Yaron Dotan is a Los Angeles-based artist who works in a variety of media and styles to produce optical drawings, narrative paintings, portraiture and video art. He holds an MFA from Tufts University, an MS Ed. from St. John’s University, and a BA in English Literature from Queens College.
Having only ever seen out of one eye, Dotan has used what would otherwise be a hindrance to heighten his creativity. Through a body of optical paintings that combine realistic imagery with rhythmic lines inspired by optical design, he poses questions about the nature of perception, illusion, invisibility, and certainty.
In California he has shown at bG Gallery, Gallery 825, Trunk Gallery, LACDA, LAMAG, Art Share LA, Atrium 26, the Coachella Valley Art Center, the Manhattan Beach Art Center, Surrogate Gallery Projects and the CSU Northridge Art Gallery. In New York Dotan’s work has shown at Art in Flux Harlem and SPACEWOMb. Internationally he has also shown at the Jerusalem Biennale, and in September 2017 he will show at National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art.
In Brooklyn Dotan developed a mural program for at-risk high school students to create murals in schools throughout the borough. His mural efforts were broadly covered by the press, including the Brooklyn Eagle, The Home Reporter, Sing Tao Daily, Brooklyn News 12, Sinovision, and have appeared in the New York Times. In Los Angeles he co-developed StArt Projects, a program designed to help advanced high school art students create large scale projects in a variety of different media.
As part of an ongoing project Dotan has travelled throughout more than twenty states drawing roadside portraits of people from all walks of life using his signature marker and white-out style in what became the Draw America Project.