fredag den 24. august 2007
Julian Schnabel
A big-browed and gregarious, self-promoting pop art painter known for his oversized canvasses, Julian Schnabel made the transition to screenwriter and director with "Basquiat" (1996), a biopic based on the life of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Basquiat and Schnabel were friends from about 1981 until the former's death in 1988, and both were also part of the same crowd as Andy Warhol.
Born in Brooklyn, Schnabel moved with his family to west Texas when still young and it was there that he spent most of his formative years. In 1973, he sent an application to the independent study program at the Whitney Museum in NYC, which included slides of his work sandwiched between two pieces of bread. (He was accepted.) Struggling in the art world, Schnabel worked as a short-order cook and hung out at Max's Kansas City, the famed music and comedy club in Greenwich Village, while he worked on his art. In 1979, Mary Boone gave him his first one-person show at her Soho Gallery. As it was the heyday of pop artists in the New York scene, Schnabel found himself in the limelight. His paintings were large--often billboard size--and he reportedly lived his life on a large scale as well, even publishing an autobiography in 1987. Eventually some of Schnabel's works from the early 80s would sell at auction in the 90s for as much as $1 million.
After the death of Basquiat, Schnabel sought to make a film on his friend's life, although Schnabel's own work in film was limited to being interviewed for the 1991 documentary "The Art of Merry-Go-Round", an exploration of the New York art scene of the early 80s. Enlisting such friends as Christopher Walken and David Bowie to play supporting parts and cameos and with Jeffrey Wright in the title role, Schnabel raised $3.3 million to make the film. Reviews were mixed, with the Village Voice declaring the film "naive and clumsy" while Time Out New York called Schnabel's direction "able" and David Denby in New York said the film was "surprisingly affecting."
Schnabel has studios in New York City and in Montauk on the eastern tip of Long Island. His works have been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art and The Whitney Museum in NYC, MOCA in L.A. and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, among others.
A big-browed and gregarious, self-promoting pop art painter known for his oversized canvasses, Julian Schnabel made the transition to screenwriter and director with "Basquiat" (1996), a biopic based on the life of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Basquiat and Schnabel were friends from about 1981 until the former's death in 1988, and both were also part of the same crowd as Andy Warhol.
Born in Brooklyn, Schnabel moved with his family to west Texas when still young and it was there that he spent most of his formative years. In 1973, he sent an application to the independent study program at the Whitney Museum in NYC, which included slides of his work sandwiched between two pieces of bread. (He was accepted.) Struggling in the art world, Schnabel worked as a short-order cook and hung out at Max's Kansas City, the famed music and comedy club in Greenwich Village, while he worked on his art. In 1979, Mary Boone gave him his first one-person show at her Soho Gallery. As it was the heyday of pop artists in the New York scene, Schnabel found himself in the limelight. His paintings were large--often billboard size--and he reportedly lived his life on a large scale as well, even publishing an autobiography in 1987. Eventually some of Schnabel's works from the early 80s would sell at auction in the 90s for as much as $1 million.
After the death of Basquiat, Schnabel sought to make a film on his friend's life, although Schnabel's own work in film was limited to being interviewed for the 1991 documentary "The Art of Merry-Go-Round", an exploration of the New York art scene of the early 80s. Enlisting such friends as Christopher Walken and David Bowie to play supporting parts and cameos and with Jeffrey Wright in the title role, Schnabel raised $3.3 million to make the film. Reviews were mixed, with the Village Voice declaring the film "naive and clumsy" while Time Out New York called Schnabel's direction "able" and David Denby in New York said the film was "surprisingly affecting."
Schnabel has studios in New York City and in Montauk on the eastern tip of Long Island. His works have been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art and The Whitney Museum in NYC, MOCA in L.A. and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, among others.
fredag den 27. juli 2007
Jackson Pollock
Paul Jackson Pollock was born January 28, 1912, in Cody, Wyoming. He grew up in Arizona and California and in 1928 began to study painting at the Manual Arts High School, Los Angeles. In the fall of 1930, Pollock moved to New York and studied under Thomas Hart Benton at the Art Students League. Benton encouraged him throughout the succeeding decade. By the early 1930s, Pollock knew and admired the murals of José Clemente Orozco and Diego Rivera. Although he traveled widely throughout the United States during the 1930s, much of Pollock’s time was spent in New York, where he settled permanently in 1934 and worked on the WPA Federal Art Project from 1935 to 1942. In 1936, he worked in David Alfaro Siqueiros’s experimental workshop in New York.
