WORKS
         THE ASHUR PAINTINGS
         FOUR VOTI
         MESO-DRAWINGS
         THE JEREMIAH TRIPTYCH
         THE AKEDAH TRIPTYCH
         THE KILLING OF LIONS
         OTHER WORKS

















STATEMENT



The primary concern of my work is the visual expression of symbolic duality.  Its meaningful synthesis is arguably the fundamental concern of philosophy and religion.  Man’s understanding of his place within that search, and his struggle to integrate and visualize these dichotomies has preoccupied the artist from his earliest creative impulse.  Ancient religion being the earliest form of psychology, and the Near East being the cultural matrix of the West, my interest has always returned to the artistic wealth of these lands and their seminal images.  Within that world of images, symbolic prototypes and antitypes contain rich potentialities for expressive interpretation of dualities and polarities.  Composite animal and human forms frequently embody small worlds of layered meaning that clearly speak to us in the present, revealing the shared inner vocabularies populated by archetypal forms whose antecedents draw us back into our primordial interior.

Entering the new millenium, the West is once again reminded, unexpectantly and ambivalently, of the protean powers of this region.  Distant energies and motivations are revisiting us like old recurring dreams, half-forgotten but uncomfortably familiar and persistent.  We come from this place and it manifests itself in our present.  Our spiritual families, the great monotheisms, come from here. Our psychic and cultural symbolisms come from here. My interest in these energies, and their psychological resonance in the contemporary psyche and religion, is the driving current in my work.

I have an attraction to, and affinity for, the physical form.  The animal body, in particular, has for me tremendous expressive vitality.  Flesh, in all its forms and fragments, possesses universal expressive potential; it immediately contacts the viewer and resonates with his/her primary responses and feelings.  I have restricted my chromatic palette to blacks, cadmium reds, and ivories with the maintenance of this goal in mind.  This trinity of colors has multi-cultural symbolic significance, containing within it references to life and death, good and evil, engagement, protection, and transcendence.  Contradistinction between extreme condensed detail and bold directional gestures; between transparent veils of pigment and rough, dense masses of crushed minerals and metal; between skeletal and flesh forms; between animal and human; all serve as analogies for the bridging and interplay between the atavistic and the abstract sublime.

Two subjects are currently dominant in my paintings and drawings.  One is the topic of the Votive.  The sacrifice of the beloved son is the core foundational myth of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.  As such, it’s symbolism and psychic influence is an extremely powerful operative in the culture of the contemporary world occupied by these three religions.  Though the Greeks addressed the theme through the Oedipus myth, the Abrahamic Sacrifice theologizes it and fixes it as point of spiritual aspiration.  The inherent spiritual paradoxes of this paradigm reveal themselves today in increasingly problematic manifestations.  Despite secular assumptions to the contrary, these religious energies remain the default psychic calibration of the majority of the world. The Akedah Triptych addresses this theme.

The second concern is the aesthetic re-interpretation of the Assyrian Bas-reliefs of Ninevah.  I have for decades been attracted to and fascinated by these works, which I have always regarded as products of genius.  With the greatest pleasure I recently discovered the book The Forms of Violence, by Leo Bersani and Ulysse Dutoit of UC Berkeley.  The authors postulate that contemporary cultural critics are mistaken in their view of these works as narrative in form; that to the contrary, they employ exceedingly sophisticated anti-narrative devices that prevent "terminal" reading of form, and maintain the constant visual "feed" of the viewer.  My earliest attraction to these works was generated by this rapid-fire movement across the image plane coupled with their sensuality of form.  Consequently, I was thrilled to see these works revealed for the "modern" works that I’ve always felt them to be.  Contained within these works are extremities of motion and stasis, empathy and detachment, violence and pathos, and the sacred and profane.  Exploration of these dualities is the subject of major works in progress, The Killing of Lions.

It is my intention and my desire that the viewer experience these images as contemplative touchstones that access and amplify the "personal archaic" within.  So that, as through the auspices of the Djinn in the remote places, the viewer is reintroduced to internal visions that speak to personal emotional and spiritual primacies.  And that these visions be experienced and understood as alive and vital in the present.


