Color Field Works from the 1960s and 1970s @ Honor Fraser Gallery, Los Angeles, curated by Hayden Dunbar

Openness and Clarity: Color Field Works from the 1960s and 1970s
Honor Fraser Gallery, Los Angeles
June 7 — August 2, 2014

Honor Fraser Gallery presents Openness and Clarity: Color Field Works from the 1960s and 1970s, curated by HAYDEN DUNBAR. The show includes works by Josef Albers, Anthony Caro, Helen Frankenthaler, Morris Louis, Robert Motherwell, Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski, and Frank Stella.

Assembling works rarely exhibited in Los Angeles, Openness and Clarity seeks to examine the pivotal role that Color Field painters and their direct predecessors played in the evolution of abstract art, while also proving the work's persisting ability to captivate the contemporary eye. The title of the exhibition references CLEMENT GREENBERG's catalog essay for his seminal 1964 exhibition, Post Painterly Abstraction, which championed a new group of artists that rejected painterliness in favor of an "openness and clarity" in color and contour. Organized for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the exhibition introduced thirty-one artists whose restrained arrangements of saturated color in vaporous soft-edged shapes and geometrical hard-edged forms reacted to the dense, gestural brushwork and raw emotion of the Abstract Expressionists. Diminishing distinctions between object and ground, these paintings formed a cool-headed and fresh visual language that de-emphasized line to privilege the perceptual effects of color: "What sets the best Color Field paintings apart is the extraordinary economy of means with which they manage not only to engage our feelings but also to ravish the eye." (Karen Wilkin, Color As Field: American Painting, 1950 – 1975, p. 17.)

Marking the fiftieth anniversary of LACMA's historic exhibition, Openness and Clarity presents a selection of exceptional works by five artists who were integral to Clement Greenberg's thesis and were instrumental in advancing abstraction in the 1960s and 1970s: Helen Frankenthaler, Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski, and Frank Stella. Though not included in Post Painterly Abstraction, the works of JOSEF ALBERTS establish a direct link between these artists' early and ongoing emphasis on color and form. As a teacher at Black Mountain College and Yale University, his work and ideas set a foundation for younger artists to expand upon and rebel against. His inclusion in this exhibition also underscores the social framework within which all of these artists were working and which provided a sphere of mutual influence. Josef Albers's Homage to the Square: Warm-Near (1966) is an example of his commitment to pure geometry and the interaction of color.

Using an all-over staining technique to achieve lyrical, floating shapes and radiant hues, HELEN FRANKENTHALER poured and applied washes of thinned paint with rags in works like Bach's Sacred Theater (1973). After Clement Greenberg showed him Helen Frankenthaler's work, MORRIS LOUIS followed her lead and embarked on intense experimentation with materials and color that led to the various acclaimed series he completed before his untimely death at age forty-nine. Kaf (1959-1960) is from his Floral series, an excellent and rarely seen example of Morris Louis's breakthrough work. Clement Greenberg also introduced KENNETH NOLAND to Hellen Frankenthaler's innovations, and like Louis (Noland's close friend) he embraced the potential of staining unprimed canvas with thinned pigments. A student of Josef Albers, Kenneth Noland invigorated his devotion to geometry with unusually shaped and stained canvases, as can be seen in works like Bolton Landing: Singing the Blues (1962) and Warm Weekend (1967). A close friend of Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland, JULES OLISKI was a bold colorist whose biomorphic forms alternately floated in monochromatic fields (as in Mushroom Joy [1959]) and pushed at the edges of the canvas (as in Z [1964]).

Known as an Abstract Expressionist and part of The New York School, ROBERT MOTHERWELL took a minimal approach to the use of color in the late 1960s, creating a series of expansive, nearly monochromatic canvases. Open No. 20: In Orange with Charcoal Line (1968) demonstrates Robert Motherwell's interest in color and composition as subjects. Like Robert Motherwell and Kenneth Noland, FRANK STELLA turned to painting as the subject matter for painting, pushing beyond the conventional rectilinear limits of the canvas and challenging notions of painting and objecthood. Sunapee IV (1966) from Franck Stella's Irregular Polygon series demonstrates his ability to marry color and form. On loan from the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Ctesiphon I (1968) is part of Franck Stella's Protractor Variation series and exemplifies the rigor and energy for which he became so well known. These radical geometries are echoed in ANTHONY CARO's Dumbfound (1976). On a 1960 visit from England to the United States, Anthony Caro met Clement Greenberg, Kenneth Noland, Morris Louis, and the sculptor David Smith, all of whom made a lasting impression on him. Returning to England, Anthony Caro developed a monochromatic collage style that favored open forms and horizontality, which can be seen in Dumbfound (1976).

Openness and Clarity pays tribute to the legacy of Color Field artists who paved the way for Minimalism, Conceptual, and Pop art, creating an enduring shift in the course of art history that can still be seen today.

