D.E. May

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Dan Earl "D.E." May (March 28, 1952 – February 27, 2019) was an American artist, represented by Portland, Oregon art gallery, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, from 1995 to now. Known in Northwest art circles for his drawings and constructions using found materials that “suggests they are documents or tools left over from the [building] and planning of something larger” whose “purpose is now lost and can only be imagined.” [1][2] His work is in the collections of numerous art museums, primarily in the Northwest.[1]

Life[edit]

May was born in Salem, Oregon. He lived there his entire life, referring to it as “Island Salem.” In the 1970s, he studied art with Larry Stobie at the Oregon College of Education. He owned two art galleries in Salem and had solo exhibitions or was in group shows in seven states.[1] 1

May was a finalist for the Portland Art Museum’s 2008 Contemporary Northwest Art Awards. He won a national Art Matters grant and was a Hallie Ford Fellow in the Visual Arts in 2013.[1]

His workroom was in downtown Salem, known as the “Regionaires Club,” and serving as a “half-secret social club.” He was a regular at a couple of Salem bars.[1] (A book on May was entitled Dive Bar Architect.) [3]

Profiles of May noted his quirks. His workroom was dark, the windows covered with fiberboard, the room lit by desk lamps. (He described himself as nocturnal; a reporter of one profile was instructed not to call until after 1 p.m.) [4] His found materials - scraps of cardboard, old maps, old papers, old stamps - were stored in stacks of catalogued cardboard boxes.[3][4]

May was described as “decidedly analog.” [2] He hadn't owned a car since 1977 and got his first phone, a landline, at the age of 47.[4]

Work[edit]

His materials included small pieces of cardboard, marked into grids,[3] and larger pages from ledger books and graph papers that have been remade to suggest diagrams, templates and floor plans.[2] He also made small box-like constructions, some the size of index cards,  from found materials recast into geometric designs.[3]

Reception[edit]

Richard Klein, curator of the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, said that despite the “small scale” and “ephemeral character” of May’s works, “they offer an expansive experience.” [3]

In Artforum, writer Stephanie Snyder praised May’s work at one “electric” exhibition for its “passionate exploration of spatial forms, language and storied materials” such as “weathered cardboard.”[5]

In Oregon Artswatch, writers Anna Gray and Ryan Wilson Paulsen noted “his meticulous abstractions hold a subtle magic. They appear as both documents of the past and proposals for a future architecture...”[6]

In its biography for May to accompany its collection of his work, the Hallie Ford Museum of Art, said, “May's refined abstractions speak to his interest in storied materials that reflect time and place as well as to an artistic process that transforms the banal and forgotten into objects of contemplation.” [7] It quotes May: "I have always been drawn to the non archival. The work I do may not be here forever, but it will probably see us out.” [7]

Publications[edit]

Inland Waterways: Correspondence, produced by Marquand Editions, Tieton, WA. Funding provided by The Ford Foundation. 2017

The Template Files: Works by D.E. May, printed by Publications Studio. Layout by Kazu Ohashi. Essay by Anna Gray & Ryan Wilson Paulsen. 2010

D.E. May: The Occupations, published by The Art Gym. 2003

Awards[edit]

Solo Exhibitions[edit]

  • 2023 FROM THE ARCHIVES: NOTES AND PLANS, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR
  • 2022 D. E. May Archive Project, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR
  • 2019 Dan May: Artworks by D.E. May, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR
  • 2015 NO SPECIFIC REGION, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR
  • 2014 Half Distance, LAXART, Los Angeles, CA
  • 2013 Memory of Line: Grids, Templates and Miniatures, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR
  • 2013 VOLTA NY, with PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, New York, NY
  • 2010 The Template Files, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR
  • 2009 Black Page, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR
  • 2008 The Artist as Archivist, Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Willamette University, Salem, OR
  • 2007 TESTBEDS, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR
  • 2006 Drawing(s): 40+ artists/200works- A 25th Anniversary Exhibition, ArtGym, Marylhurst University, Marylhurst, OR
  • 2005 template – grid – inset, Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York, NY
  • 2004 Wood, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR
  • 2003 Retrospective, ArtGym, Marylhurst University, Marylhurst, OR
  • 2003 Alloys and the Role of Water, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR
  • 2001 Reservoir District, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR
  • 2000 Solo show, Hallie Brown Ford Museum, Willamette University, Salem, OR
  • 1999 Small Timber, The Templates, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR
  • 1999 Drawing Space, George Suyama Space, Seattle, WA
  • 1998 Dark Cabinet, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR
  • 1997 Small Timber, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR
  • 1994 Reservoir District, Jamison/Thomas Gallery, Portland, OR
  • 1993 Recent Work, Jamison/Thomas Gallery, Portland, OR
  • 1992 New Works, Jamison/Thomas Gallery, Portland, OR
  • 1990 D.E. May, Paintings and Constructions, Jamison/Thomas Gallery, Portland, OR
  • 1985 Floor Plans, The Yellow Front, Salem, OR
  • 1984 The Four Berlins, The Yellow Front, Salem, OR
  • 1984 Gstaad - Haunts of the Very Rich, The Yellow Front, Salem, OR
  • 1982 Hide Outs, Hallie Ford Brown Gallery, Salem, OR
  • 1979 The Lost Weekend, The Big Sleep Gallery, Salem, OR
  • 1979 Nightlights and Paperweights, The Big Sleep Gallery, Salem, OR
  • 1978 Willamette University, Salem, OR
  • 1978 Expeditions, The Big Sleep Gallery, Salem, OR
  • 1978 Handline, The Big Sleep Gallery, Salem, OR
  • 1977 Fort Ord Logic, The Big Sleep Gallery, Salem, OR
  • 1976 Willamette University, Salem, OR

