Donald Moffett


Donald Moffett is an American painter.

Life and work

Moffett was born in San Antonio, Texas, where he studied art and biology at Trinity University, earning a BA. He lives and works in New York City.
As a painter, Moffett extends the traditional two-dimensional frame through non-traditional techniques such as prying open the canvas to paint the backside, perforating or suturing the painting's surface, or loading it with paint forced into extreme textures. At other times, he transposes paintings into screens by incorporating video projections onto the canvas.
The subject matter of his paintings—from landscape and nature to politics and history—are poetic, provocative, and at times humorous. Moffett is recognized for his keen artistic critique of the world at large. His influence by classical painters such as Goya and Manet is manifest in his blending of the subtle with the outlandish and structural experimentation with social critique. While his artwork provides contemporary views on important topics of our modern-day lives, it is also a meditation on the timeless and universal issues of love, loss, alienation, and death.
Moffett is a founding member of Gran Fury, the artistic arm of the AIDS activist group ACT UP. On May 20, 2011, Gran Fury received an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
Moffett is represented by Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York, and Anthony Meier Fine Arts in San Francisco.

Selected catalogues and publications