Dawn Hunter's Gallery of Pop Art
Welcome to Dawn Hunter's comprehensive selection of drawings and paintings about popular culture! Dawn is a visual artist, Fulbright Scholar, and Associate Professor at USC, Dawn has a unique perspective on the world around us which is showcased in her artwork. Here you can explore Dawn's take on everything from celebrities to everyday life. Notable portfolios featured on this site include her Spectacle Spectacular series and her Darcy Inventory series. Dawn's artwork is a reflection of her diverse skills and influences. Through her background in observational painting, art education, and video production, she creates diaristic pieces that resonate with everyday experiences.
Dawn pursued her education at some of the finest art schools in the United States. She obtained her BFA from the esteemed Kansas City Art Institute, followed by her MFA from the University of California, Davis. To view her current artistic series about Santiago Ramón y Cajal visit her Cajal Portfolio website here: dawnhunterart.com
Reflections of Contemporary Life:
The Evolution and Impact of Pop Art
Pop art emerged as a reaction against dominant art movements, driven by a desire to make art more accessible to the public. Many artists intended to reject elitism, believing that art should not be exclusive to a select few. Contemporary pop art has evolved to reflect the realities and influences of mainstream and social media. Artists like Dawn Hunter aim to capture contemporary life and the blurred psychological boundaries between reality and fantasy created by modern media culture.
Hunter frequently utilizes everyday sources to craft her critiques. By drawing inspiration from common objects such as Barbie dolls, Vogue magazine, and pop stars, she creates works imbued with humor and irony. Her objective is to make art comprehensible through easily recognizable images drawn from mass media.
Select Drawings and Paintings from Dawn's Portfolio
Pop Culture Inspirations and Distinguished Exhibitions
Dawn Hunter finds inspiration from the punk movement, Vogue magazine, Madonna and Dolly Parton. She frequently sketches from life, and uses those perceptual experiences to inform and shape the compositions and interpretation of pop culture for her art. Her travels to places like New York City, Madrid, Spain, and Oregon, where she creates Plein air drawings or caricature sketches, provide rich material for her artwork. As a result, her sketchbook significantly shapes the color and texture preferences in her studio practice. Over the past two decades, Dawn has become well-known for her extensive, in-depth projects.
Her Pop Art portfolio has been displayed at notable venues such as the Drawing Center in New York, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Delaware Contemporary Art Center, and Brown University. It has also been featured in New American Paintings and Artnet. Dawn’s Cajal portfolio has received acclaim, being exhibited at the National Institutes of Health and the Instituto Cajal, and has been highlighted in various publications including Scientific American, The Scientist, and the Consilience Journal.
Her sketchbook drawings attract attention, with exhibitions featuring her work, including Artfields, the Yellowstone Art Museum, and Notre Dame of Maryland University.