Robert durham

Raised in Gallatin, Tennessee, Bob graduated from Vanderbilt University magna cum laude with a degree in English literature. Soon afterwards, he began developing his interest in visual art. He worked as a freelance illustrator in New England from 1979 to 1994, when he returned to Nashville to concentrate on his painting. In 1998 Bob earned his MFA with distinction in drawing and painting from the University of Georgia. Since then he has resided in Nashville and taught drawing and painting at Watkins college of Art and Design, Sewanee, Vanderbilt University, and Middle Tennessee State University. His fine art paintings have been exhibited both nationally and internationally, are part of many corporate and private collections, and are included in the books The Art of Community: Janet and Jim Ayers’ collection of Tennessee Art, and Art of Tennessee published by the Frist Center for the Visual Arts.

STATEMENT

I paint within the realist tradition. Physical presence – the fact that I and others exist in three dimensions – holds my awed attention as nothing else can. It is the foundation and unachievable goal for every painting I complete.

In my experience, the habitual practice of painting is a way of reckoning with the world and a means of better understanding its intricacies and innumerable rabbit holes. My paintings take shape in a territory somewhere between imagination and physical reality. They most often are narrative in nature and after all is said and done, they deal unremittingly with the human condition - its humor, contradictions, and inexplicable meaning.

RESUME

Education

1976  B.A . Vanderbilt  University,  English Literature, Magna C um Laude

1980 Paier School of Art, Hamden, CT

1998 M .F.A . With Distinction, University of Georgia, Drawing and Painting

Professional Experience

2008-2014  M T SU , Murfreesboro, TN : Assistant Professor, D rawing1& 2, 2-D Design, Painting 1

2007-2008 Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN ; Senior Lecturer, Drawing 1 & Painting 1,2,3, and five Independent Studies

2007 Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN ; Lecturer, Drawing 1 & Beginning Painting

2006 Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN ; Drawing 1 & Beginning Painting Instructor

2005 Vermont College M FA in Visual Art, Artist - Teacher

2004 Sewanee, University of the South, Sewanee, TN ; Visiting Assistant Professor of A rt

(T aught three levels of painting and the Senior Sem inar class and graduation exhibit)

2002-03 Watkins College of Art and Design, Nashville, TN ; Advanced 2-D & 3-D Seminar I & II

2001-03 Watkins College of Art and Design, Nashville, TN ; Painting II and Advanced Painting

2000 Watkins College of Art and Design, Nashville, TN ; Drawing I Instructor

2000 University of Georgia, Athens, G A ; Beginning Painting Instructor

1997-98 University of Georgia, Athens, G A ; Drawing I & II Instructor

International Exhibits

2004 American Realism , Plus One Plus Two Galleries, London, UK

2002-2005  T rue Colors - Meditations on the American Spirit, Meridian International C enter, Washington, D C ; Curators: Pamela Bailey, William Dunlap, Nancy Mathew s. True Colors was an invitational exhibition of American artists’  response to the tragedy of  9/11. With support from the State Department the show subsequently toured nationally and internationally for four years. A full  list of the exhibition’s  venues are:

Washington, DC.

National Arts Club, N.Y., NY Topaki Palace, Istanbul, Turkey Atlanta, GA

Palm Beach, FL

West Palm Beach, FL

Allied Museum , Berlin, Germany

Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast, Northern Ireland

National Gallery of Arts, Tirana, Albania Danubiana Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia Los Angeles, California

Dallas, TX

Solo Exhibitions

2015 Recent Paintings, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN

2015Paintings by Bob Durham, St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School Gallery, Sewanee, TN

2008 Human Tricks, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN

2005 Disparities, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN

2003 Reality C heck, Sewanee University Art Gallery, Sewanee, TN

2001 Disconcerting Realism, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN

Selected Group Exhibitions

2018 Altered Reality, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN

2017 New Arrivals, Summer Series, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN

2016 Storytellers, Summer Series, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN

2014 The Red Clay Survey, Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL

2011 Los Angeles Art Show, Los Angeles, CA

2011 MTSU Faculty Exhibit, MTSU, Murfreesboro, TN

2010 Los Angeles Art Show, Los Angeles, CA

2010 Art Chicago International, Chicago, Illinois

2010 The Painter’s E ye, Space 204, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN

2010 Shakerag Workshop Faculty Exhibition, St. Andrews, Sewanee, TN

2010 Cumberland Gallery 30th Anniversary Exhibition, Nashville, TN

2009 M T SU Faculty Exhibit, M TSU, Murfreesboro, TN

2007 Artists In H eat, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN

2007 A A F Contemporary Art Fair, New York, NY

2006 Vanderbilt Fine Art Faculty Exhibition, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN

2006 Emblematic, McMaster Gallery, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC

2006 Chicago Art Fair, Chicago, IL

2006 Assemblage, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN

2005 A A F Contemporary Art Fair, New York, NY

2005 San Francisco International Art Exhibition, San Francisco, CA

2004 Contemporary Affordable Art Fair, New York, NY

2004 San Francisco International Art Exhibition, San Francisco, CA

2003 Art of Tennessee, Frist C enter for the Visual Arts, Nashville, T N . Curators: Robert Hicks, M ark Scala, and B en Caldwell

