Dike Blair

I’ve participated in the art world for over three decades and for most of that time I’ve lived in New York City. I’ve worked in a variety of media but basically consider myself to be a painter who also works with sculpture. My paintings are almost always gouache on paper. My sculptural work evolved out of installation art and has a painterly feel. The relationship between the painting and the sculpture is not necessarily obvious, but I think the contemplation of their respective differences in relation to each other is important as they function as each other’s flipside. This passage lifted from Canadian philosopher Mark Kingwell’s brilliant book on the Empire State Building might apply to my work:  "The relation between inside and outside is so basic to human life that we almost cannot see it. Like the threshold itself, it seems to have no dimension and therefore to escape cognitive capture and yet, without these routine demarcations and liminalities, life as we know it is impossible" (Mark Kingwell, Nearest Thing to Heaven).

My ancillary professional activities include writing and teaching. I’ve contributed articles on art and culture to a number of magazines, including Artforum, ARTnews, Art Presse, Bomb, Harpers, and Parket. For about ten years I was a Contributing and Associate Editor for the Parisian magazine Purple. Again: Selected Interviews and Essays, was published last year by White Walls, a Chicago publisher distributed by The University of Chicago Press. I’ve worked as an adjunct professor at a number of institutions, but for the last ten years I’ve taught only at the Rhode Island School of Design, a job that I love. I’m in the Painting Department and teach seniors and grad students.

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Profile photograph by Marie Abma.