Influential contemporary artist Ross Bleckner is renowned for his large-scale abstract and figurative paintings that convey themes of change, loss and memory. Using recurring symbolism such as flowers, birds, urns and candelabras, along with patterns like stripes and dots, Bleckner’s immersive works elicit a hypnotic effect while suggesting ideas related to the body, health and disease.
Born in 1949 in New York City, Bleckner later studied at New York University alongside artists such as Chuck Close and Sol LeWitt. He went on to study at the California Institute of the Arts, graduating with a Master of Fine Arts in 1973.
In 1979, he began exhibiting with Mary Boone Gallery. During the 1980s, Bleckner became one of New York’s most prominent emerging artists through paintings that tackled the emotional toll of the AIDS crisis, particularly on the gay community. Bleckner’s powerful works depicting multicolored volumetric circles, or “cells as seen under a microscope,” garnered acclaim from art critics and collectors. In 1995, he became the youngest artist to have a retrospective at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
In recent years, Bleckner’s paintings, watercolors and abstract, landscape and still-life prints have continued to capture international attention. His works have been exhibited at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, Kunstmuseum Luzern in Lucerne, the Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern and the Gropius Bau in Berlin.
Bleckner’s art is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
On 1stDibs, discover a range of Ross Bleckner’s prints, paintings and drawings and watercolor paintings.
$100,000Sale Price|20% Off
My Sister's Brain
By Ross Bleckner
Located in Beverly Hills, CA
Ross Bleckner My Sister’s Brain, 2013 Oil on linen 84 x 72 inches
Linen, Oil
Ross Bleckner Abstract Oil Painting
By Ross Bleckner
Located in New York, NY
Ross Bleckner (American, b. 1949) Untitled, c. 1970 Oil on canvas 43 x 34 in. Signed verso: Ross B/ho Ross Bleckner grew up in Hewlett, Long Island, New York; drawing all the time without being aware that other artists existed. He was the middle child between two sisters; his father manufactures electronic parts He attended New York University where Sol Lewitt, Chuck Close and others were his teachers. He graduated in 1972, then spent a year at the California Institute of Arts. His contacts in the next few years were very fortuitous; Sol Lewitt and Chuck Close, Carl Andre, David Salle, Julian Schnabel, etc. Bleckner is on the nervous side, beset by self-doubt, insomnia, and gloom. He is unpretentious, although he is bluntly handsome, with olive complexion, and a compact build. He is "10 percent that is superficial and 90 percent that has to do with the depths and that is threatened by living. He is a very complicated individual. He is a very, very morose, deeply feeling, hardworking artist- he takes a lot from within himself - but always, no matter how successful he is, he feels he is going to fall into those depths." 1 Bleckner first exhibited his work in New York in 1974. The following year he was given his first one-man show; he was included in the 1975 Whitney Biennial.. Since about 1985 has addressed many of his paintings to the subject of AIDS- both documenting it as a historical phenomenon and commemorating specific individuals who have died. Written and submitted by Jean Ershler Schatz, artist and researcher from Laguna Woods, California. Bio sourced from the Archives of askArt. Sources include: Ross Bleckner's Mood Indigo by Lisa Liebmann, in ARTnews, May 1993...
Canvas, Oil
Ross Bleckner Abstract Oil Painting
By Ross Bleckner
Located in New York, NY
Ross Bleckner (American, b. 1949) Untitled, c. 20th century Oil on board 18 x 20 in. Ross Bleckner grew up in Hewlett, Long Island, New York; drawing all the time without being aware that other artists existed. He was the middle child between two sisters; his father manufactures electronic parts He attended New York University where Sol Lewitt, Chuck Close and others were his teachers. He graduated in 1972, then spent a year at the California Institute of Arts. His contacts in the next few years were very fortuitous; Sol Lewitt and Chuck Close, Carl Andre, David Salle, Julian Schnabel, etc. Bleckner is on the nervous side, beset by self-doubt, insomnia, and gloom. He is unpretentious, although he is bluntly handsome, with olive complexion, and a compact build. He is "10 percent that is superficial and 90 percent that has to do with the depths and that is threatened by living. He is a very complicated individual. He is a very, very morose, deeply feeling, hardworking artist- he takes a lot from within himself - but always, no matter how successful he is, he feels he is going to fall into those depths." 1 Bleckner first exhibited his work in New York in 1974. The following year he was given his first one-man show; he was included in the 1975 Whitney Biennial.. Since about 1985 has addressed many of his paintings to the subject of AIDS- both documenting it as a historical phenomenon and commemorating specific individuals who have died. Written and submitted by Jean Ershler Schatz, artist and researcher from Laguna Woods, California. Bio sourced from the Archives of askArt. Sources include: Ross Bleckner's Mood Indigo...