Pollock’s first solo show was held at Peggy Guggenheim’s Art of This Century gallery, New York, in 1943. Guggenheim gave him a contract that lasted through 1947, permitting him to devote all his time to painting. Prior to 1947, Pollock’s work reflected the influence of Pablo Picasso and Surrealism . During the early 1940s, he contributed paintings to several exhibitions of Surrealist and abstract art, including Natural, Insane, Surrealist Art at Art of This Century in 1943, and Abstract and Surrealist Art in America, organized by Sidney Janis at the Mortimer Brandt Gallery, New York, in 1944.
From the fall of 1945, when artist Lee Krasner and Pollock were married, they lived in the Springs, East Hampton, New York. In 1952, Pollock’s first solo show in Paris opened at the Studio Paul Facchetti and his first retrospective was organized by Clement Greenberg at Bennington College, Bennington, Vermont. He was included in many group exhibitions, including the Annuals at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, from 1946 and the Venice Biennale in 1950. Although his work was widely known and exhibited internationally, the artist never traveled outside the United States. He was killed in an automobile accident on August 11, 1956, in the Springs.
Pioneer of ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM
He began to study painting in 1929 at the Art Students' League, New York, under the Regionalist painter Thomas Hart Benton. During the 1930s he worked in the manner of the Regionalists, being influenced also by the Mexican muralist painters (Orozco, Rivera, Siqueiros) and by certain aspects of Surrealism.
From 1938 to 1942 he worked for the Federal Art Project. By the mid 1940s he was painting in a completely abstract manner, and the `drip and splash' style for which he is best known emerged with some abruptness in 1947. Instead of using the traditional easel he affixed his canvas to the floor or the wall and poured and dripped his paint from a can; instead of using brushes he manipulated it with `sticks, trowels or knives' (to use his own words), sometimes obtaining a heavy impasto by an admixture of `sand, broken glass or other foreign matter'. This manner of Action painting had in common with Surrealist theories of automatism that it was supposed by artists and critics alike to result in a direct expression or revelation of the unconscious moods of the artist.
Pollock's name is also associated with the introduction of the All-over style of painting which avoids any points of emphasis or identifiable parts within the whole canvas and therefore abandons the traditional idea of composition in terms of relations among parts. The design of his painting had no relation to the shape or size of the canvas -- indeed in the finished work the canvas was sometimes docked or trimmed to suit the image. All these characteristics were important for the new American painting which matured in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
During the 1950s Pollock continued to produce figurative or quasi-figurative black and white works and delicately modulated paintings in rich impasto as well as the paintings in the new all-over style. He was strongly supported by advanced critics, but was also subject to much abuse and sarcasm as the leader of a still little comprehended style; in 1956 Time magazine called him `Jack the Dripper'.
By the 1960s, however, he was generally recognized as the most important figure in the most important movement of this century in American painting, but a movement from which artists were already in reaction (Post-Painterly Abstraction). His unhappy personal life (he was an alcoholic) and his premature death in a car crash contributed to his legendary status. In 1944 Pollock married Lee Krasner (1911-84), who was an Abstract Expressionist painter of some distinction, although it was only after her husband's death that she received serious critical recognition.
Breaking the ice
It was Jackson Pollock who blazed an astonishing trail for other Abstract Expressionist painters to follow. De Kooning said, "He broke the ice", an enigmatic phrase suggesting that Pollock showed what art could become with his 1947 drip paintings.
It has been suggested that Pollock was influenced by Native American sand paintings, made by trickling thin lines of colored sand onto a horizontal surface. It was not until 1947 that Pollock began his "action" paintings, influenced by Surrealist ideas of "psychic automatism" (direct expression of the unconscious). Pollock would fix his canvas to the floor and drip paint from a can using a variety of objects to manipulate the paint.
The Moon-Woman Cuts the Circle (1943; 109.5 x 104 cm (43 x 41 in)) is an early Pollock, but it shows the passionate intensity with which he pursued his personal vision. This painting is based on a North American Indian myth. It connects the moon with the feminine and shows the creative, slashing power of the female psyche. It is not easy to say what we are actually looking at: a face rises before us, vibrant with power, though perhaps the image does not benefit from labored explanations. If we can respond to this art at a fairly primitive level, then we can also respond to a great abstract work such as Lavender Mist. If we cannot, at least we can appreciate the fusion of colors and the Expressionist feeling of urgency that is communicated. Moon-Woman may be a feathered harridan or a great abstract pattern; the point is that it works on both levels.
