By Julian Schnabel
Located in New York, NY
Julian Schnabel was born in 1951 in Brooklyn, New York, to a father of Czechoslovakian descent and a mother from New York. After graduating from the University of Houston with a BFA, he began his artistic career in New York City. He was provided an artist’s studio through the Whitney Independent Study Program. He moved to Houston, Texas for a year, where he created his “first adult painting”, composed of oil, wax, and paste shaped on a canvas. This was the beginining of his signature artistic style, using pre-existing and unconventional materials to create his art.
His first solo exhibition was at the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston, Texas, in 1976. He moved back to New York City working as a cook, then spent time travelled in Europe, where he was fascinated by Caravaggio and Fra Angelico; these influences led lead to Schnabel’s creation of ten wax paintings in Milan. After another trip to Europe a few years later, he was inspired to create his now-famous plate paintings. The plate paintings incorporated smashed plates and later glass and porcelain to adhere onto a canvas, painting on top of them and thereby mixing objects with flat surfaces. Schnabel’s paintings often use unconventional materials, like velvet or putty. His work is featured in various US and international museums and galleries in New York City, including Switzerland, London, Los Angeles, Paris, Munich, and more.
In 1990, Schnabel directed and wrote his first film, Basquiat, a biopic following the life of friend and fellow artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. He continued to create other films such as The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, At Eternity’s Gate...
Category
1990s Abstract Expressionist Art by Medium: Mixed Media
MaterialsMixed Media, Canvas
