Born and raised in Webster County, Mississippi, William Dunlap now maintains studios in McLean, Virginia, and New York City. He is a recipient of a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship that will enable him to travel to and study in Italy.
Dunlap defines his art as “hypothetical realism.” In an article that appeared in American Artist, Marda Kaiser Burton describes Dunlap’s art as “…calm, slow narrative, controlled and austere, evoking the serene poetry of the rural countryside with lulling rhythmic placements and colorful nuances, with “information” as Dunlap adds. Grid lines and arcs, drips and spatterings, patches of canvas and string, arrows along the horizon, letters, numbers, and words are all found in his tranquil scenes.”
Dunlap grew up in a family where everyone read old stories, and talked incessantly. Quotations from his favorite authors including William Faulkner, James Dickey, and Eudora Welty can be found in his work.
In Washington, Dunlap can be seen each week on WETA’s “Around Town” as a visual arts panelist. His work has been exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian, and the National Academy of Sciences, all in Washington, D.C.
Image courtesy of Daniel Erath / The Times-Picayune, Artist William Dunlap, 2008
Website
http://www.williamdunlap.com