Paul Jackson Pollock was born January 28, 1912, in Cody, Wyoming. He grew up in Arizona and California and in 1928 began to study painting at the Manual Arts High School, Los Angeles. In the fall of 1930, Pollock moved to New York and studied under Thomas Hart Benton at the Art Students League. Benton encouraged him throughout the succeeding decade. By the early 1930s, Pollock knew and admired the murals of José Clemente Orozco and Diego Rivera. Although he traveled widely throughout the United States during the 1930s, much of Pollock’s time was spent in New York, where he settled permanently in 1934 and worked on the WPA Federal Art Project from 1935 to 1942. In 1936, he worked in David Alfaro Siqueiros’s experimental workshop in New York.
Pollock’s first solo show was held at Peggy Guggenheim’s Art of This Century gallery, New York, in 1943. Guggenheim gave him a contract that lasted through 1947, permitting him to devote all his time to painting. Prior to 1947, Pollock’s work reflected the influence of Pablo Picasso and Surrealism . During the early 1940s, he contributed paintings to several exhibitions of Surrealist and abstract art, including Natural, Insane, Surrealist Art at Art of This Century in 1943, and Abstract and Surrealist Art in America, organized by Sidney Janis at the Mortimer Brandt Gallery, New York, in 1944.
From the fall of 1945, when artist Lee Krasner and Pollock were married, they lived in the Springs, East Hampton, New York. In 1952, Pollock’s first solo show in Paris opened at the Studio Paul Facchetti and his first retrospective was organized by Clement Greenberg at Bennington College, Bennington, Vermont. He was included in many group exhibitions, including the Annuals at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, from 1946 and the Venice Biennale in 1950. Although his work was widely known and exhibited internationally, the artist never traveled outside the United States. He was killed in an automobile accident on August 11, 1956, in the Springs.
Pioneer of ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM
He began to study painting in 1929 at the Art Students' League, New York, under the Regionalist painter Thomas Hart Benton. During the 1930s he worked in the manner of the Regionalists, being influenced also by the Mexican muralist painters (Orozco, Rivera, Siqueiros) and by certain aspects of Surrealism.
From 1938 to 1942 he worked for the Federal Art Project. By the mid 1940s he was painting in a completely abstract manner, and the `drip and splash' style for which he is best known emerged with some abruptness in 1947. Instead of using the traditional easel he affixed his canvas to the floor or the wall and poured and dripped his paint from a can; instead of using brushes he manipulated it with `sticks, trowels or knives' (to use his own words), sometimes obtaining a heavy impasto by an admixture of `sand, broken glass or other foreign matter'. This manner of Action painting had in common with Surrealist theories of automatism that it was supposed by artists and critics alike to result in a direct expression or revelation of the unconscious moods of the artist.
Pollock's name is also associated with the introduction of the All-over style of painting which avoids any points of emphasis or identifiable parts within the whole canvas and therefore abandons the traditional idea of composition in terms of relations among parts. The design of his painting had no relation to the shape or size of the canvas -- indeed in the finished work the canvas was sometimes docked or trimmed to suit the image. All these characteristics were important for the new American painting which matured in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
During the 1950s Pollock continued to produce figurative or quasi-figurative black and white works and delicately modulated paintings in rich impasto as well as the paintings in the new all-over style. He was strongly supported by advanced critics, but was also subject to much abuse and sarcasm as the leader of a still little comprehended style; in 1956 Time magazine called him `Jack the Dripper'.
By the 1960s, however, he was generally recognized as the most important figure in the most important movement of this century in American painting, but a movement from which artists were already in reaction (Post-Painterly Abstraction). His unhappy personal life (he was an alcoholic) and his premature death in a car crash contributed to his legendary status. In 1944 Pollock married Lee Krasner (1911-84), who was an Abstract Expressionist painter of some distinction, although it was only after her husband's death that she received serious critical recognition.
Breaking the ice
It was Jackson Pollock who blazed an astonishing trail for other Abstract Expressionist painters to follow. De Kooning said, "He broke the ice", an enigmatic phrase suggesting that Pollock showed what art could become with his 1947 drip paintings.
It has been suggested that Pollock was influenced by Native American sand paintings, made by trickling thin lines of colored sand onto a horizontal surface. It was not until 1947 that Pollock began his "action" paintings, influenced by Surrealist ideas of "psychic automatism" (direct expression of the unconscious). Pollock would fix his canvas to the floor and drip paint from a can using a variety of objects to manipulate the paint.
