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Kim Dorland

$57,500.00

Kim Dorland
(Canadian, b. 1974)
Butterflies
2017
Oil and ink on polyester
96 × 72 in. (243.8 × 182.9 cm)

Standing a monumental eight feet tall by six feet wide, Butterflies is a masterwork created in 2017 that served as the centerpiece and title work for Kim Dorland's solo exhibition at VIVIANEART. Executed on a heavy-duty polyester substrate, the painting operates as a raw, visceral breakup painting. It presents a storm-like cloud of vibrant butterflies descending upon a dark, ghost-like forest, carrying the full psychological weight of heartbreak, rejection, and romantic disillusionment.

While butterflies are traditionally associated with delicacy, grace, and fragile romance, Dorland completely subverts the motif with punk-rock grit, teenage angst, and profanely honest vulnerability. Looking closely at the composition reveals that many of the individual butterflies are tagged with scribbled, confrontational confessions and breakup slogans, such as "No Love," "Liar," "Fuck You I Won't Do It," and "I Will Make You Burn." By colliding delicate pastel imagery and heavy impasto with bitter graffiti, Dorland transforms the traditional symbol of courtship into a chaotic, emotionally charged battleground of grief, anger, and heartbreak.

Based in Toronto, Kim Dorland is widely recognized as one of Canada's most celebrated contemporary painters. He gained international acclaim for his radical, maximalist reimagining of the Canadian landscape genre, bridging the historical legacy of Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven with street art, grunge aesthetics, and deeply personal narrative. In 2013, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection named him Artist-in-Residence and mounted the landmark exhibition You Are Here: Kim Dorland and the Group of Seven, hanging his raw, heavily textured canvases directly alongside historical Canadian masterpieces.

Featured Exhibition History:

  • Feature Title Work, Butterflies (Solo Exhibition), VIVIANEART (Calgary, AB, 2017)

  • Major Solo Exhibition, Scream, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (2015)

  • Artist-in-Residence, McMichael Canadian Art Collection (2013–2014)

  • Major Exhibition, You Are Here: Kim Dorland and the Group of Seven, McMichael Canadian Art Collection (2013)

Selected Permanent Collections:

  • Montreal Museum of Fine Arts / Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal (Montreal, QC)

  • McMichael Canadian Art Collection (Kleinburg, ON)

  • Art Gallery of Alberta (Edmonton, AB)

  • Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto / MOCA (Toronto, ON)

  • Glenbow Museum (Calgary, AB)

  • The Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection (West Palm Beach, FL)

  • The Oppenheimer Collection (Overland Park, KS)

Kim Dorland
(Canadian, b. 1974)
Butterflies
2017
Oil and ink on polyester
96 × 72 in. (243.8 × 182.9 cm)

Standing a monumental eight feet tall by six feet wide, Butterflies is a masterwork created in 2017 that served as the centerpiece and title work for Kim Dorland's solo exhibition at VIVIANEART. Executed on a heavy-duty polyester substrate, the painting operates as a raw, visceral breakup painting. It presents a storm-like cloud of vibrant butterflies descending upon a dark, ghost-like forest, carrying the full psychological weight of heartbreak, rejection, and romantic disillusionment.

While butterflies are traditionally associated with delicacy, grace, and fragile romance, Dorland completely subverts the motif with punk-rock grit, teenage angst, and profanely honest vulnerability. Looking closely at the composition reveals that many of the individual butterflies are tagged with scribbled, confrontational confessions and breakup slogans, such as "No Love," "Liar," "Fuck You I Won't Do It," and "I Will Make You Burn." By colliding delicate pastel imagery and heavy impasto with bitter graffiti, Dorland transforms the traditional symbol of courtship into a chaotic, emotionally charged battleground of grief, anger, and heartbreak.

Based in Toronto, Kim Dorland is widely recognized as one of Canada's most celebrated contemporary painters. He gained international acclaim for his radical, maximalist reimagining of the Canadian landscape genre, bridging the historical legacy of Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven with street art, grunge aesthetics, and deeply personal narrative. In 2013, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection named him Artist-in-Residence and mounted the landmark exhibition You Are Here: Kim Dorland and the Group of Seven, hanging his raw, heavily textured canvases directly alongside historical Canadian masterpieces.

Featured Exhibition History:

  • Feature Title Work, Butterflies (Solo Exhibition), VIVIANEART (Calgary, AB, 2017)

  • Major Solo Exhibition, Scream, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (2015)

  • Artist-in-Residence, McMichael Canadian Art Collection (2013–2014)

  • Major Exhibition, You Are Here: Kim Dorland and the Group of Seven, McMichael Canadian Art Collection (2013)

Selected Permanent Collections:

  • Montreal Museum of Fine Arts / Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal (Montreal, QC)

  • McMichael Canadian Art Collection (Kleinburg, ON)

  • Art Gallery of Alberta (Edmonton, AB)

  • Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto / MOCA (Toronto, ON)

  • Glenbow Museum (Calgary, AB)

  • The Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection (West Palm Beach, FL)

  • The Oppenheimer Collection (Overland Park, KS)

Born in Wainwright, Alberta in 1974, Dorland spent most of his youth in Red Deer, Alberta. With the support of his partner, Lori Seymour and her family, he found a solid direction in the pursuit of his art. He completed his BFA at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design and his MFA at York University in Toronto, Ontario.

Dorland has shown internationally in Milan, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. His work is included in numerous collections including the Sander Collection (Berlin); Art Gallery of Alberta; Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal; Musée d’art Contemporain du Montréal; Glenbow Museum (Calgary); Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, and numerous private collections.