the whitney to present dianna molzan's first solo museum show and ...

THE WHITNEY TO PRESENT DIANNA MOLZAN’S FIRST SOLO 

MUSEUM SHOW AND NEW YORK DEBUT 

OPENS APRIL 8, 2011 

NEW YORK, March 15, 2011 – This spring, the Whitney Museum of American Art presents 

Dianna Molzan: Bologna Meissen, the first solo museum exhibition devoted to the artist’s work. 

This lobby gallery show, opening April 8, is curated by Whitney curatorial assistant Margot 

Norton. 

Dianna Molzan (b. 1972), Untitled, 2009. Oil on linen. 24 

x 20 in. (60.96 x 50.8 cm). Courtesy Overduin and Kite, 

Los Angeles 

Dianna Molzan’s works engage in an open and unpredictable dialogue with the history of 

abstract painting. Although she works with traditional materials, such as oil on linen, she

Dianna Molzan: Bologna Meissen, 2 

approaches her canvases irreverently, invoking elements of fashion, the decorative arts, 

ceramics, and popular design. In this installation the artist’s engaging and sophisticated 

works each reveal a highly distinctive character and play off one another in lively 

counterpoint. 

The title Bologna Meissen, juxtaposes the names of two culturally distinct European 

cities, while also acknowledging two admired influences on the artist’s work: the 

twentieth-century Italian painter Giorgio Morandi, who lived and worked in Bologna, 

rendering still lifes of vessels with poetic simplicity; and Meissen, the German porcelain 

manufacturer renowned for vivid colors, intricately embossed forms, and whimsical 

details. 

With each work Molzan effects a transformation, as she rends, slices, unravels, sculpts, 

and adorns the canvas in a characteristically defining manner. While she uses a variety of 

material approaches that differ from one work to the next, each canvas exhibits a subtle 

precision in its intention and execution. 

About the Artist 

Dianna Molzan was born in Tacoma, Washington, in 1972; she currently lives and works in Los 

Angeles. After attending the Universität der Künste Berlin in 2000, she earned her Bachelor of 

Fine Arts degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2001 and her Master of Fine 

Arts degree from the University of Southern California in 2009. Molzan’s work has been 

included in numerous group exhibitions, including All of this and nothing at the Hammer 

Museum, Los Angeles, in 2011 and How Soon Now at the Rubell Family 

Collection/Contemporary Arts Foundation, Miami, in 2010. She had her first solo exhibition at 

Overduin and Kite, Los Angeles, in 2009. Bologna Meissen is Molzan’s first exhibition in New 

York. 

About the Whitney 

The Whitney Museum of American Art is the world’s leading museum of twentieth-century and 

contemporary art of the United States. Focusing particularly on works by living artists, the Whitney is 

celebrated for presenting important exhibitions and for its renowned collection, which comprises over 

18,000 works by more than 2,800 artists. With a history of exhibiting the most promising and influential 

artists and provoking intense debate, the Whitney Biennial, the Museum's signature exhibition, has become 

the most important survey of the state of contemporary art in the United States. In addition to its landmark 

exhibitions, the Museum is known internationally for events and educational programs of exceptional 

significance and as a center for research, scholarship, and conservation.

Dianna Molzan: Bologna Meissen, 3 

Founded by sculptor and arts patron Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney in 1930, the Whitney was first housed on 

West 8th Street in Greenwich Village. The Museum relocated in 1954 to West 54th Street and, in 1966, 

inaugurated its present home, designed by Marcel Breuer, at 945 Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side. 

While its vibrant program of exhibitions and events continues uptown, the Whitney is moving forward with 

a new building project, designed by Renzo Piano, in downtown Manhattan. Located at the corner of 

Gansevoort and Washington Streets in the Meatpacking District, at the southern entrance to the High Line, 

the new building, which has generated immense momentum and support, will enable the Whitney to vastly 

increase the size and scope of its exhibition and programming space. Ground will be broken on the new 

building in May 2011, and it is projected to open to the public in 2015. 

Current and Upcoming Exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art 

Singular Visions Through November 2011 

Karthik Pandian: Unearth Through March 27, 2011 

Modern Life: Edward Hopper and His Time Through April 10, 2011 

Legacy: The Emily Fisher Landau Collection Through May 1, 2011 

Glenn Ligon: AMERICA Through June 5, 2011 

Dianna Molzan: Bologna Meissen Opens April 8, 2011 

More Than That: Films by Kevin Jerome Everson April 28–September 18, 2011 

Breaking Ground: The Whitney’s Founding Collection April 28–September 18, 2011 

Cory Arcangel: Pro Tools May 26–September 11, 2011 

Lyonel Feininger: At the Edge of the World June 30–October 16, 2011 

The Whitney Museum is located at 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street, New York City. Museum hours are: 

Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m., closed 

Monday and Tuesday. General admission: $18. Full-time students and visitors ages 19–25 and 62 & over: 

$12. Visitors 18 & under and Whitney members: FREE. Admission to the Kaufman Astoria Studios Film & 

Video Gallery only: $6. Admission is pay-what-you-wish on Fridays, 6–9 p.m. For general information, 

please call (212) 570-3600 or visit whitney.org. 

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