HONOR FRASER GALLERY
2622 S. La Cienega Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90034
honorfraser.com

Anthony Caro: Upright Sculptures, Mitchell-Innes & Nash, NYC

Anthony Caro: Upright Sculptures
Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York 
Through December 11, 2010

ANTHONY CARO, Head, 2008/9, Steel rusted, jarrah wood and brass
Courtesy of Mitchell-Innes & Nash, NYC

 

An exhibition of new work by Sir ANTHONY CARO is on view in the Mitchell-Innes & Nash's Chelsea gallery. Upright Sculptures is a series of 43 works created over the past two years, of which several will be on view in Chelsea. This will be the gallery's fourth solo exhibition of Caro's work.

For this new body of work, Caro has used materials including rusted and painted steel, cast iron, wood and stone. The work employs the vocabulary of abstract sculpture that the artist has developed over many decades, while also making visual allusions to the figure. Some suggest totems or monoliths; others relate to architectural forms or machines. They share a strong sense of weight and compression that demonstrates Caro's focus on interiority. Caro has said about the new series, 'Now that making sculpture abstract is no longer a hurdle, I feel free to explore a breadth of possibilities.'

The exhibition is accompanied by a fully-illustrated catalogue featuring an interview with the artist by Tim Marlow. A five-volume book set of Caro's work is launched by Lund Humphries to coincide with the exhibition. In addition to the exhibition at Mitchell-Innes & Nash, selections from the series were also recently exhibited at Annely Juda Fine Art in London and at Galerie Daniel Templon in Paris.

ANTHONY CARO BIOGRAPHY
Caro was born in 1924. After studying sculpture at the Royal Academy Schools in London, he worked as assistant to Henry Moore. Since his groundbreaking show at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1963, his work has continued to evolve in new and different directions. Now in his 80s, the artist continues to be extraordinarily productive. He was the subject of a Tate retrospective in 2005, and recently completed a major commission at the Chapel of Light at Bourbourg in northern France. Anthony Caro played a pivotal role in the development of twentieth-century sculpture. His career spans more than five decades, during which he has received numerous honors, critical acclaim, and widespread renown as Britain's most important living sculptor. His work is represented in over 150 museums and other public collections worldwide and he received a lifetime achievement award from the International Sculpture Center in 1997.

MITCHELL-INNES & NASH
534 West 26th Street
New York, NY 10001

www.miandn.com  

11-04 > 12-11-2010

Upcoming exhibition at Mitchell-Innes & Nash: Jacob Kassay, Robert Morris, Virginia Overton, December 17, 2010 - January 29, 2011

British sculptor Anthony Caro - Marlborough Gallery - The artist is represented by the gallery in the USA

BRITISH SCULPTOR SIR ANTHONY CARO 

REPRESENTED BY MARLBOROUGH GALLERY 

IN THE USA

Marlborough Gallery, New York, announces that renowned British sculptor Sir Anthony Caro has joined the gallery and will be represented by Marlborough throughout the United States.

Sir Anthony Caro was born in Surrey, England in 1924. He attended the Royal Academy in London and, during that time, served as assistant to sculptor Henry Moore. Throughout his career Sir Anthony has been a dedicated educator, holding teaching positions at St. Martin's School of Art in London and Bennington College in Vermont. In 1982, he founded the Triangle Artists' Workshop, an annual gathering of sculptors and painters in Pine Plains, New York. In 1987, he was knighted for his contribution to art. Sir Anthony Caro lives and works in London.

One of the most accomplished and respected sculptors working today, Sir Anthony's work is among the most innovative of the 20th century. He has been a driving force in contemporary sculpture, and as a teacher has inspired an entire generation of younger British sculptors including Barry Flannagan, Richard Long, William Tucker, Bruce McLean and Gilbert & George. His sculptural language has evolved over the years to include works in various materials ranging from steel in different forms such as I-beams and ship's buoys, to ceramic, bronze, silver, lead and wood. Sir Anthony is continuously reinventing his art by challenging his own perceptions of scale and exploring new means with which to express his artistic vision.

Sir Anthony Caro first came to the forefront of the British contemporary art scene in the early 1960s, when he began to produce abstract, welded steel sculpture, painted in bright colors. In 1966, Sir Anthony turned his attention toward small-scale steel forms. His best-known work of this period is a series called Table Pieces. Unlike his large-scale steel sculptures which were set directly on the ground, these smaller-scale sculptures rested on table tops, making the table itself an integral part of the work. In the 1970s, he began to examine sculpture on a monumental scale and abandoned his use of painted steel for materials such as raw, unfinished steel, iron, bronze and wood. In May 1970, while a critic for The New York Times, Hilton Kramer wrote of Sir Anthony: "He is unquestionably the most important sculptor to come out of England since Henry Moore...One has the impression of an artist who, having totally mastered a new and difficult area of sculptural syntax, is now permitting himself a freer margin of lyric improvisation".