Oil, Board
$950
H 31 in W 37 in D 3 in
Fred Kenknight "Midday Sun" Abstract Oil Painting c.1963
Located in San Francisco, CA
Fred Kenknight Vintage 1960s "Midday Sun" Abstract Oil Painting Fantastic vintage oil painting signed by Fred Kenknight. Though untitled, we are call...
Oil, Board
$7,250
H 46 in W 30 in D 2 in
"Dancing with" Abstract Acrylic on Linen Painting 46" x 30" inch by Hossam Dirar
By Hossam Dirar
Located in Culver City, CA
"Dancing with" Abstract Acrylic on Linen Painting 46" x 30" inch by Hossam Dirar "Dancing with" (2016) by Hossam Dirar 46” x 30” Mixed media on linen canvas CHAOS This project i...
Canvas, Oil, Linen
Bird. 2019, hardboard, oil, 41x28 cm
By Dmitry Lavrentjev
Located in Riga, LV
Bird. 2019, hardboard, oil, 41x28 cm
Oil, Cardboard
$1,200
H 26 in W 20 in
Harriet Nash, Gouache on board, Abstract Painting, Circa 1950, Green and Black
By Harriet Holden Nash
Located in Buffalo, NY
A mid-century gouache on board painting by American female artist Harriet Holden Nash depicting an abstract Matisse like floral composition in shades of green and black. The board i...
Oil, Board
"Figure Composition"
By Vaclav Vytlacil
Located in Lambertville, NJ
Signed Lower Right Vaclav Vytlacil (1892-1984) He was born to Czechoslovakian parents in 1892 in New York City. Living in Chicago as a youth, he took classes at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, returning to New York when he was 20. From 1913 to 1916, he enjoyed a scholarship from the Art Students League, and worked with John C. Johansen (a portraitist whose expressive style resembled that of John Singer Sargent), and Anders Zorn. He accepted a teaching position at the Minneapolis School of Art in 1916, remaining there until 1921. This enabled him to travel to Europe to study Cézanne’s paintings and works of the Old Masters. He traveled to Paris, Prague, Dresden, Berlin, and Munich seeking the works of Titian, Cranach, Rembrandt, Veronese, and Holbein, which gave him new perspective. Vytlacil studied at the Royal Academy of Art in Munich, settling there in 1921. Fellow students were Ernest Thurn and Worth Ryder, who introduced him to famous abstractionist Hans Hofmann. He worked with Hofmann from about 1922 to 1926, as a student and teaching assistant. During the summer of 1928, after returning to the United States, Vytlacil gave lectures at the University of California, Berkeley, on modern European art. Soon thereafter, he became a member of the Art Students League faculty. After one year, he returned to Europe and successfully persuaded Hofmann to teach at the League as well. He spent about six years in Europe, studying the works of Matisse, Picasso, and Dufy. In 1935, he returned to New York and became a co-founder of the American Abstract Artists group in 1936. He later had teaching posts at Queens College in New York; the College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California; Black Mountain College in North Carolina; and the Art Students League. His paintings exhibit a clear inclination toward modernism. His still lives and interiors from the 1920s indicate an understanding of the art of Cézanne. In the 1930s, his works displayed two very different kinds of art at the same time. His cityscapes and landscapes combine Cubist-inspired spatial concerns with an expressionistic approach to line and color. Vytlacil also used old wood, metal, cork, and string in constructions, influenced by his friend and former student, Rupert Turnbull. He eventually ceased creating constructions as he considered them too limiting. The spatial challenges of painting were still his preference. During the 1940s and 1950s, his works indicated a sense of spontaneity not felt in his earlier work. He married Elizabeth Foster in Florence, Italy, in 1927 and they lived and worked in Positano, Italy for extended periods of time. Later on, they divided their time between homes in Sparkill, New York and Chilmark, Massachusetts, where Vyt, as he was affectionately called, taught at the Martha's Vineyard Art...