"Maureen Drdak's ambitious art is rich in meaning and formal nuance. Informed by her own very personal and simultaneously highly cerebral understanding of history, myth, and religion, her paintings resonate with universal themes of life and death, sacred and profane, the sacrificial and the sacramental. And in their combination of boldness of conception and design with an execution that is delicate and exacting, they are also ravishingly beautiful."
Ann Priester Ph.D. Princeton University
Art Historian and Lecturer, Lehigh University

"Maureen Drdak's Akedah Triptych strikes the viewer with visceral impact.Ý The blood-red strokes incised on expansive black fields cut to the core of the Abraham story. Like ancient wounds reopened, they powerfully invoke the question of why the willingness to sacrifice rather than protect the child became the model of faith and martyrdom in the three Abrahamic religions, an interpretive dilemma that demands urgent reflection and examination today."
Carol Delaney Ph.D.
Anthropologist, Stanford University
Author, Abraham on Trial: The Social Legacy of Biblical Myth

"...racing flaming burning forms, flesh flames, stone-threads, bone-black luminosity... These works are sensitive and dazzling!"
Augusta Read Thomas
Mead Composer-in-Residence, Chicago Symphony
Wyatt Professor of Music Composition, Northwestern University School of Music

"In Maureen Drdak's solo show, "Ex Voto", also at Berman, large red and black abstract paintings alter reality by reshaping it. As we begin looking at her imagery, we seem to eavesdrop upon something that's none of our business. After all, traditional ex-votos are votive offerings, often to a saint, signifying a prayerful petition placed in a house of worship by a devout individual. Drdak's art enlarges the meaning of the popular origins of ex-voto images. And subject matter counts for this Ardmore artist. We learn that these striking works are meditations on ancient Assyrian lion-hunt relief sculptures that she has long admired. A luxury of sensation and touch is part of the subjective appeal of such work."
Victoria Donohoe
Art Critic, Philadelphia Inquirer, The Expressionist Gesture
Sunday, September 26, 2004

"Maureen Drdak, an anthropological abstractionist from Ardmore, Montgomery County, offers a pair of eight foot wide....meditations on the Assyrian bas-reliefs of Nineveh, which some consider modern because they defy easy interpretation. She does her part for anti-narration by turning sacrificial lions into red....forms with a marvelous fire and movement. These animal gestures float across an absorbing black field outlined with mineral particles....All in all, itís paining that growls and prowls"
Geoff Gehman
Arts Writer, The Morning Call , Allentown Area Artists 2005 Biennial
“Dynamic Works are Lionís Share of Lehigh Show”
Thursday, March 17, 2005

"Itís not easy, given the current state....in the art world, to come up with something truly original, but Drdak has achieved it brilliantly. Drdak is not just a painter. Sheís a philosopher, a scholar, an intellectual, a citizen of the world and its various cultures....Her visionary ìlion huntî ....culminated in a stunning exhibition ìEx Votoî, currently on view in the Dwight V. Dowley Art Gallery at Chestnut Hill College through April 8. History, myth and religion all haunt the surfaces of these mesmerizing compositions..."
Marie Fowler
Arts Writer, Chestnut Hill Local, Philadelphia, PA.
“Lion Art Exhibit Roars at Chestnut Hill College”
Thursday, March 31, 2005






BIO

1953           Born, 4 November, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1973-4        Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1975           Graduated, Philadelphia College of Art (Univ. of the Arts) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania BFA
1975           Graduated, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Pennsylvania, Certificate
1974-76      Private Instructor, Painting and Drawing
1976           Barnes Foundation, Merion, Pennsylvania
1974-76      Nicholas Bucciarelli Prize, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
                  Consolidated Drake Press Award, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
                  Julius Hallgarten Prize, National Academy of Design, New York, NY
                  Mabel Wilson Woodrow Memorial Award, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
1991-2008   Private research, Israel, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Italy