Since 1980, Sir Anthony has been predominantly interested in architecturally related sculpture. He was profoundly moved by a trip he made to Greece in 1985, in which he marveled at the relationship between the sculpture and architecture at such sites as the Parthenon, Delphi, Mycenae and Olympia. In 1987, he executed a series of works inspired by Greek pedimental sculpture, including After Olympia, a monumental work inspired by the west pediment of the Temple of Zeus. In the 1980s, Sir Anthony's interest shifted toward what he calls "sculpitecture", or works that examine the relationship and create a dialogue between architecture and sculpture. In more recent years, he has collaborated with numerous architects such as: Frank Gehry, with whom he realized the 1978 Architectural Village, a network of freely constructed wooden forms and linking walkways; and Sir Norman Foster, with whom he helped produce a winning entry for the 1996 Millennium Bridge Design competition for the first footbridge to be built over the river Thames in more than a century.

In a 1995 interview with Robert Hopper, Sir Anthony stated: "One thing that I like about the nineties is that possibilities are broader for me than they have been. I can tackle things in a fresh way. And the way forward is not clear."

Among Sir Anthony Caro's innumerable one-man exhibitions in galleries and museums worldwide are a 1992 exhibition organized by The British Council and installed amid the ruins of the Trajan Markets in the ancient Roman Forum, and the largest retrospective of his work to date organized in 1995 by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo. His sculpture is represented in more than one hundred public collections worldwide including: Boston Museum of Fine Arts; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Museum of Art, Osaka; Tate Gallery, London; and the Tel Aviv Museum, Israel.

Large-scale sculpture by Sir Anthony Caro will be included in the inaugural exhibition opening September 18 at Marlborough's new gallery in Chelsea at 211 West 19th Street, New York City. His work will also be featured in a solo exhibition at Marlborough Chelsea in the spring of 1998.

MARLBOROUGH GALLERY

www.marlboroughgallery.com

Abakanowicz, Bourgeois, Caro - Marlborough Chelsea, New York - Inaugural Exhibition

Abakanowicz, Bourgeois, Caro

Marlborough Chelsea, New York

September 18 - October 25, 1997

For its inaugural exhibition, Marlborough Chelsea, New York, presents sculptures by Magdalena Abakanowicz, Louise Bourgeois and Sir Anthony Caro. 

The gallery's inaugural exhibition presents one work each by Abakanowicz, Bourgeois and Caro. Each of these works through their physical and conceptual presence, commands and defines the gallery's architectural spaces, creating three interrelated but markedly different environments. These sculptures are of such independent and forceful character that they dominate their environments through the drama of a physical discourse that captures the viewer as if he or she had stumbled into a theater and onto a stage occupied by giants.

Magdalena Abakanowicz channels her deeply personal feelings about loss, isolation, displacement and regeneration as experienced throughout her childhood in Poland into her sculpture. Gouged and smooth bronze surfaces display the marks of the artist's fingers and nails; her work becomes an expressionist rendering in three-dimensional form of angst, aggression and strength. Rather than representing a single historical moment, group or tragedy, Magdalena Abakanowicz says that her work "is about the human condition in general". Backward Seated Figures (1992-93), comprised of 20 bronze forms, suggests a crowd of people seated on the floor, hunched over slightly. The air between each sculpture is heavy and fraught with tension; the installation creates a mood which fills the gallery and pushes at the walls, enveloping the viewer. The installation at Marlborough Chelsea will be the first showing of this piece in the United States.

A native of France, American sculptor Louise Bourgeois' work developed initially in the 1940s through her exposure to the Surrealists. Her later works reflect a continuing interest in feminism and forms related to the body. While many of her recent projects have explored and represented personal recollections of childhood memories and experiences through seemingly fragile and delicate forms, Eyes (1995), included in this exhibition, is monumentally forceful in both its physical and conceptual presence. The pair of massive granite spherical eyes with hemispherical irises captures everything that falls within their gaze. At the direction of  Louise Bourgeois, the eyes have been positioned at a distance apart to reflect the proportions of a monolithic face. The eyes are positioned to create a field of vision and depth of focus that extends beyond the walls of the gallery into the city - the sculpture is both a corporeal anchor and conceptual window.

British sculptor Sir Anthony Caro, who recently joined Marlborough for his North American representation, shapes mass and the spaces which his forms inhabit in a powerful yet carefully constructed way. His new work created specifically for this exhibition, Wareham Ziggurat (1997), rises over 12 feet high with its towering stepped shape. Ascending from floor to ceiling, the work forces one's attention upwards into the spaces that most sculpture does not reach. Because of the internal architectural "rooms" within the sculpture, the spectator is drawn inside and therefore deals with both external and internal notions of architectural form and space. The giant railroad sleepers from which the sculpture is made are stacked high like a vast pyramid, giving the work a physicality that is primal, ancient and mysteriously ritualistic in character.

Abakanowicz, Bourgeois, Caro will be followed by a group show curated by Raymond Foye, on view from November 1 through November 29, 1997. An exhibition of work by Spanish sculptor Francisco Leiro opens December 3, and will remain on view through January 3, 1998.

Marlborough Chelsea

211 West 19th Street, New York, NY

www.malgoroughgallery.com