Donald
Sultan
Donald Sultan's innovative approach to still life painting has earned his position as a significant figure in Contemporary Art. If you're looking for Donald Sultan original prints and editions for sale or would like to sell, request a complimentary valuation and browse our network's most in-demand works.
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Biography
Born in 1951 in Asheville, North Carolina, Donald Sultan's artistic journey began at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where he earned his BFA before pursuing his MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Sultan's move to New York City in 1975 marked a pivotal moment in his career, as he quickly established himself as a prominent painter, printmaker, and sculptor.
Sultan's work is characterised by his use of unconventional materials and his ability to transform everyday objects into monumental, abstract compositions. His paintings often feature bold, black forms set against vibrant backgrounds, creating a striking visual contrast that has become a hallmark of his style.
Sultan’s artistic evolution was significantly shaped by his early experiences in various trades jobs, including set design, working at his father’s tire company in Asheville, and later, construction work in New York. This practical background fostered his interest in industrial materials and reproduction, influencing his practice of painting on horizontal surfaces. His works, characterised by their deliberate flatness, draw from the representational qualities of stage sets while incorporating the monumental heft of industrial materials—a nod to Asheville’s manufacturing heritage.
Throughout his career, Sultan has explored various subjects, from urban landscapes to flowers and fruits. In the early 1980s, he began his influential Disaster Paintings series, which explores the fragility of man-made structures through a stark visual language. Utilising industrial materials like tar and Masonite tiles, Sultan depicted scenes of catastrophic events sourced from newspaper images, portraying robust industrial landscapes—such as factories and train cars—as vulnerable to destruction. The series merges Minimalism with representational painting, blending figuration and abstraction to comment on the impermanence of even the most commanding architectural landscapes, outlining the impermanence of life.
Wallflower 14 is part of Donald Sultan's 2008 series, Wall Flowers, a series of 35 screen prints that explore the intricate beauty and complexity of floral motifs. In Wallflower 14, Sultan employs a bold, repetitive pattern of black flowers accented with hints of blue, creating a striking composition. The use of over 150 colours in the series reflects Sultan's experimental approach. The print's flat, yet textured surface, invites viewers to engage with the contrast between the simplicity of the flower motif and the depth of Sultan's intricate printmaking technique.
Sultan's work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions worldwide, including at the Museum of Modern Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. In 2010, the Smithsonian American Art Museum presented Donald Sultan: The Disaster Paintings, the first exhibition to focus on this significant series.