Written by Diane
Arrieta
Dana Donaty. Maestro.
Acrylic on canvas. 2016
When you first encounter the
work of Dana Donaty, you are hit with a profusion of color and fairytale-like narratives
that explode on her canvases. It takes a while to settle into one of her
paintings. But when you do, you can get lost for hours discovering the
characters and the stories summoned by her stockpiled memories. How did they
get there? Do they exist outside of Donaty’s paintings and imagination? Why are
some of them so familiar to us?
To
examine how her character art becomes transformed into picture, there are two
important aspects of the work that must be examined: the how and the why. Many
artists focus on the “how” they make their art, while others focus on the “why”
they make their art. Donaty’s work demands viewers to examine both the how
and the why. The process and the purpose of her work are rooted in her cultural
identity of growing up in an American nuclear family. This idea is very
apparent when studying the work of artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith. Her
cultural identity and socio-political views are embedded in her art and cannot
be separated (Quick-to-See Smith, 2019). Although Donaty employs a more subtle
approach with her social views, the how and the why should not be separated when
considering Donaty’s work.
An overview of Character Art:
Character art refers to an original figure that an artist,
illustrator or animated film designer creates from scratch. The concept, style,
physical characteristics and personality traits of the character (human or
otherwise) are all decided by the designer. Developing a new character requires
the artist to embark on “a creative dive into the unknown and from the abyss,
pull out a new design” (Concept Art Empire, 2019).
There is no wrong way to approach character development,
and each artist or designer settles into their own methods. They gain
inspiration everywhere from animated film, television, advertisements, cereal
boxes, and more (Creative Blog, 2019). Designing a 2-D character is slightly
different than designing for an animated 3-D film. For a painting, the artists
needs to consider one angle. A 3-D character requires the character to be seen
from all angles. One interesting aspect of Donaty’s art is that her characters
begin flat in the painting; however, she also explores bringing them to life
outside of the painting into the 3-D realm. One of her first characters that
has made the leap outside of a painting is Captain Money Pants (shown below).
Donaty is currently working toward bringing several of her characters to life
by means of a variety of different mediums.
Captain
Money, Pants. Mixed Media. 2017
The How:
Indulging a Donaty painting begins with exploring her
unique process of employing Visual Pareidolia. “Pareidolia is the interpretation of previously
unseen and unrelated objects as familiar due to previous learning” (Akdeniz, et
al., 2018). Pareidolia in the visual arts has been discussed since the time of
Leonardo da Vinci (McCurdy, 1923) and is still in use today by several
contemporary artists. Artist Gigi Chen, an animator and painter uses nature and
urban artifacts when she engages her version of pareidolia to her work (Chen,
2019). Italian artist Maggio uses coffee stains for the base of his work
(Maggio, nd) and Illustrator Keith Larson also develops characters out of
inanimate urban objects he encounters (Marini, 2017).
The scientific reasoning for the phenomenon of pareidolia
stems from the fact that our brains use parallel processing. We find patterns
and make associations that are sifted through our memory. This is an active
constructive process. We quickly find a possible match and assign it a name.
For example when you see a duck in the clouds. You assign it that name, and the
brain fills in the details to make the cloud resemble your assigned name for it
(Allen, 2018).
Donaty’s process begins each painting with a large canvas
on the ground used as a drop cloth where splattered paint, offloading of
brushes and dirty water are all caught on this blank canvas as she paints on a
separate canvas above it. The backstory of this process relates to her
practical physician father and his “waste not want not” conditioning of Donaty,
when she worked in his medical office as a child. Because of her upbringing,
she now recycles everything. This has had a direct influence on her art
practice and character development.
The process of employing visual pareidolia for her
character development, begins when she lifts the dirty canvas up onto the wall
as the base for her next work of art (illustrated below). She stands back and
starts to explore the emerging characters that form a narrative for the work.
She chalks them out and then constructs a guided storyline.
Studio shot: Dana Donaty Fine Art
Just like the visual development artists at Disney
animation studios, Donaty is a master at manipulating her pictorial environment
while her characters form an emotional connection (Disney, 2019) through her
technical prowess with a brush. She manipulates the scene to direct the viewer
on the start of a magical journey that leads wherever their own imagination and
social recall takes them. As the story develops, Donaty always adds in a larger
than life human into the mix. The characters determine the providence of her
humans within the context of the painting.
The why:
As stated above, inspiration
for character development can come from a wide variety of sources and stored
memory. One aspect to understanding the context of the character worlds found
in a Donaty painting requires consideration of the impact American
television has had on culture and society (Novak Djokovic Foundation, nd). Early
television programming during the
60s and 70s, was created for the presumed White audience. It intentionally
avoided social issues and real-life concerns in order to not offend or alienate
viewers (Encyclopedia.com, 2019). Conversely, popular in that time were
Saturday morning cartoons. Cartoons teach kids how things function in
real life, while offering ways of dealing with difficult situations (Novak
Djokovic Foundation, nd).
The most prevalent shows for
adults of that era were domestic comedies—generic, character-based shows set
within the home (UMass, 2019). Donaty was being conditioned to avoid conflict
through comedy, but was also given the license to add in social commentary, predisposed
by weekly cartoons. After interviewing Donaty in a recent studio visit, she
mentioned two main influences that were core to her childhood memory: Carol
Burnett and Charles Schultz.
