25-year-old Amanda Dolan is the latest avant-garde multi-media painter to shake up the Lower East Side with her funky, female-themed collage art. Taking inspiration from all art forms -- fashion, music, literature, photography -- Dolan creates large-scale paintings that are just as bright, vibrant, eclectic, and chaotic as she is.
A graduate of Tufts University and trained at Boston's School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Dolan infused her Fine Arts education with Creative Writing, Art History, and Sociology, allowing her to explore herself and her art, learning, perhaps most importantly, "not to take it all too seriously."
Dolan's initial debut show last year at the Ward-Nasse, "She's a Lady," garnered interest within the art community -- most of her collection being sold on the spot -- but it is her upcoming show, "Call Me Crazy," that is set to really get people buzzing. Dolan targets the stigma that comes with being a woman that challenges the status-quo, and Amanda has been inspired to show all sorts of women that have been (in)accurately characterized as "crazy." From Marie Antoinette to Joan Crawford, Courtney Love to the artiste Dolan herself, a wide spectrum of women will be represented in her show.
Self-proclaimed to be a "bubbly, cheesy, funky, and fun 80's girl," Amanda's show promises to be like her: unique and innovative. By juxtaposing vivid, feminine colors with intense and sometimes dark imagery, Dolan manages to create a series of paintings, one more hauntingly beautiful than the next.
Hosting "Call Me Crazy" on April 5, 2008 is the Ward-Nasse Gallery, a non-profit, alternative space in SoHo, dedicated to giving young talent, like Amanda, a platform to show their work. Harry Nasse, owner of the Ward-Nasse Gallery, says that "Amanda's painting reflects her personality: expressive, vibrant, emotional, spontaneous."
Dolan's gallery show is not the only project she has in the works. With her unique style and personality abound, she's found success creating custom pieces for private clientele, bringing ordinary spaces to life with her vivid works.
