Moira Dryer

Moira Dryer (1957–1992) was a Canadian artist known for her abstract paintings on wood panel.

Early life and education
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. At SVA she was a student of Elizabeth Murray, and she ultimately became a friend and a studio assistant to Murray. She also became a studio assistant to Julian Schnabel.

Dryer graduated from SVA with honors in 1981.

Before working full time as painter, Dryer was a freelance prop and set maker, and set designer for the avant-garde theater company Mabou Mines.

Personal life
In 1982, Dryer 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 and 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 Illinois at Chicago

1995

Estate Paintings; Jay Gorney Modern Art, New York

1993

Estate Paintings; Jay Gorney Modern Art, New York

Projects 42: 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 Tate St. Ives, Cornwall, touring to Warwick Art Centre (2011/12)

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 South 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 ('Picture This', 1989)

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.