Gary Lichtenstein
"Western Moment"
2015

About the Item

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 while still a student at the San Francisco Art Institute had a lingering effect on Lichtenstein as a painter, but not in the ways one would expect. Fried, who made iconic posters for the 1960’s San Francisco counterculture, introduced Lichtenstein to the “rainbow roll” where multiple colors applied to the screen are merged by the squeegee into a gradated field that resembles a sunset or the lines of a spectrum. Often used a background for major compositional elements in screen printing, Lichtenstein embraced it as a thing-in-itself, an approach in which he subsequently transcribed into his atmospheric paintings. But there is perhaps a deeper connection with Californian art of the 1960s and 70s in the artist’s work. “Light and Space” is the term applied to a group of loosely affiliated artists in Southern California beginning in the 1960s. Characterized by a fundamental interest in perceptual phenomenon, much of their work was grounded in the basic act of seeing. Subsequently described as “Primary Atmospheres” by the California-based critic Dave Hickey, the movement’s influence continues to reverberate into our present moment. I realize that San Francisco is over 300 miles north of L.A., but one can easily argue that creatively S.F.’s spirit has been closer to SoCal than to New York, and “primary atmospheres” is a phrase that clearly can be applied to Lichtenstein’s current paintings and prints that revel–and delight–in both light and space. Lichtenstein is not a painter and master printer, but rather a master painter and master printer.” Richard Klein Curator, author and former Exhibitions Director at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum

Creator:

Gary Lichtenstein

Creation Year:

2015

Dimensions:

Height: 32 in (81.28 cm)Width: 32 in (81.28 cm)

More Editions & Sizes:

uniquePrice: $2,500

Medium:

Screen

Movement & Style:

Contemporary