A:LIST A Project of the Hyde Park Art Center

D.J. Brennan

Artist Information

Born: 1958, Freeport, IL
Currently Resides: Chicago, IL

Contact Information:
djbrennan (at) aol (dot) com
website coming soon

Medium(s) Worked in:
Painting
Watercolors
Drawing

Artist CV:
Download file

Available for Commission: Yes

HPAC Exhibitions

2006, Material Science

Artist Statement

All my paintings straddle a fine line between sincerity and irony. I’m always trying to find that place where human ideals and desires bump up against an uncooperative reality—that point of failure that jars you into awareness. For several years I have been exploring the shifting boundary between myth and lies in the creation of the ideal, particularly by pushing around traditional artistic tropes and cliches about the male hero. It was just a matter of time before I landed on the flawed, artificial, but compelling character of John Wayne as a subject.

For several years I have been exploring the shifting boundary between myth and lies in the creation of the ideal, particularly by pushing around traditional artistic tropes and cliches about the male hero.

I am still developing the John Wayne series, but I have also just recently finished a series of paintings based on male “heroes” from the classic American novels Huck Finn, Moby Dick, The Scarlet Letter and The Grapes of Wrath. With this series I have tried to shake up monolithic ideas about these American icons, as well as ideas about male love, friendship, and personal sacrifice. My future painting plans involve the character of Venus and the Hollywood femme fatale.

Artist Bio

Dawn Brennan got her BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and her MFA from University of Chicago’s Midway Studios. She has been exhibiting since 1999 and teaching in and around Chicago since 2000.

Press & Publications

Past Commissions

I have painted about ten private commissions. A list of clients can be provided on request.

Additional Information

Dawn will be showing a project at the Artist Project at the Merchandise Mart,
April 25 - 28 for which she received an Illinois Arts Council Special Assistance Program Grant. Her portrait proposal was one of forty accepted for the Chicago Looks public art exhibit for the Riverwalk between State and Wells.

She curated a show of University of Chicago students at ARC Gallery in September 2003 and is a member of the Copyists Program, National Gallery of Art.