Moira Dryer

Early life

Dryer was born in Toronto, Canada; her mother was architect Pegeen Synge and her father Douglas Dryer was a professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto. She was the youngest of three children. She attended Sir George Williams University in Montreal before moving to the United States to attend the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in Manhattan where she studied and became close friends with Elizabeth Murray. She graduated with honors in 1981. In 1982, she married fellow painter and SVA classmate Victor Alzamora. Alzamora died of a congenital heart condition in 1983 at the age of 29.

Exhibitions

Dryer had her first solo exhibition in 1986 at the John Good Gallery. Subsequent exhibitions include shows at Mary Boone Gallery, Manhattan; Fred Hoffman Gallery, Santa Monica, California; Mario Diacono Gallery, Boston; Jay Gorney Modern Art, Manhattan; and recently at Eleven Rivington, Manhattan.

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 & Two Person Exhibitions

2014
Moira Dryer Project, Eleven Rivington, New York

2000
Moira Dryer, curated by Gregory Salzman; Forum for Contemporary Art, St. Louis, MO (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 Chicago, Chicago

1995
Estate Paintings; Jay Gorney Modern Art, New York

1993
Estate Paintings; Jay Gorney Modern Art, New York
Projects: 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: International Abstraction from the 1960s to Now, Tate St. Ives, Cornwall, England; Mead Gallery, Warwick Arts Centre, University of Warwick, Coventry, England
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 for 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

1993
Italia – America: L’astrazione ridefinita, Galeria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, San Marino

1992
Abstract Painting 1992; Schmidt Contemporary Art, St. Louis

1991
Moira Dryer, Roni Horn, Sherrie Levine, Hiram Butler Gallery, Houston

1990
Gallery Group Exhibition, Lawrence Oliver Gallery, Philadelphia

1989
A Decade of American Drawing: 1980-89, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Santa Monica

1988
Lawrence Oliver Gallery, Philadelphia
The Other Painting, Royal Canadian Academy of Arts Gallery, Toronto
The Image of Abstraction The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Tom Cugliani Gallery, New York
In Side, Barbara Kraków Gallery, Boston
School of Visual Arts Alumni Exhibition, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
Pat Hearn Gallery, New York
Ironic Abstraction, University of Southern Florida Art Galleries, Tampa

1987
Stimulation, John Good Gallery, New York
Grand Design, Proctor Art Center, Bard College, Annandale-on Hudson, NY
True Pictures, New York Studio School, New York
Jennifer Bolande, Moira Dryer, Annette Lemieux, Lawrence Oliver Gallery, Philadelphia

1986
Selections, Artists’ Space, New York
Paintings/Objects, Postmasters Gallery, New York
Recent Abstract Painting, John Good Gallery, New York
Cash/Newhouse Gallery, New York

1985
New American Abstraction, John Good Gallery, New York

1984
New York, New Work, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York

1983
Limbo Lounge, New York

1982
Visionary Landscape, P.S. 122, New York
YYZ Gallery, Toronto
White Room, White Columns, New York

1981
Visual Arts Gallery, New York

1980
Proposal Gallery, Baltimore
Group Material, New York

Public Collections

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
The Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama
The Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
The High Museum of Art, Atlanta
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC
Maramotti Collection, Reggio Emilia, Italy
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
The Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey
The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Later life

Moira Dryer died of cancer at her home in New York City on May 20, 1992.