At just 31 years old, the painter Dana Schutz has an impressive and surprisingly mature body of work. Singled out while in the MFA program at Columbia University for her first major show by up-and-coming dealer Zach Feuer, her canvases are lush,boldly painted pastiches with references to a wide range of styles, from the exotic Tahitian paradises of Paul Gauguin to the cartoonlike figures of Philip Guston. Known for unique palette and strange, monster-like figures (many of which are disfiguredin some way), the artist explores post-Apocalyptic narratives with characters repeating throughout various works, each figure more alien than the next. While work taking on such themes could descend into darkness, it is in fact quite playful and comic at times, a balance which gives the work its richness. In this book, the entirety of her output is considered, including views of her studio and working notebooks which afford an indepth understanding of her process.
