Donald Moffett

Moffett’s extruded oil paint and epoxy resin paintings are central to his oeuvre. Begun three decades ago, these abstractions feature textured peaks and glossy pools of pigment that evoke biological forms—roots, bacteria, orifices—while embodying the artist's philosophy that his works "say nothing but … show quite a bit." Moffett’s creative process deliberately transcends conventional categorization, merging industrial fabrication methods with fine art techniques to challenge established boundaries between painting, sculpture, and manufacturing. The resulting works achieve a distinctive tension: simultaneously calculated and spontaneous, they inhabit an intermediate space where intuitive expression meets mechanical precision. Moffett further disrupts traditional notions of the picture plane through strategies like drilling, slicing, and routing to reveal his work’s internal structure and the architectural space behind it. His deliberate perforations function as formal innovations and conceptual interventions, introducing themes of absence, fragility, and perseverance into seemingly impenetrable surfaces.

Further expanding on this methodology, Moffett developed NATURE CULT in the mid-2010s. This ongoing project examines the climate crisis through complex investigations of surface and structure, language and graphics. The body of work features a variety of pierced and carved panels, found object sculptures and installations, bumper stickers, and vibrantly colored birdhouses—all melancholic tributes to the biodiversity threatened by widespread inaction. The series reveals how Moffett has never strayed from the core concerns that have animated his work for more than four decades: the relationship between abstraction and politics and the role of art in social discourse.

Moffett's artistic contributions lie not just in his formal innovations, but also in his ability to transfigure the language and graphics of politics. His work demonstrates how art can maintain its relevance while engaging with both historical traditions and contemporary concerns, creating a space where aesthetics and politics coexist without compromising either.

Moffett’s work has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions, including NATURE CULT, SEEDED, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland (2024); DONALD MOFFETT + NATURE CULT + THE McNAY, McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, TX (2022); The Extravagant Vein, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, TX (2011), traveled to The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA, and Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY (both 2012); and Donald Moffett: What Barbara Jordan Wore, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, IL (2002). His work has also been featured in many group shows, including Gran Fury: Arte não é o bastante (Gran Fury: Art is Not Enough), Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP), Brazil (2024); This Morning, This Evening, So Soon: James Baldwin and the Voices of Queer Resistance, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. (2024); Every Moment Counts—AIDS and its Feelings, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo, Norway (2019); United by AIDS—An Exhibition about Loss, Remembrance, Activism and Art in Response to HIV/AIDS, Migros Museum für Gegenwartkunst, Zurich, Switzerland (2019); and the 1993 Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, NY. Moffett’s work is featured in global public and private collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, IL; the Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas at Austin, TX; Brooklyn Museum, NY; J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Hammer Museum, University of California, Los Angeles; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; The Menil Collection, Houston, TX; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; and Whitney Museum of American Art, NY, among others. Moffett recently received the Texas Medal of Arts Award, Texas Cultural Trust, Austin, and, as a member of Gran Fury, was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston in 2011. Moffett is also represented by Anthony Meier, Mill Valley, CA.