Renowned graphic designer Dale Lamson made his grand entrance into the world of fine art with a huge splash less than two years ago.  Swim, his first body of work and his first show at Miller Gallery, offered a happy, playful look at the summer pleasures of the swimming pool along with all the idiosyncratic behaviors of swimmers of all ages. His newest body of work, Parlor Paintings focuses exclusively on the subject of body art, specifically tattoos.

Dale has been a graphic designer since graduating from college in 1976 and owner of a nationally acclaimed design studio since 1987, working for local and national companies across all types of industries.

“Following thirty-plus years of work on the business side of art (or maybe because of it….),” says the artist, “I have decided to re-enter the less structured world of painting.”

As far as painting is concerned, the artist is essentially self-taught--although he had a very broad exposure to various media in his college courses (including Painting 101 where he received “my only B and created a particularly embarrassing work which hung over my mother’s sofa for far too many years”). Fast forward three decades and his long-time focus on graphic design and printmaking is clearly visible in the graphic quality of his work, with the overlaying of flat color elements and the break up of the panel into subsections. The work is as much designed as it is painted, blending the structure of form and the freedom of expression. His palette is vibrant, his tattooed subjects full of intrigue.

Dale holds a BFA in graphic design from Edinboro University, and a minor in printmaking and ceramics and continues to run his design business in
Cincinnati.