Donald Sultan

Donald Sultan is a renowned American artist known for his large-scale still-life paintings and his innovative use of industrial materials like tar, enamel, spackle, and vinyl tiles.

Biography of Donald Sultan

Donald Sultan was born in Asheville, North Carolina, in 1951. His father supported his ambitions to become a professional artist. He received a BFA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1973) and later an MFA from the Art Institute of Chicago (1975).

After completing his advanced studies, he moved to New York City in 1975 to establish a career as an artist. Initially, he supported himself by working as a handyman for other artists during the day while painting at night. He soon secured a full-time position as a handyman in an art gallery.

In 1979, Sultan received a $2,500 Creative Artists Public Service Grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, which allowed him to focus on his art full-time.

Donald Sultan's star rose during the vibrant downtown renaissance of New York City in the late 1970s, as a prominent figure in the "New Image" movement. His first solo exhibition was held in 1977 at Artists Space in New York, followed by group shows at Mary Boone Gallery and the Whitney Biennial.

As Sultan's work garnered media attention and critical acclaim, renowned galleries and museums around the world began featuring his paintings in their exhibitions.

Donald Sultan's Art Style

Donald Sultan's paintings are laden with rich symbolism, featuring provocative objects like bulbous fruits set against a tar-black backdrop. While often categorized as still lifes, Sultan insists that his works, despite their representational elements—flowers, lemons, eggs, buttons—are fundamentally abstract.

Renowned as a painter, printmaker, and sculptor, he is best known for his large-scale compositions created using a distinctive technique: instead of canvas, Sultan covers masonite with 12-inch vinyl floor tiles, from which he cuts geometric and organic shapes. He fills the negative spaces with tar or plaster, followed by a layer of paint, resulting in images with a unique texture that perfectly balances the contrast of positive and negative space.