AWARDS

2008           Clare and Eugene V. Thaw, for LUNG-TA
2008           H.R.Gerry Lenfest, for LUNG-TA
2008           Philadelphia Music Project Grantee with NNM for LUNG-TA collaborative with composer Andrea Clearfield
2008           Award for Painting, Art Association of Harrisburg Internat'l Juried Exhibition, Juror: Nat Trotman, Asst. Cur.
                  Guggenheim
2002           Honorable Mention 2D Works, Three Rivers Arts Festival Juror: Lonnie Graham, Indep. Curator
1999           Award of Excellence Works on Paper, Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
                  102nd Annual Juried Exhibition
1998           Honorable Mention, Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
                  101st Annual Juried Exhibition Juror: Isaac Witkin
1994           CPAS Graphic Prize, Franklin Mint Foundation for the Arts
1992           Catherine Gibbons Granger Award, Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
                  Jurors: Komar and Melamid
1992           Tobeleah Wechsler Award, Cheltenham Center for the Arts, Pennsylvania
                  Juror: Alice Yang, Assistant Curator, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY
1991           CPAS Graphic Prize, Franklin Mint Foundation for the Arts

EXHIBITIONS

2009           Forthcoming, Lawrence Gallery, Solo Exhibition, Rosemont College, PA. Curator: Pat Nugent
2009           Forthcoming, LUNG-TA, Maureen Drdak artist, Andrea Clearfield composer, Manfred Fischbeck choreography,                   Network for New Music premiere, March 06, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA.
2008           The Planes of Aspiration, Solo Exhibition, The Gallery at PennCollege, Penn State University.,
                  PA. Curator: L. Pennfield
2008           5th Annual Betsy Meyer Memorial Exhibition, Main Line Center for the Arts, PA., Juror:William Pym
2008           Art Association of Harrisburg Internat'l Juried Exhibition, Juror: Nat Trotman, Asst. Cur. Guggenheim Museum NYC
2008           4th Annual Betsy Meyer Memorial Exhibition, MLAC, PA. Juror: Sueyun Locks, Locks Gallery, Phila. PA
2008           Forthcoming,The PLANES of ASPIRATION, SOLO Exhibition,The Gallery at Penn College, Penn College, PA
2008           Forthcoming, Gendered Memory: Women Artists Confront the Holocaust,Florida Holocaust Museum, FL
                  Curator Dr. Stephen Feinstein, Dir. of the Centre for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Univ. of Minnesota
2007           Forthcoming, The PLANES of ASPIRATION, Solo Exhibition, McKinney Galleries, West Chester University, PA
2007           SOLO Exhibition Center for the Humanities Gallery, (CHAT) Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
2006           SOLO Exhibition, Critical Studies Depatment,Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA
2005           Maureen Drdak, Charles More and Associates, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2005           Area Artists 2005, Selective Group Exhibition, Area Artists 2005, The Siegel Gallery, Lehigh Univ., Pennsylvania
2005           EX VOTO, Solo Exhibition, Dwight V. Dowley Gallery of Art, Chestnut Hill College, PA
2004           EX VOTO, Solo Exhibition, Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art, Ursinus College, Pennsylvania
2002           The Philadelphia Sketch Club, Works on Paper Show, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2001           Three Rivers Festival Juried Exhibition, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
                  Juror: Lonnie Graham, Independent Curator
2001           Millennium Arts Center, Washington, D.C.
2000           Art of the State: Pennsylvania 2000, 33rd Annual Juried Exhibition State Museum, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
                  Jurors: A. Adams, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
                  Stephen Phillips, The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
1999           Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Juried Exhibition, Yellow Springs, Pennsylvania
1999           Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Alumni Juried Exhibition, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1999           Award Winners: 101st Annual Juried Exhibition, PAFA Fellowship,
                  Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1999           Yom HaShoah, Temple Beth Shalom, Cherry Hill, New Jersey
1998           Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts 101st Exhibition, Yellow Springs, Pennsylvania
1997           Artists Helping Artists Exhibition, Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
                  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1995           Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts 98th Annual Exhibition, West Chester University
                  West Chester, Pennsylvania
1995           THRENOS (Solo Exhibition) Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1994           Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts 97th Annual Exhibition, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
1994           THRENOS (Solo Exhibition) Franklin Center, Pennsylvania
1994           CPAS Exhibition, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1993           Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1992           Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts 95th Annual Exhibition
                  Philip and Muriel Berman Museum, Ursinus College, Pennsylvania
1992           Philadelphia Watercolor Club, 74th Annual Juried Exhibition, Woodmere Art Museum,
                  Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania
1992           The Pavilion Challenge Exhibition, Pavilion Galleries, Memorial Hospital of Burlington County
                  Mount Holly, New Jersey
1992           Annual Awards Exhibition, Cheltenham Center for the Arts, Cheltenham, Pennsylvania
1992           CPAS Exhibition, Woodmere Art Museum, Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania
1991           CPAS Exhibition, Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

