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Spring

by Dale McKinney

Oil on plywood
Dimensions: 36 x 48
Purchased through a National Endowment for the Arts grant, 1971

Spring by Dale McKinney
Photo credit: John Jernigan

The Artwork

Dale McKinney was well respected for his nonobjective paintings. In addition to his work as a painter, he was also printmaker and an instructor of sculpture. In Spring, he uses skills and techniques often used in other genres and applies them to his painting. With this work, he has painted the surface with several layers of paint. Between some layers, McKinney seems to have applied tape, string, or another agent which he has used to remove layers of paint to expose another layer underneath. The result of this process is several layers of paint which interact together creating a non-representative image which is abundant in visual movement.

The Artist

Born in Hollister, Oklahoma, Myron Dale McKinney earned his earned his Bachelor of Arts from Central State College (now the University of Central Oklahoma) and his Master of Arts from Oklahoma State University. McKinney was a very influential Associate Professor of Art at Oklahoma State University as well as a highly respected a painter, printmaker, and sculptor. McKinney exhibited at prestigious galleries and museums across the untites states including the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, The Museum of Non-Objective Painting at the Guggenhiem, Dallas Museum of Art, and the Philbrook Art Museum.