Board, Oil
"Positano Coast"
By Vaclav Vytlacil
Located in Lambertville, NJ
Vaclav Vytlacil (Vas-lav Vit-la-chil) was born in New York City in 1892 to Czech parents, but was raised in Chicago. He was an artist since boyhood, becoming the youngest student to ...
Board, Oil
$4,500
H 60 in W 54 in D 1.5 in
Golden (Abstract Square oil Painting on Canvas with Blues and Yellows)
By Jenny Nelson
Located in Hudson, NY
'Golden' painted by Hudson Valley artist, Jenny Nelson, in 2025 Oil on canvas 30 x 30 inches with white painted sides, unframed Excellent condition, ready to hang Signed, verso T...
Canvas, Oil
$720Sale Price|20% Off
H 18 in W 25 in
Mid-Century Modern Abstract Expressionist Still Life Oil Painting
By Toma Yovanovich
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original mid century modern abstract expressionist painting by American artist Toma Yovanovich. Toma Yovanovich (1931-2016) Yovanovich was a painter/printmaker whose work i...
Illustration Board, Oil
$13,000
H 60 in W 54 in D 1.5 in
Tide Goes Out: Abstract Expressionist Oil Painting in Blue, Grey, Green, Beige
By Jenny Nelson
Located in Hudson, NY
Vertical abstract expressionist oil painting on canvas in earthy shades of sky blue and Payne's grey, with accents of green and peach against an off-white foreground 'When the Tide Goes Out' painted by Hudson Valley artist, Jenny Nelson, in 2022 Oil on canvas 60 x 54 x 1.5 inches, with white painted sides Excellent condition, ready to hang Signed, verso This abstract expressionist oil painting was painted by Woodstock, NY based artist, Jenny Nelson, in 2022. The colorful abstract composition is completed in an expressionist style with loose and gestural brushstrokes in calming tones of dusty blue, stone blue, and green. The contrasting patches of pale pink and peach pop against the subtle pale beige and light blue background. Color is applied in light layers which is noticeable in the faint yet visible under tones of the painting. The oil painting is unframed, with white painted sides, so framing is optional. The artist's signature is located on the back of the painting. Artist Statement: My work has always been anchored in drawing. I spent years drawing and painting from life. This instilled a strong sense of space and structure. At some point I became more interested in the negative space surrounding the objects I was observing and modifying the objects themselves. I began to organically develop an abstract language, but the sense of structure and organization remained constant in the painting. I apply paint in layers using palette knives, brushes and oil sticks. I initially draw loose gestures and a variety of spontaneous marks. Often traces of previous layers remain visible, allowing colors to interact in ways I could not have anticipated. This process leaves me feeling quite lost a lot of the time, and I have had to learn to become comfortable with that feeling. This sometimes builds to frustration, and I will scrape off much of what was applied, but the result of doing this is often something wonderful that moves the painting forward. I view the painting process as a collaboration between myself and the materials. A conversation starts that has a beginning and an end, but everything in between is unpredictable. It seems at first some exciting things may show up but it’s important to disregard these first, too beautiful bursts, work over them, and develop something deeper from them. As the painting evolves, shapes and lines solidify, and I begin to see how the parts affect the whole. This way of layering, adding and subtracting, creates a history on the canvas. Shapes have a story to tell. Lines that have been obliterated and resurrected over and over again have an emotional charge. This process that started as a wild party ends up as a contemplative carefully edited composition, involving precise modifications, while hopefully leaving the life force in tact. About the artist: Jenny Nelson attended Maine College of Art in Portland Maine, and is a graduate of Bard College, where she received a scholarship to the Lacoste School of the Arts in France. She has been living in Woodstock, New York for nearly two decades, including a Residency at the Byrdcliffe Art Colony from November 