COLLECTION (PUBLIC, CORPORATE, AND PRIVATE)

LUAG Permanent Collection, Lehigh University, PA.
Philip and Muriel Berman Museum, Collegeville, Pennsylvania
Yad VaShem Holocaust Memorial, Jerusalem, Israel
Florida Holocaust Museum, St. Petersburg, Florida
Franklin Mint Corporate Collection, Franklin Center, Pennsylvania
Lenox Corporate Collection, Lawrenceville, New Jersey
Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Carnegie Mellon University, PA
Penn State University, Penn College of Technology, PA
Private Collection of Lynda and Stuart Resnick (Top 100 US Collectors, Arts & Antiques, 1990)
Private Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Karl Middleman (Founder and Artistic Director - Philadelphia Classical Symphony)
Private Collection of Linda Reichert (Artistic Director-Network for New Music)
Collection of Their Majesties King Abdullah and Queen Rania of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
Private Collections in the US and Israel
The Financial Group of Philadelphia

LECTURES, PUBLICATIONS, COLLABORATIONS

2009
Forthcoming, Artist Gallery Lecture, Lawrence Gallery, Rosemont College, PA.
Forthcoming, LUNG-TA, Maureen Drdak artist, Andrea Clearfield composer, Manfred Fischbeck Choreography, Performance Network for New Music, Univ. of the Arts Seminars/Symposia

2008
Radio Interview, The Way with Kent Bunting, WPTC 88.1 PCT, 1/26/08, Maureen Drdak: Symbolism in Art http://www.pct.edu/wptc/programming.htm
Artist Gallery Lecture, The Gallery at Penn College, Penn College, PA.
Artist Gallery Lecture, The McKinney Galleries, West Chester University, PA.
What is Modern About the Art of Ancient Iraq? Art-at-Lunch Lecture Series, The Penn Academy of Fine Arts, Phila., PA

2007
What is Modern About the Art of Ancient Iraq? Visiting Artist Lecture, Center for the Humanities (CHAT), Temple University, PA.

2006
What is Modern About the Art of Ancient Iraq? Visiting Artist, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA.

2005
EXVOTO; The Paintings of Maureen Drdak, Lecture by Ann Priester, PhD., Chestnut Hill College, Phila., PA
Area Artists 2005 Panel Discussion, LUAG, Lehigh University, PA.
Forthcoming Collaboration with Andrea Clearfield, Composer and Pianist
Ongoing Partnership with Intercultural Journeys; Udi Bar-David Artistic Director:

2005
EXVOTO; The Paintings of Maureen Drdak, Lecture by Ann Priester, PhD., Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, PA

2004
EXVOTO; The Paintings of Maureen Drdak, Lecture by Ann Priester, PhD., Ursinus College, Collegeville, PA
EXVOTO; The Ashes of Isaac, Lecture, CIE Studies, Ursinus College, Collegeville, PA, 2004
EXVOTO; Paintings by Maureen Drdak, (Catalog) Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art, Ursinus College, PA
Network for New Music Premier CD Dream Journal-(Cover) Study for Ashur 2

1995
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Panel Discussion (Moderator)

1994
Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts 97th Annual THRENOS Documentary
Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Awards Winners Panel Discussion 95th Annual

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

College Art Association






CONTACT



Maureen Drdak 342 East Spring Avenue Ardmore, PA 19003 P:610-649-5694 F: 610-649-2557 E:

In response to serious inquiries, specific images can be sent in higher resolution upon request.
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