Don Clausen
American, 1930-2020
Don was a passionate artist all his life. He started out with his animal drawings for children while attending art school. He then went on to his more abstract “boat paintings” and finally settled on abstract expressionism. His idea of a vacation was carving wood sculptures. He showed his art for many years at the De Tours Gallery and Maiden Lane Gallery in San Francisco, Zantmans in Carmel, Alta Galleria in Berkeley and had art shows in Grand Rapids Michigan in 2016 and 2019, plus various other galleries and shows over the years. One of his paintings is on the label of the 1986 Kenwood “artist series” Cabernet Sauvignon.
Born in 1930, Clausen is a graduate of the California College of Art in Oakland, California. “I always search for new ways of seeing things,” he says. “I’m an incurable experimenter. I live for art.” He uses a palette knife for his oil abstract paintings; in the 1960s and 1970s he also painted seascapes and did some sculpture in wood and metal.
In his luminous abstractions, Clausen employs every color of the rainbow, the strong lines forming geometric shapes that appear to fly through space. Nothing is weighed down in his paintings; it’s as if images came to him from outer space or other realms. He turns the physical world into dabs and streaks of color that convey an engulfing sense of motion.
Whether abstract or representational, his works convey enormous energy and vitality, like masterpieces by Jackson Pollack and Willem de Kooning. They also are distinctive for their sculptural quality, a result of his thickly layering the paint and then slicing down to the canvas with a palette knife or section of a venetian blind; his choice of tools is as eclectic as his subject matter. “I’ll paint with anything,” he says. “I like sticks because I can carve into the paint with them.”
Few artists demonstrate Clausen’s versatility, proved by his genius for shifting from one artistic form to another. He shows outstanding talent for portraiture, conveying a profound sense of his subjects’ characters, through sensitive detail, such as the tilt of a head, expression of the mouth or smile lines.
A great admirer of Rembrandt and Vermeer, Clausen has learned how to evoke a psychological state from studying those masters. He also paints landscapes and cityscapes, particularly splendid is a golden-brown San Francisco that he did of the city long ago. He has spent a lot of time studying the broad horizons of French painter Vlaminck. “Everything is abstract more or less,” he says, “as it’s fundamentally composed of shapes and lines.”(Biography provided by Robert Azensky Fine Art)
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Creator: Don Clausen
Mixed-Media Painting by Don Clausen
By Don Clausen
Located in Palm Springs, CA
Mixed-media painting by Don Clausen (1930 - ), dated 1971. Painting is on wood. Don Clausen is/was active in California and is known for abstract expression. He uses a palette knife ...
Category
1970s American Vintage Don Clausen
Materials
Wood
Don Clausen, Abstract Oil Painting on Canvas, Signed and Dated, 1976
By Don Clausen
Located in San Francisco, CA
A large and arresting 1976 untitled abstract oil painting on canvas by notable California Bay Area artist Don Clausen (b. 1930–2020).
Dominated by various shades of red, with promin...
Category
1970s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Don Clausen
Materials
Aluminum
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Don Clausen furniture for sale on 1stDibs.
Don Clausen furniture are available for sale on 1stDibs. These distinctive items are frequently made of wood and are designed with extraordinary care. There are many options to choose from in our collection of Don Clausen furniture, although brown editions of this piece are particularly popular. Many of the original furniture by Don Clausen were created in the mid-century modern style in united states during the 1970s. If you’re looking for additional options, many customers also consider furniture by Lee Reynolds, Curtis Jeré, and Leonard Baskin. Prices for Don Clausen furniture can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — on 1stDibs, these items begin at $1,900 and can go as high as $2,550, while a piece like these, on average, fetch $2,225.