John Abrams

construction no. 35, 1956, after jose de rivera

2012

Oil painting on wood panel Unique work Hand-signed lower right by the artist

Abstract expressionist assemblage with found objects typical of an artist's studio floor by Bay Area artist Michael Pauker (American, b. 1957). Applied paint brushes, caps and tubes of paint, a few letters, putty knife, with splashes of color on wood. Unsigned. From the collection of the artist's work. Unframed. Image size: 11.25"H x 25.75"W Bay Area artist and art educator Michael Pauker was born in New York in 1957 and knew he wanted to be an artist from the age of 15. He earned a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts at SUNY Purchase in his native state of New York. In 1989 he went on to earn an M.F.A at Mills College in Oakland and was awarded the City of Oakland Artist Fellowship in Painting. He has been a Bay Area resident since 1988. His work has been exhibited widely across the U.S., as well as in Japan and Costa Rica, and is included in the collection of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Exhibitions include: 2007 Contemporary Art Museum, San Jose, Costa Rica 2007 “The Ebay Art Project,” Works/San Jose, San Jose, CA 2003 “Found Imagery: The Art of Collage,” Fresno Art Museum,Fresno, CA 2003 “Cut, Copy, Paste,” De Saisset Museum, Santa Clara, CA 2003 “20th Annual Exhibition,” Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA 2002 “40 by 40...

Artist's Statement: "Around 30 years ago, not long after I had started painting seriously, I was at a one-man exhibition of the great Brice Marden at the Fort Worth Museum of Modern Art when I visited the annex to get a cocktail. There was one other guy at the small bar table in an otherwise empty room, waiting for his coffee to be handed to him. He turned and dumped half of it down my front. I immediately recognized him as none other than Brice Marden. He apologized profusely, but I stopped him and said: 'No problem: how often is it that Brice Marden dumps coffee on your pants? They're worth more now.' We both had a good laugh. At any rate - I was certainly channeling his early work when I began work on this series. They are made with oil and beeswax on wood panels...

Artist's Statement: "Around 30 years ago, not long after I had started painting seriously, I was at a one-man exhibition of the great Brice Marden at the Fort Worth Museum of Modern Art when I visited the annex to get a cocktail. There was one other guy at the small bar table in an otherwise empty room, waiting for his coffee to be handed to him. He turned and dumped half of it down my front. I immediately recognized him as none other than Brice Marden. He apologized profusely, but I stopped him and said: 'No problem: how often is it that Brice Marden dumps coffee on your pants? They're worth more now.' We both had a good laugh. At any rate - I was certainly channeling his early work when I began work on this series. They are made with oil and beeswax on wood panels. While they look Minimalist at first glance, there are subtle shifts in color and texture that distinguish them from hard-edged abstraction. For me, it has always been about the surface, and the materials. Wax has a character unlike anything else. I use wax both hot (encaustic) and in a cold mixture with turpentine, blended with oil. The complementary underpainting, setting the stage for the wax and oil later...