Donald Sultan (USA, born 1951) is a distinguished painter, sculptor, and printmaker, who rose to prominence in the late 1970s as part of the New Yorker “New Image” movement. He has a unique artistic method and innovative approach to traditional subject matter. Known as Abstract Representation, Donald Sultan´s art is characterized by the use of geometric black forms set against organic areas of bright color, thus bringing an abstract sensibility to his iconographic images of still life. Throughout his career he has revisited and reinvented still life, using images of lemons, poppies, playing cards, fruits, flowers, and other objects. Donald Sultan’s Lemons, a recurrent theme in his artworks, has, in fact, become an iconic image all over the world. Sultan is considered to be at the forefront of contemporary art. Although his paintings are often classified as landscapes and still life, Sultan states that they are first and foremost abstracts. Besides paintings, drawings, and sculptures, he has created many editions. Donald Sultan’s prints are unique: he uses specific materials like “flocking’s” to create expressive and powerful prints that are reminiscent of his forceful paintings. Since his first solo exhibition in 1977, Sultan’s artistic career has progressed rapidly; his works are part of the most prominent public and private collections to be found across the globe.

Donald Sultan

Donald Sultan’s large-scale still-life paintings feature semi-abstract compositions and unique materials: The artist has used tar, spackle, enamel, Masonite, and vinyl floor tiles to create his minimalist renderings of flowers, fruits, and other natural forms.

"Red Poppies" is a sculpture of painted aluminum on polished aluminum base, belonging to Sultan’s famous Flower series. The artist is credited for the revival of the still life tradition where the image is deconstructed to the basic elements, thus Sultan’s work remains both abstract and representational.

"Big Poppies" well represents the Sultan's emblematic artistic signature. The image reveals one of the key features of Sultan’s work - the material juxtaposition- the contrast of a weighty background with ethereal shapes of the flowers. Sultan emphasizes the distinct qualities of the various elements: the surface and the support, which is then projected forward so that the viewer is conscious of its artificiality

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“ Most of my ideas were to put imagery back into abstract painting. Some of the ones that look the most abstract are actually the most realistic. „

—Donald Sultan