The extensive oeuvre of American painter Carroll Dunham has infused the discussion about representation versus abstraction with new life, and pointed to a number of directions in 20th-century painting such as surrealism, action painting, abstract painting and pop art. This text looks at his work.

The extensive oeuvre of the American painter Carroll Dunham has infused the discussion about representation versus abstraction with new life, at the same time pointing to a number of directions in 20th-century painting such as surrealism, action painting, abstract painting and pop art. His unusual, original colour compositions and independent use of forms and materials have had a significant influence on artists like Fred Tomaselli and Mathew Ritchie. In Dunham's works, pictorial elements reminiscent of cartoons became recognizable details in his work as early as the beginning of the eighties. Later, Dunham turned to larger formats, painting bodily shapes; repulsive-looking, hairy and resembling tumours, teeth or lips, in Expressionist colours and with an impressive painterly quality. More recently, his pictures have become distinctly more figurative and show caricature-like male and female figures. Buildings, planets and boats also feature in Dunham's pictures. This text looks at the range of his work.