalierism with which civilizaƟons view their own caducity; of the veneration yet commodification with which cultures view their predecessors

Michael Dopp was born in Bloomington, Indiana, in 1978. He got his MFA from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2009, and is currently represented by Los Angeles gallery Roberts Projects, which also represents artists like Kehinde Wiley and Jeffrey Gibson. Dopp has had solo and two person shows across the US, including “Shining Desert” at Roberts & Tilton, Culver City, CA (2018); “Filodendron: Michael Dopp and Lauralee Pope” Secret Recipe, Los Angeles, CA (2015); and “The Third Party” Michael Dopp and Valerie Piraino, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2011).

Text via Annabel Osberg for AEQAI