Group Exhibitions[edit]

  • 2023 Out of Salem: D.E. May & Friends, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR
  • 2023 You belong among the wildflowers, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR
  • 2022 Indie Folk: New Art from the Pacific Northwest, Curated by Melissa E. Feldman, Jordan Schnitzer

Museum of Art, Washington State University, Portland, OR

  • 2021 Time in Place: Northwest Art from the Permanent Collection, Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Willamette University, Salem, OR
  • 2021 Walking, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR
  • 2021 The Color of Breathlessness, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR
  • 2021 Megan Murphy, D.E. May, Jenene Nagy, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR
  • 2020 River, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR
  • 2020 Pivot: Drawings, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland,OR
  • 2020 Indie Folk: New Art from the Pacific Northwest, Curated by Melissa E. Feldman, Adams and Ollman, Portland, OR
  • 2019 Uses of History, studio e gallery, Seattle, WA
  • 2018 Along the Edge, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR
  • 2017 Dislocation, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR
  • 2016 I Want to do to You What Spring Does to the Cherry Trees, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR
  • 2016 A Stand of Pine in a Tilled Field: 21 Years at PDX, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR
  • 2014 We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live, (traveling) Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR; Sheppard Contemporary, University of Nevada, Reno, NV; Mary Elizabeth Dee

Shaw Gallery, Weber State University, Ogden, UT; Pendleton Center for the Arts, Pendleton, OR

  • 2014 PORTLAND2014: A Biennial of Contemporary Art, Disjecta, Portland, OR
  • 2011 Pulse Miami, with PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Miami, FL
  • 2010 Northwest Artists Draw, Sun Valley Center for the Arts, Sun Valley, ID
  • 2010 A Gather of Gifts: Relationships That Build Our Collections, University of Alaska Museum of the North, Fairbanks, AK
  • 2008 Kinda Like a Buffet, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR
  • 2008 meta, curated by TJ Norris, Miller Fine Art Center, Linfleld College, McMinnville, OR
  • 2007 Mixed Company, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR
  • 2005 drawing(s): A 25th Anniversary Exhibition, The Art Gym, Marylhurst University, Marylhurst, OR
  • 2005 Next, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR
  • 2004 Group Exhibit, Ute Barth, Zurich, Switzerland
  • 2004 Collecting Words On and Off the Page, Gallery 114, Portland, OR, Curated by Nancy Palmer
  • 2001 Oregon Biennial, Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR
  • 2001 Abstracts on Paper and Mixed Media, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR
  • 2000 The Oregon State Capitol, Salem, OR
  • 1998 Abstract Geometric Show, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR
  • 1997 Gallery Artists, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR
  • 1997 Drawings... An Annual Bi-Coastal Invitational, Meyerson & Nowinski, Seattle, WA
  • 1997 Bellevue Art Museum 1997 Annual Exhibit, Bellevue, WA, curated by Kathryn Kanjo
  • 1997 Square Painting / Plane Painting, Center on Contemporary Art, Seattle, WA
  • 1996 Willamette Valley Juried Exhibition, Corvallis Art Center, Corvallis, OR
  • 1996 Gone But Not Forgiven, Michigan Gallery, Detroit, MI
  • 1996 Fire and Ash, PDX CONTEMPORARY ART, Portland, OR
  • 1996 The Tool Show, Portland Institute For Contemporary Art, Portland, OR
  • 1995 Oregon Biennial, Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR
  • 1995 Fifteen Years, group show, Jamison/Thomas Gallery, Portland, OR
  • 1995 The Dress as Form and Symbol, group show, Jamison/Thomas Gallery, Portland, OR
  • 1994 Only the Shadow Knows: Revelations From the Unconscious, Art Access Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT
  • 1994 Recycling With Imagination: Art From Detritus, Metro Regional Center, Portland, OR
  • 1994 Public Encounters, Bush Barn Art Center, Salem, OR
  • 1993 Cross Cut, Oregon Biennial, Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR
  • 1992 Sign of the Cross, Jamison/Thomas Gallery, Portland, OR
  • 1992 On a Small Scale, Susan Cummins Gallery Mill Valley, CA
  • 1992 Spirit of the West: A Celebration of the Arts, One West Bank, Traveling Exhibition, curated by Kristin M. Poole
  • 1992 Dreams and Shields: Spiritual Dimensions in Contemporary Art, Salt Lake Art Center, Salt Lake City, UT, curated by Frank McEntire
  • 1991 Intimate Relations, Jamison/Thomas Gallery, New York, NY
  • 1991 Sum of the Parts, Jamison/Thomas Gallery, New York, NY
  • 1989 Artquake, Portland, OR, juror, Mary Beebe
  • 1989 Small Works, Jamison/Thomas Gallery, Portland, OR

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e "Obituary information for Dan Earl May". www.weddle-funeral.com. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
  2. ^ a b c Klein, Richard (2020). D.E. May. Roseburg, Oregon: The Ford Family Foundation.
  3. ^ a b c d e Baker, George (2018). Dive Bar Architect On the Works of D.E. May. Los Angeles, California: LAXART. ISBN 978-0-9961114-3-0.
  4. ^ a b c Joshua. "DE May: Inside a studio, darkly | Oregon ArtsWatch Archives". Retrieved 2023-08-16.
  5. ^ Snyder, Stephanie. "D. E. May at PDX CONTEMPORARY ART". www.artforum.com. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
  6. ^ ArtsWatch, Oregon (2019-03-13). "Remembering D.E. May | Oregon ArtsWatch". Retrieved 2023-08-16.
  7. ^ a b "May, Dan (D.E.) - Born: 1952, Salem, OregonDied: 2019, Salem, Oregon | Hallie Ford Museum of Art - Willamette University". willametteart.pastperfectonline.com. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
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