Carol Burnett broke a lot of
barriers in society by starring in her own variety show, and today is viewed as
a feminist comedic hero. Not by the content or intent of her show, but by the
mere fact that she was fearless and did what no other women were doing at the
time (Duca, 2015). Donaty grew up watching Burnett’s cast of fictional
characters act out scenarios for a big laugh, week after week. I can see
similar qualities in Donaty herself—bucking the trends in the art world and
sticking with her often underestimated character world. Her paintings are a
kind of variety show with each painting a new episode of zany scenes and
characters offering Donaty’s take on society.
There have been many cultural
studies on how humor can be a tool that
helps people deal with complex and often contradictory messages in our brains
(Weems, 2014). Donaty’s paintings can be
viewed as ordered chaos. At first confusing, but looking closer, you start to
see familiar faces and text integrated into a burst of color. It offers an
entry point of exploration through a societal lens of icons and meanings
derived from our collective consciousness [Sociology Index, 2001].
Humor as
an artistic tool has been used throughout art history. When we look at the work
of John Baldessari, his humor calls attention to existing absurdities (Mizota,
2010). Artists have been using objects as joke since the infamous Duchamp
urinal, while Richard Prince recasts found objects to make us rethink how
culture operates (Lee, 2017). The one artist that gives off the same vibe as
Donaty is David Shrigley. As Lee states, his works are true and relatable as much
as they are discomforting and just plain weird (Lee, 2017). One could have
similar feelings about a Donaty painting.
Charles Schultz, creator of
the famous Peanuts comic strip and subsequent television shows, is part of most
[White] American family memories. What most people didn’t realize, is that
Schultz was very religious. “By mixing Snoopy with spirituality, he made his
readers laugh while inviting them into a depth of conversation uncommon to the
funny pages” (Merritt, 2016).
Dana Donaty. Top Dog. 60 x 48
inches. Acrylic on canvas
Many of Shultz’s comics were cryptic and
with blanks where the audience must fill in the gaps. As Merritt states, “the
result is that readers become participants of the strip’s conversation instead
of merely spectators” (Merritt, 2016). The same can be said about Donaty’s
works. They are starting points for stories that can be directed by the viewer.
We can see this in the work pictured above (Top Dog). It could have several
different interpretations. Is the human the corporate pied piper calling on the
masses to follow along, or are the characters critics analyzing the musician’s
performance? The possibilities are endless and open to interpretation. Donaty
sneaks in clever text and images that need to be deciphered by the viewer. There
is even reference [in Top Dog] to Marcel Duchamp and the Mona Lisa, with the
L.H.O.O.Q. text providing a glimpse into the understated humor of Donaty.
The characters in Schultz’s body of work
are immediately endearing. They give hope, but at the same time offer a bit of
skepticism. Donaty’s characters do the same. From
Captain Money Pants to hints of Donald Duck and Yosemite Sam, the viewer
instantly becomes reminiscent of their own childhood that these invented and
borrowed characters conjure up. The added text and scenes often have a bite
like the cynical retort found in a Peanuts comic. Schultz’s Linus character
offers up “I love mankind… it’s people I can’t stand” (Charles Schultz Museum,
2011), which falls directly into the psyche of Donaty herself.
Peanuts comics are a spectacle of little children afflicted
with adult concerns (Charles Schultz Museum, 2011). Donaty’s work may appeal to
children at first sight, but is entertaining adults with advanced topics and subtle
commentary. Just look at the sculptural Captain Money Pants’ hand gestures. Who
is that directed too? Society, the art world, nay-sayers of her work? You
decide. The reoccurring dollar signs in many of her paintings give a new layer
of context to the work. They could allude to the consumer driven cartoons and
commercials that try to sell products to children (Klein, 2010) or the money
driven art world.
Donaty’s skill at using her own unique character design
mingled with iconic characters of Disney and other relevant popular cartoons
allows a sense of nostalgia for childhood. They do their job at creating an
inviting environment to explore. Donaty offers the same journey of escapism of
the comedic variety show, while proposing the chance of a larger conversation
hidden within cartoons—for those willing to enter the mesmerizing world that is
the art of Dana Donaty.
References:
McCurdy, E., 1923. Leonardo Da Vinci S Note-Books Arranged
And Rendered Into English. Empire State Book Company, NY, New York.
Weems, Scott, 2014. Ha! The science of when we
laugh and why. Basic Books. New York, N.Y.
Author Biography
Diane Arrieta is the Outreach and exhibitions coordinator at the John D.
MacArthur Campus Library at Florida Atlantic University. She has been curating
contemporary exhibitions since 2005. Arrieta, a visual artist herself, works
with sculpture, video and illustration. She is currently exploring
environmental themes in her work. Arrieta was born and raised in Western Pa,
now living in South Florida. She holds a BFA in ceramic sculpture from Florida
Atlantic University and an MSc in Biodiversity and Wildlife Health from the
University of Edinburgh, U.K.
Artist information
Dana Donaty
Dana Donaty was raised in New Jersey, coming with a unique blend of
Colombian, Peruvian, Italian, Irish and American backgrounds. She holds a
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drawing from Moore College of Art & Design in
Philadelphia, PA. After living in London, England for twelve years she
relocated in 2006 to Florida, where she now lives and works.
