Jim Kempner

Will Not Buy (Homage to JB II)

2018

Anne Youkeles' work blurs the line between painting and sculpture. Her works on paper, like "Mon Plaisir" (My Pleasure), are made with several folded pieces of paper, cut, colored, a...

Renowned painter and printer, Gary Lichtenstein demonstrates true abstract expressionism via his spectacular use of color. His paintings and silkscreen prints, more than 200 oil-based and water-based works to date, exhibit mastery of the properties of light absorption and reflection, specifically with regard to the visual impact of color. Inspired by artists such as Robert Motherwell and Helen Frankenthaler, Lichtenstein creates canvases which have frequently been described as ethereal, and he has been praised as one who manages to capture a “sense of no-self…” In fact, the composition of Lichtenstein’s work has been referred to as atmospheric... “evocative of natural forms and phenomena.” In addition, Lichtenstein has collaborated with over one hundred artists during the course of his 49-year career. Despite, and because of, rich historical influences, Gary Lichtenstein’s vision and artistic intellect are uniquely his own and clearly evident throughout the enormous portfolio of work that spans his career. Lichtenstein’s work has been shown and collected by, among others, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT, New York’s Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian, the San Francisco Art Institute, the San Francisco International Art Expo, the Chicago Art Institute, the Butler Institute of American Art, the College of Art & Architecture at the University of Tennessee, the Silvermine Arts Center, the International Print Center NYC, the Boston World Art Fair, the New York International Exhibit of Contemporary Art, and Art Asia (Hong Kong). Solo exhibitions in New York, San Francisco, Tokyo, and Hong Kong have been celebrated at the Rubicon Gallery, Susan Todd Gallery, Galerie Enatsu, and the Modernism Gallery. The Fried screen print collection can be found at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Whitney Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco. “Not enough has been written about Gary’s personal work as a painter and printmaker. The work, which can be categorized as “Color Field” has been informed by diverse influences, many of them not readily apparent to the casual viewer. One inescapable fact is despite Gary’s roots on the East Coast his artistic outlook has really been tempered by his thirty years in California, and by the Bay area in particular. Working with fabled San Francisco screen printer Robert Fried...