The Moon-Woman Cuts the Circle (1943; 109.5 x 104 cm (43 x 41 in)) is an early Pollock, but it shows the passionate intensity with which he pursued his personal vision. This painting is based on a North American Indian myth. It connects the moon with the feminine and shows the creative, slashing power of the female psyche. It is not easy to say what we are actually looking at: a face rises before us, vibrant with power, though perhaps the image does not benefit from labored explanations. If we can respond to this art at a fairly primitive level, then we can also respond to a great abstract work such as Lavender Mist. If we cannot, at least we can appreciate the fusion of colors and the Expressionist feeling of urgency that is communicated. Moon-Woman may be a feathered harridan or a great abstract pattern; the point is that it works on both levels.
torsdag den 26. juli 2007
Nancy Spero
Visual Arts Award
The quickest way to familiarize oneself with the work of Nancy Spero is to ride the 1/9 Broadway local train and hop off at the 66th St, Lincoln Center station. There, one encounters a surprise: embedded in the walls of the station are subtle and beautifully wrought mosaics of women, some made of glittering tiles, others in ghostly white, all the handiwork of an enormously gifted artist.
Depictions of women are Nancy Spero’s specialty, in fact, since 1974, she has focused exclusively on images of women, many of whom are archetypically Jewish. Social and political themes have also been a focus in her work since the 1960’s, when she produced such works as the War Series (1966-1970), the Codex Artaud (1971-72) and Torture of Women, (1974-1976). She has participated in numerous art projects and events which address political issues, including The Peace Tower, Los Angeles (1966), Artists and Writers Protest Against the War in Vietnam (1964-72) and Artists’ Call Against US Intervention in Central American (1984), to name a few.
A resident of New York, Nancy Spero’s first exhibitions in New York were at AIR, the all-women’s cooperative gallery, which she helped found. Solo exhibitions include the New Museum of Contemporary Art, in New York; the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago; the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles; and a traveling retrospective at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.
Nancy Spero is married to the visual artist Leon Golub, who received a JCAA award in 1995. An exhibition called Leon Golub and Nancy Spero: War and Memory, was organized in 1994 by the MIT List Visual Arts Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts and traveled to the American Center in Paris. Nancy Spero and Leon Golub were jointly awarded the 3rd Hiroshima Art Prize and retrospective exhibition in 1995.
In places as far-flung as Australia to cities as close as Washington, DC, the public has been able to view the work of Nancy Spero.
Besides the 66th Street Subway station, other New York venues that have featured the work of Nancy Spero include the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Jewish Museum, the Studio Museum in Harlem and The Museum of Modern Art.
Visual Arts Award
The quickest way to familiarize oneself with the work of Nancy Spero is to ride the 1/9 Broadway local train and hop off at the 66th St, Lincoln Center station. There, one encounters a surprise: embedded in the walls of the station are subtle and beautifully wrought mosaics of women, some made of glittering tiles, others in ghostly white, all the handiwork of an enormously gifted artist.
Depictions of women are Nancy Spero’s specialty, in fact, since 1974, she has focused exclusively on images of women, many of whom are archetypically Jewish. Social and political themes have also been a focus in her work since the 1960’s, when she produced such works as the War Series (1966-1970), the Codex Artaud (1971-72) and Torture of Women, (1974-1976). She has participated in numerous art projects and events which address political issues, including The Peace Tower, Los Angeles (1966), Artists and Writers Protest Against the War in Vietnam (1964-72) and Artists’ Call Against US Intervention in Central American (1984), to name a few.
A resident of New York, Nancy Spero’s first exhibitions in New York were at AIR, the all-women’s cooperative gallery, which she helped found. Solo exhibitions include the New Museum of Contemporary Art, in New York; the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago; the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles; and a traveling retrospective at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.
Nancy Spero is married to the visual artist Leon Golub, who received a JCAA award in 1995. An exhibition called Leon Golub and Nancy Spero: War and Memory, was organized in 1994 by the MIT List Visual Arts Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts and traveled to the American Center in Paris. Nancy Spero and Leon Golub were jointly awarded the 3rd Hiroshima Art Prize and retrospective exhibition in 1995.
In places as far-flung as Australia to cities as close as Washington, DC, the public has been able to view the work of Nancy Spero.
Besides the 66th Street Subway station, other New York venues that have featured the work of Nancy Spero include the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Jewish Museum, the Studio Museum in Harlem and The Museum of Modern Art.
onsdag den 25. juli 2007
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