2004-08. Jenny has been exhibiting for many years nationally and regionally. SELECTED EXHIBITIONS: Solo Shows: 2019 Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY 2019 Hidell Brooks Gallery, Charlotte NC 2018 Light Waves, Hidell Brooks Gallery, Charlotte NC 2017 New Works, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson NY 2016 Sailing in Place, Hidell Brooks Gallery, Charlotte NC 2013 Traveling Light, Tria Gallery, Manhattan NY 2012 New Work, Smink Modern, Dallas TX 2012 New Work, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson NY 2011 Awakenings (Duo with Keun Young Park) Tria Gallery, Manhattan NY 2010 New Paintings, Chace-Randall Gallery, Andes NY 2008 Autumn Elegance, Asher Neiman Gallery, Red Bank NJ 2008 The Light Between, Chace-Randall Gallery, Andes NY 2007 New Work, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson NY 2006 Of Line and Light, Chace-Randall Gallery, Andes NY 2006 Abstractions, Gallery 100, Saratoga NY 2005 Spring Collection, Coffey Gallery, Kingston NY 2005 New Work, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson NY 2004 Summer, Omega Institute, Rhinebeck NY 2004 New Work, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson NY 2003 Paintings from Shady, Coffey Gallery, Kingston NY 2001 Fisher Studio Art Gallery, Annandale-on-Hudson Group Exhibitions: 2018 20th Anniversary Show, Hidell Brooks Gallery, Charlotte, NC 2017 Due East: Woodstock Artists in Nantucket, Nantucket Arts Center, Nantucket, MA 2017 Composition: The Abstract Landscape, Kleinert/James Gallery, Woodstock NY 2014 Women in Abstract, Hidell Brooks Gallery, Charlotte NC 2013 Hidell Brooks Anniversary Show, Hidell Brooks Gallery, Charlotte, NC 2013 AD Boston Art Fair, Gold Gallery, Boston 2012 Contemporary Painters, Carrie Haddad Gallery Hudson, NY 2012 Featured Artist, Dragonfly Gallery, Martha's Vineyard, MA 2012 Tria Gallery Summer Exhibition, Manhattan, NY 2012 AAF NYC, Tria Gallery, Manhattan, NY 2011 Featured Artist, Dragonfly Gallery, Martha's Vineyard, MA 2011 AAF NYC, Tria Gallery, Manhattan, NY 2011 Figures and Abstractions, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson NY 2010 Art Hamptons, Tria Gallery, Manhattan NY 2010 Featured Artist, Dragonfly Gallery, Martha's Vineyard MA 2009 LA Art Fair, Bryant Street Gallery, Palo Alto CA 2009 Curators Choice, Chace-Randall Gallery, Andes NY 2009 Instructors Exhibition, Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock NY 2009 Group Exhibition, Bryant Street Gallery, Palo Alto CA 2009 Small Works, Anne Irwin Fine Art, Atlanta GA 2009 Winter White, Tria Gallery, Manhattan NY 2009 Contrasts, Anne Irwin Fine Art, Atlanta GA 2009 AAF NYC Tria Gallery, Manhattan NY 2008 Summer Cocktail, Tria Gallery, Manhattan NY 2008 5"x7" Show, Kleinart-James Gallery, Woodstock NY 2007 Faculty Plus One, Columbia Greene Community College, Hudson NY 2007 Art Basel Miami, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson NY 2007 One New Work, Chace-Randall Gallery, Andes NY 2007 5"x7" Show, Kleinart-James Gallery, Woodstock, NY 2006 Beach, Gallery Yellow, Cross River NY 2006 Flow, Kleinart/James Gallery, Woodstock, NY 2006 Group Exhibition, James Cox...
Canvas, Oil
Abstraction Pink
By Harriet Holden Nash
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original oil on linen mounted to board by American modern female artist Harriet Holden Nash. The piece will come with custom framing either black or natural wood based on the buy...
Linen, Oil, Board
“Snapfinger Woods”
Located in Southampton, NY
Original oil on canvas painting by the well known Texas and Sag Harbor, New York artist, Jack Ramsey. Signed lower right by the artist. Signed, titled and dated verso, 1983. Condit...
Canvas, Oil
$7,500Sale Price|25% Off
H 24 in W 20 in D 0.75 in
Theater Lobby (Abstract Expressionist Women) Black Artist
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Paul F. Keene Jr. (1920-2009). Theater Lobby, ca. 1955-60. Oil on linen canvas, 20 x 24 inches. Original metal strip frame. Signed lower left. Excellent condition. Biography: ...
Linen, Oil
Untitled
By Ross Bleckner
Located in New York, NY
Oil and watercolor on paper 12 x 16 inches This artwork is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City.
Paper, Oil, Watercolor