2003 Watkins Faculty Exhibition, Watkins College of Art and Design, Nashville, TN

2003 Real Illusions: Contemporary Art from Nashville Collections, Frist C enter for the Visual Arts, Nashville, TN ; M ark Scala, Curator

2003 San Francisco International Art Exhibition, San Francisco, CA

2003 Contemporary A ffordable Art Fair, New York, NY

2002 T he Red C lay Survey, Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, A L, Norman Lundin, juror

2002 A Century of Progress: Twentieth Century Painting in Tennessee, (Traveling)  Cheekwood Museum of Art, Nashville, TN ; Celia Walker, Curator

2001 Cam bridge Art Association National Juried Art Exhibition, C am bridge, M A ; Maxwell Anderson, juror

2000 National Small Oil Paintings Exhibition, Wichita Center for the Arts, Wichita, KS; Keith Jacobson, juror

1999 Plus Four, Four artist exhibit, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN

1999 M .F .A . Exhibition, Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA

1999 Contemporary Realism , National Juried Exhibition, S am Houston State University, Huntsville, TX ; Marti Mayo, juror

1997 - 2000 Small Packages, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN

1984 SU N Y Juried Exhibit, Purchase, N Y ; Jurors: A lice N eel, D avid Finlay, N ed R ifkin

Awards

2007 A r tist A ward , Watkins College of Art and Design, Founder’s D ay, Nashville, TN

2005 Nashville Scene “Best of” Critic’s A ward: Best Established Artist

2002 Juror’s Choice A ward , Red C lay Survey, Norman Lundin, Juror; Huntsville Museum of A rt

1985 Second Place, U .S. National Fine Arts Competition and International Exhibition, Tallahassee, FL

1982 A lice Walker Painting Prize, New Haven Paint and C lay; New Haven, CT

Permanent Collections

Nashville Convention Center, Nashville, TN

First Bank (Janet and Jim Ayers’ Collection of TennesseeArt), Nashville, TN

Governor’s Residence, Gov. Phil Bredesen, Nashville, TN

Imagery Estate Winery & Art Gallery, Glen Ellen, CA (painting also used as label on a limited release wine)

Tennessee State Museum, Nashville, TN

Dollar General Corporation, Nashville, TN

P resident’s Collection, University of Georgia, Athens, Ga  Mrs. Danielle Steele, San Francisco, CA

Mrs. Danielle Steele, San Francisco, CA

Bibliography

Edison, Diane. Dynamic Color Painting for the Beginner. London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd.

2008; North America: Abrams, New York  2008, pp.10 1, 117, 144 (Reproductions)

Art of Tennessee, Frist C enter for the Visual Arts, Nashville TN , 2003, Catalogue pp.338,353 (Reproduction)

Unconventional, The Convention Center Authority of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, 2013, p.61 (Reproduction)

The Art of Community – Janet & Jim Ayer’s Collection of Tennessee Art, Ayers Media Inc. and First Bank, 2012, pp. 42-43

Leaming, Linda, Nashville Arts Magazine, April 2013, Still Crazy…A Conversation with Bob Durham, pp. 37 -39, (Reproductions)

Red Clay Survey 2014, Huntsville Museum of Art, p. 30 (Reproduction)

Walker, Celia, Tennessee Historical Quarterly, Spring, vol. 61, p.62 -63 (Reproductions)

Real Illusions, Frist C enter for the Visual Arts, Nashville, TN ; 2003 Catalogue pp. 2, 9, 56 (Reproduction)

T rue Colors, Meridian International C enter, Washington, D C , 2002 Catalogue p.38 (Reproduction) Marx, Jonathan, The Tennessean, April 27, 2008, Arts & Entertainment, p.20 (Reproductions) Silverman, Jack, Nashville Scene, April 24, 2008, p.34

The Tennessean, April 20, 2008, Arts & Entertainment, p.16 (Reproduction) Conner, Brittany, Nashville Scene, August 2, 2007, p.36 ( Reproduction)

Maddox, D avid, Nashville Scene, M ay 19, 2005, p.93

Red Clay Survey 2002, Huntsville Museum of Art, Catalogue p.7 (Reproduction) Joiner, Dorothy (Reviews: Southeast) Art Papers, March/April, vol.27, p.37-38

Open Studios Press, New American Paintings, vol.34 , p.54 -57 (Reproductions)