It is with heavy hearts that we share the news of the passing of Chris Doyle, a five-time MacDowell friend and Fellow (‘91, ‘96, ‘98, ‘01, ‘05) and an artist of boundless range, curiosity, and depth. Over the course of two decades, Chris brought his imaginative vision to MacDowell, creating work that continues to resonate across the worlds of visual art, animation, and public installation.
Chris’s animation-based practice explored aspiration and progress, while confronting the cultural anxieties of speed, collapse, and inequity. His work often imagined futures that felt both ominous and oddly familiar. “The work is often about liminal spaces,” he said in a 2023 interview with The New York Times, “and about ways of being in the world that are about flux and uncertainty and wonder.”
His art was exhibited widely at institutions like MASS MoCA, the Brooklyn Museum, Queens Museum, The Tang Teaching Museum, and at international festivals from Lincoln Center to Melbourne. His temporary and permanent public commissions appeared across the U.S. and globally—from Times Square and Wave Hill in New York, to installations in Sarajevo, Stockholm, Edmonton, and Melbourne. He received a 2014 Guggenheim Fellowship, the Borusan Contemporary Art Collection Prize, and support from Creative Capital, NYFA, NYSCA, and others.
At MacDowell, Chris completed several early video works and, in 2005, created multiple pieces for his solo show Flight Power Love Tower. During each residency, he created new work while simultaneously uplifting the MacDowell community with his energy, insight, and camaraderie. His presence was deeply felt by all who worked alongside him.
In a tribute by his friend Michael Chabon (14x, ’96–’22), multi-time Fellow and former chairman of MacDowell’s Board of Directors, Doyle is remembered as “an artist in the fullness of the word: by nature, by training and habit, by profession.”
Chris Doyle will be profoundly missed by the MacDowell community and by the wider art world. We are grateful to have supported his extraordinary work and to have witnessed his generous and uncompromising artistic spirit.
To explore Chris Doyle’s visionary work, visit his official website: chrisdoylestudio.com.
