Works Exhibited
About
Gagosian is pleased to present an installation of works by Tom Wesselmann at Park & 75 for the duration of the upcoming summer season.
Tom Wesselmann (1931–2004) was a leading exponent of American Pop art who explored the classical genres of the nude, still life, and landscape, updated to include contemporaneous everyday objects and advertising ephemera.
Known for iconic works such as Portrait Collage #1 (1959), the Great American Nude series (1961–73), Bedroom Paintings (1968–83), and the Standing Still Life paintings, Wesselmann created inventive new forms for painting, often working with cutout and shaped canvases.
This exhibition comprises a series of metal cutouts, including works in the still-life genre such as Mixed Bouquet (Filled In) (1993) and Still Life with Four Roses and Pear (1993), which depict flowers in particular. Wesselmann’s outlines were cut by laser from a sheet of metal, then painted in bright colors, creating a hybrid form of the innovative shaped canvases with which he worked, whereby the supports of his paintings were tailored to the actual shapes of the subjects depicted. Between the colored lines of Wesselmann’s cutout compositions, the white walls of the gallery serve as negative space within the image. In keeping with his multifaceted approach to painting, the metal cutouts blur the distinction between drawn line, painted field, and sculpture.
#WesselmannFlowers
Artist
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The Parameters of Perception
Michael Craig-Martin and Jeffrey Sturges in conversation on Tom Wessselmann’s Standing Still Lifes.
Richard Phillips on Tom Wesselmann
Tom Wesselmann: Standing Still Lifes closes this week at Gagosian New York. In this text, Richard Phillips speaks with Jason Ysenburg about the impact of the exhibition. A video about the exhibition and the artist’s studio practice accompanies the text.
Tom Wesselmann: In the Studio
Join us for a look at Tom Wesselmann’s New York studio in this behind-the-scenes video. Featuring archival footage of Wesselmann at work, as well as new interviews with his family, studio team, and friends, the film documents the creative process behind his large-scale works, from early still lifes to later abstractions.
Spotlight
Tom Wesselmann
The story behind Tom Wesselmann’s Still Life #59 (1972). Text by Lauren Mahony.
Reinventing the Nude
Modern master Henri Matisse was a touchstone for American Pop artist Tom Wesselmann throughout his career.
Book Corner
One-Cent Life
A 1964 publication by the Chinese-American artist and poet Walasse Ting and Abstract Expressionist painter Sam Francis.
