Moira Dryer

{{Infobox artist

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| name = Moira Dryer

| image = File:Moira_Dryer_(NYC_1989)_photo_by_Jeannette_Montgomery_Barron.jpg

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| caption = Moira Dryer (NYC 1989) photo by Jeannette Montgomery Barron

| birth_name =

| birth_date = 1957

| birth_place = Toronto, Canada

| death_date = May 20, 1992

| death_place = New York City, U.S.

| nationality =

| field = Painter

| training = School of Visual Arts

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Moira Dryer (1957–1992) was a Canadian artist known for her abstract paintings on wood panels that bridged the gap between Conceptual Art and contemporary painting with a playful and poetic approach.[https://www.magentaplains.com/media/pages/exhibitions/moira-dryer/d173992194-1740605959/magentaplains_moiradryer_pressrelease_2025-2-11.pdf] Moira Dryer at Magenta Plains

Dryer was born the youngest of three children in Toronto, Canada. Her mother, Pegeen Synge, was an architect and her father, Douglas Dryer. was a professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto. Dryer attended Sir George Williams University in Montreal before moving to New York City to attend the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in Manhattan. At SVA she was a student of the painter Elizabeth Murray in 1978 and 1980 and became a friends and a studio assistant to Murray. She also became a studio assistant to the Neo-expressionist painter Julian Schnabel.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=March 7, 2020|title=Moira Dryer: Satisfyingly complete|url=https://www.twocoatsofpaint.com/2020/03/moira-dryer-satisfyingly-complete.html|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=Two Coats of Paint}} Dryer graduated from SVA with honors in 1981.

Before working full time as painter, Dryer was a freelance prop and scenic design maker,{{Cite web|title=Moira Dryer - Artists - Van Doren Waxter|url=https://www.vandorenwaxter.com/artists/moira-dryer/biography|access-date=2020-12-29|website=www.vandorenwaxter.com}} and set designer for the avant-garde theater company Mabou Mines.{{Cite web|title=Moira Dryer: Back in Business {{!}} The Phillips Collection|url=https://www.phillipscollection.org/event/2020-10-09-moira-dryer-back-business|access-date=2020-12-29|website=www.phillipscollection.org|date=8 February 2020 |language=en}}

In 1982, Dryer married fellow painter and SVA classmate Victor Alzamora. Alzamora died of a congenital heart condition in 1983 at the age of 29.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/05/21/arts/moira-dryer-34-an-abstract-artist-painted-on-wood.html |title=Moira Dryer, 34, An Abstract Artist; Painted on Wood |newspaper=New York Times |date=May 21, 1992}}

Moira Dryer died of cancer at her home in New York City on May 20, 1992.[http://www.vulture.com/2014/01/seeing-out-loud-the-brief-career-of-moira-dryer.html Vulture, "Seeing Out Loud: Jerry Saltz on the Brief, Great Career of Moira Dryer" January 30, 2014]

Exhibitions

Dryer had her first solo exhibition in 1986 at the John Good Gallery. Subsequent exhibitions include shows at Mary Boone Gallery in Manhattan; Fred Hoffman Gallery in Santa Monica, California; Mario Diacono Gallery in Boston; Jay Gorney Modern Art in Manhattan; Eleven Rivington in Manhattan and Magenta Plains in Manhattan.[https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/17/arts/design/moira-dryer-project.html The New York Times January 16, 2014][https://www.magentaplains.com/media/pages/exhibitions/moira-dryer/d173992194-1740605959/magentaplains_moiradryer_pressrelease_2025-2-11.pdf] Moira Dryer at Magenta Plains

During her lifetime, Dryer had one-person exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (1987) and at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. She was the focus of a Museum of Modern Art Focus exhibition curated by former Senior Curator of Painting and Sculpture Robert Storr.

