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About Jim

Baltimore City

Please visit my website: https://jimdoran.art/

 

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Memento Mori

This is work from my first solo show at School33 in 2011, which was one of my first shows anywhere. This material heavily relied upon and explored my theories on an afterlife. 
  • Memento-Mori.jpg
    Memento-Mori.jpg
    Memento Mori postcard for School33. I also made a zine with details about all the pieces in the show.
  • IMG_1890.JPG
    IMG_1890.JPG
    Just before the opening of Memento Mori at School33.
  • The Project Space
    The Project Space
    Partial view of the project space at School33. The dioramas made a story, if one walked to the left upon entering the room.
  • A Muse When You Need Her
    A Muse When You Need Her
    A tiny diorama featuring paper cut-outs.
  • The Guide
    The Guide
    A rare Altoids gum tin featuring cut paper diorama showing a guide from the beyond offering support to the living.
  • The Death Watch Beetle
    The Death Watch Beetle
    When the Beetle opens its wings, we can see into the Land of the Dead. Here, Charon (the ferryman) is launching a ship across the dead sea.
  • HOSSENFEFFER & THE CURRY GOAT ATTACK
    HOSSENFEFFER & THE CURRY GOAT ATTACK
    A tiny cut paper diorama depicting Jack Ruby's dinner coming to an abrupt halt.
  • Shipwreck Lake
    Shipwreck Lake
    Paper Cut-outs in sardine tin. A beast of a jellyfish emerges from the dark seaweed and plant life in the background to become entangled in a ship's anchor. The bottom of the lake is littered with sunken ships.
  • The Ghoul and the Grackles
    The Ghoul and the Grackles
    Research administrators try to barter with the ghoul for a corpse, all in the name of science. Cut paper diorama in a Hershey's Cocoa tin.
  • See into the Land of the Dead
    See into the Land of the Dead
    Two open coffins offer a glimpse down into the Land of the Dead (which is illuninated by a tiny, battery powered light).
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    • Two Worlds Touch: Greenbelt Community Center Art

    Debuting large scale drawings at The Greenbelt Community Center Art, I decided to weave a single story into almost all the pieces of this show. The cornerstone is the map, which points the viewer to the key elements of the story. For example, the map shows a paddock of the Four Horsemen, and on the opposite wall in the gallery stands a 10' drawing of the Horsemen waiting to ride out. 
    • Where Two Worlds Touch
      Where Two Worlds Touch
      Installation at the Greenbelt Cultural Center, with several long drawings, shadow boxes and dioramas.
    • Two Worlds Touch
      Two Worlds Touch
      A 20' long comic and two large drawings with cut-outs above the cabinets.
    • A giant centipede chasing some rabbits
      A giant centipede chasing some rabbits
      This shows the left diorama in the installation, which measured 8' x 4'.
    • A lonely path in the Land of the Dead
      A lonely path in the Land of the Dead
      8' x 4' diorama showing a lonely road in the land of the dead.
    • Land of the Dead
      Land of the Dead
      I created a map of what is known of the Land of the dead, and this map is the cornerstone of the show.
    • Three Shadow Boxes
      Three Shadow Boxes
      Three cut paper shadow boxes.
    • Graveyard Visit
      Graveyard Visit
      Two skeletons greeting happily in a Twinings Earl Grey tin.
    • Dioramas on Pedestal
      Dioramas on Pedestal
      Various dioramas under glass
    • The Four Horsemen
      The Four Horsemen
      10' x 4' drawing on Tyvek showing the Four Horsemen in their paddock in the Land of the Dead.
    • Charon
      Charon
      10" x 10" cut paper diorama showing Charon in the dead sea helping a ship along to the Land of the Dead.
    •

    • Small Stories and Other Stories

    Small Stories and Other Stories, a solo show at the Hamilton Gallery, collected over 80 dioramas that illustrated multiple storylines and themes. 

    My favorite is the story of the widower tailor, which appears in the manlte clock. He discovers that if one looks through the handles of scissors previously owned by other widowed tailors/cloth merchants/seamstresses on the 13th day of the 13th month during a full moon, one can see into the Land of the Dead. He's collected many such scissors, and some of these appeared on the wall next to the clock in the gallery. 
    • Small Stories flier
      Small Stories flier
    • Advent of the Unlikelies
      Advent of the Unlikelies
      A set of Altoids smalls showing a group of characters evolved from spacedust, in an advent calendar.
    • Hope is in the Ocean
      Hope is in the Ocean
      Diorama in a discarded tin of clams.
    • Small Stories
      Small Stories
      A collection of small dioramas containing some of my favorite storylines.
    • 4-shadowboxes.png
      4-shadowboxes.png
      4 Shadow boxes
    • Birds of a Feather
      Birds of a Feather
      Alfred Hitchcock and Edgar Allen Poe discuss their worlds on a bench in a graveyard.
    • Diorama in a mantle clock case
      Diorama in a mantle clock case
      The Widower tailor conducts research using scissors of late tailors/cloth merchants/seamstresses in an attempt to connect with his dearly departed.
    • Inside the tailor's shop
      Inside the tailor's shop
      The scene inside the clock diorama shows a widower tailor examining scissors of late tailors and cloth merchants, that be might gaze into the Land of the Dead on the thirteenth day of the thirteenth month under the lights of a full moon to see his beloved.
    • Tailor Scissors
      Tailor Scissors
      Scissors from late tailors and cloth merchants, each labeled with the previous owner's name.
    • Store Front View of Hamilton Gallery
      Store Front View of Hamilton Gallery
      Store Front View of Hamilton Gallery
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