Artist Statement
I'm an artist living in NYC. Mostly I make drawings and watercolors, but despite how traditional that sounds, I try hard for them to be unusual. I went to Afghanistan as a soldier and managed to fill a dozen notebooks with journal entries and drawings. I'm into old cartoons, and I read a lot. I do Studio Visits for Beautiful/Decay Magazine, and my work's improved from that experience.

The characters I paint live in the rich terrain between traditional realism and cartoons. They look and feel half-real, but, as a kid they seemed very real to me, and I revisited the images as an adult after I did a year in Afghanistan in the Army. Jung called myths "psychological stories," which completely resonates with me, and similar to the Trickster myth, these creatures represent something cryptic, proto-human, and mythical.

Artist Bio / CV

Bill (William) Donovan
donovan.bill@gmail.com
New York, NY

Educational Summary
M.F.A. 2006 Painting, University of Iowa, Iowa City IA
B.F.A. 2001 Painting, University of Massachusetts, Amherst MA

Professional Experience
Fall 2007 to Present, Adjunct Art Professor, Adelphi University, Garden City and Manhattan, NY

Exhibition Record
2010
100 Records Project, Cinders Gallery, Brooklyn NY
Copy Jam 2, Printers' Ball hosted by Poetry Magazine, Chicago IL
Mustang Saaaalllllly, TCBarts, Melbourne Australia
Postcard Exchange, Birmingham Zine Festival, Framers Gallery, Birmingham UK
Bowl-O-Nuts, Artillery and Ammo Gallery, Los Angeles CA
Small Works, Transmission Gallery, Richmond VA
Friends of Ours, Artillery and Ammo Gallery, Los Angeles CA
2009
Paintallica, Country Club Projects, Los Angeles CA
Human Side of War, United Theological Seminary, Minneapolis MN
Sketchbook Project, Art House Co-op Gallery, Brooklyn NY
Uno más uno, multitud, Domestico, Madrid Spain
BIN Paintallica, Seed Collective, AVA Center, Chattanooga TN
2008
Jamie Boling and Bill Donovan, Transmission Gallery, Richmond VA
Paintallica, T:BA 08, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, Portland OR
Portraits, Hallway Bathroom Gallery, San Francisco CA

Bibliography
Gannon, Victoria; "Hallway Bathroom Gallery," KQED ARTS
http://www.kqed.org/arts/visualarts/article.jsp?essid=23719
Silverman, Jessica; “Jessica Silverman visits Brion Rosch’s Studio,” White Hot Magazine, November 2008 http://whitehotmagazine.com/index.php?action=articles&wh_article_id=1657
 
Visiting Artist/Lecturer
2010
Utilizing Unity for Success: The Artist Collective, Panelist, CUE Foundation, NY NY
2009
Emily Noelle Lambert's drawing class from Parsons, CUE Foundation, NY NY
Florida State College at Jacksonville
2007
Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA

Military Awards
Combat Infantryman's Badge