= Solo and two-person exhibitions =

2025

Moira Dryer: Perpetual Painting, Magenta Plains, New York

2014

Moira Dryer Project, Eleven Rivington, New York

2000

Moira Dryer, curated by Gregory Salzman; Forum for Contemporary Art, St. Louis (8 Sept.-4 Nov., 2000); Art Gallery of York University, Toronto (29 Nov.-4 Feb., 2001); Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA (29 March- 20 May 2001); The Contemporary Museum, Baltimore (17 June- 26 August 2001)

1998

Moira Dryer & Shirley Wiitasalo, Greene Natfali Gallery, New York

1997

The Point of Departure: Moira Dryer / Jessica Stockholder; Gallery of Art, Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS

Gallery 400, University of Illinois Chicago

1995

Estate Paintings; Jay Gorney Modern Art, New York

1993

Estate Paintings; Jay Gorney Modern Art, New York

Projects 42: Moira Dryer; The Museum of Modern Art, New York

1992

Mary Boone Gallery, New York

1991

Fred Hoffman Gallery, New York

Mario Diacono Gallery, Boston

1990

Mario Diacono Gallery, Boston

Mary Boone Gallery, New York

1989

New Work: Moira Dryer, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco

1988

John Good Gallery, New York

1987

Hoffman Borman Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston

1986

John Good Gallery, New York

= Group exhibitions =

2017

Fast Forward: Painting from the 1980s, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Jan 27-May 14, 2017

2013

Four Women and a Kosuth, James Barron Art, New York, September 13–22, 2013

I, You, We, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, April 25–September 1, 2013

2011

The Indiscipline of Painting Tate St. Ives, Cornwall,{{cite web |last1=Clark |first1=Martin |last2=Sturgis |first2=Daniel|last3=Shalgosky |first3=Sarah|author-link2=Daniel Sturgis |title=The Indiscipline of Painting: International Abstraction from the 1960s to Now |url=https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-st-ives/exhibition/indiscipline-painting |website=Tate |access-date=20 May 2021}} touring to Warwick Art Centre (2011/12)

Circa 1986, The Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, New York

A Painting Show, Harris Lieberman, New York

2008

Charismatic Abstraction, James W. and Lois I. Richmond Center for Visual Arts, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, October 30–November 25, 2008

2007

Two Years, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, October 17, 2007 – February 17, 2008

2006

Women's Work: Paintings 1970–1990, Greenberg Van Doren, New York

Hunters & Gatherers: The Art of Collecting, The Shore Institute of the Contemporary Arts (SICA), Asbury Park, New Jersey

2005

The Painted World, MoMA PS1, New York

2001

As Painting: Division and Displacement, curated by Philip Armstrong, Laura Lisbon and Stephen Melville; Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio

Side Show, curated by Augusto Arbizo; Lawrence Rubin-Greenberg Van Doren-Fine Art, New York

2000

D, Sandra Gering Gallery, New York, curated by Robert Nickas

1999

The Stroke: An Overview of Contemporary Painting, curated by Ross Bleckner, Exit Art, New York

1998

Jay Gorney Modern Art, New York

1997

Coming Home Again, curated by Jeanne Siegel for the 50th Anniversary of the School of Visual Arts; Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island, NY

After the Fall: Aspects of Abstract Painting since 1970, curated by Lily Wei; Visual Arts Gallery, New York

1996

Some Recent Acquisitions, Museum of Modern Art, New York

Playpen & Corpus Delirium, Kunsthalle Zürich, Zürich

Reconditioned Abstraction, curated by Martin Ball; Forum for Contemporary Art, St, Louis

Painting In An Expanding Field, organized by Saul Ostrow; Usdan Gallery, Bennington College, Bennington, Vermont

Natural Process, Center Gallery, Bucknell University, Lewisberg, PA; Williams Center for the Arts, Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania

1995

Pittura-mmedia, Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz, Austria

A Selected Survey, 1983-1995, Pat Hearn Gallery, New York

1994

New York Abstract Painting, Salvatore Ala Gallery, New York