Alice in Seattle: The Paintings of DeLoss McGraw

Years of training allow artists the ability to simplify, to capture subjects with a few strokes. DeLoss
McGraw’s work fits into this category. He is often thought of as an “outsider artist” because the
work looks childlike. This has its advantages when considering the body of work for “Alice in
Seattle,” which evokes a true wonderland in the midst of mind-boggling natural beauty, while
being fraught with dangers lurking beneath the surface. Would Alice survive a dip in frigid Elliott
Bay, being pelted with oversized raindrops, or a trip to the top of the Space Needle? One can only
imagine the many travails that await.

Known for his whimsical gouache paintings, McGraw’s work is inspired by his own poetry as well as by W.D. Snodgrass’s “confessional” poetry. His dreamlike works are often reminiscent of paintings by Paul Klee, who was also inspired by folk art and children’s art. Two of McGraw’s “Klee” paintings are represented in “Alice in Seattle.”

McGraw’s work has been exhibited extensively throughout the United States and Europe. His
pieces have received critical acclaim in over 80 solo exhibitions, and are collected by such eminent
institutions as: Oxford, Syracuse, Temple, and Cornell Universities, as well as by the Whitney
Museum of American Art Library Collection, The Library of Congress, the San Diego Museum of
Art, and the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. Two of McGraw’s works are owned by the
Metropolitan Museum of Art. His illustrated version of Alice in Wonderland won the Illustrator’s
Society Book of the Year Award in 2002.