Dan Attoe

Dan Attoe is a painter, sculptor, and author.

He is represented by Andrew Reed in Miami, The Hole in New York and Los Angeles, and Western Exhibitions in Chicago.

Attoe is known for detailed landscape and figurative painting and cartoonish neon sculptures that recall beer signs or classic roadside advertising, but with humorous or philosophical text.

His first novel "The Taking Tree" was published in May 2024. Attoe has always maintained text as part of his work, and studied writing including at The Writer’s Workshop while he was obtaining his MFA at The University of Iowa.

He received his BFA from The University of Wisconsin – Madison, and UW – Stevens Point at Wausau in 1998. He received his MFA from The University of Iowa – Iowa City in 2004.

Attoe was born in Bremerton, Washington, and grew up primarily in Island Park and Ashton, Idaho and Silver Bay, Minnesota. His family moved based on his father’s job with the U.S. Forest Service. His mother often worked as a librarian.

Amongst other jobs, Attoe worked part-time at Wausau Window and Wall Systems in Wausau, Wisconsin for four years, and as a security guard, maintenance, and part-time installation tech at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

He currently makes art, writes, and runs a tattoo shop called Dan’s Tattoos in Washougal, Washington.

He is one of the founders of the collaborative art group Paintallica, but left in 2017 citing creative differences.

Solo exhibitions

• “The Dead of Winter II”, The Hole, L.A. 2023
• "The Dead of Winter", The Hole, New York 2022
• "Pandemic Paintings", Western Exhibitions, Chicago 2021
• "Dan Attoe", The Hole, New York 2020
• "American Dreams," curated by Tania Pardo, MUSAC, Leon, Spain
• Group Exhibition, "Shape of Things to Come," Saatchi Gallery, London
• Group Exhibition, Contemporary Northwest Art Awards, Portland Art Museum, Portland
• "Simple Thoughts and Complicated Animals," Peres Projects Berlin, Germany
• "Several Landscapes," Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL
• "Loaded, Nailed, and short on Cash," Peres Projects, Los Angeles
• "You have more freedom than you are using," Peres Projects, Berlin, Germany
• "Vilma Gold," London, UK 404 Arte Contemporanea, Naples, Italy
• "Some of the best things I know," Peres Projects, Los Angeles
• "New Figuration," Galleri Christina Wilson, Copenhagen, Denmark
• "Some of the Best Things I know," Peres Projects, Los Angeles

Selected group exhibitions

• "Hollywood Dream Bubble: Ed Ruscha’s Influence in Los Angeles and Beyond", The Hole, Los Angeles 2024
• "Chasing Light", Two-person exhibition, Andrew Reed Gallery, Miami 2023
• "Storage Wars", The Hole, Los Angeles 2023
• "The Midnight Hour", The Hole, New York 2023
• "Drawing Biennial", Western Exhibitions, Chicago 2023
• "Gravity's Rainbow", October 20 - November 24, 2007 Athens, Greece
• "8th Northwest Biennial," Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, Washington
• "Phantasmania," Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri
• "1627-2007," artnews projects, Berlin, Germany
• "Let's go camping," John Connelly Presents, New York City, NY
• "There's no fooling you (the classics)," Peres Projects, Los Angeles
• "Montezuma's Revenge," Nicole Klagsbrun, New York City, NY
• "The Zine UnBound: Kults, Werewolves and Sarcastic Hippies," Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
• "Growing Up Absurd," Hebert Read Gallery, Kent, England
• 2011: Geheimgesellschaften. Wissen Wagen Wollen, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Education

• 1998 BFA, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI
• 2004 MFA, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA

References

External links

• https://web.archive.org/web/20080703183001/http://www.vilmagold.com/newpages/previous/dan1.htm
• http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/dan_attoe.htm
• http://beautifuldecay.com/2010/06/28/interview-dan-attoe/
• http://www.paintallica.com