Events
In Conversation
Jay DeFeo’s Generation
Suzanne Hudson, Dana Miller, and Clifford Ross
Tuesday, November 17, 2020, 2pm EST
Join Gagosian for a conversation on Jay DeFeo with Los Angeles–based art historian and critic Suzanne Hudson, Seattle-based art historian and independent curator Dana Miller, and New York–based artist Clifford Ross. The trio will discuss the unique place DeFeo occupies in art history, shaped by a diverse body of work that defies categorization, a practice situated outside of the American art centers of New York and Los Angeles, and relationships with other artists of her generation. To join, register at zoom.us.
Jay DeFeo, Lotus Eater No. 1, 1974 © 2020 The Jay DeFeo Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Robert Divers Herrick
Panel Discussion
Catching Ideas in Process
Jay DeFeo’s Photography
Wednesday, November 18, 2020, 8–9pm EST
The medium of photography enabled Jay DeFeo to further explore the themes and forms she continually returned to in her diverse practice, and to capture her own process, resulting in images that blur the line between documentation and art. Organized by the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts in San Francisco, this panel discussion brings together Corey Keller, curator of photography at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, in conversation with artists Paul Mpagi Sepuya and Rayyane Tabet to discuss this lesser-known body of DeFeo’s oeuvre and the ways in which her highly experimental practice continues to resonate with photographers working today. The conversation will be moderated by Emily Markert, a curatorial fellow at the Wattis Institute. To register for the event, visit eventbrite.com.
Jay DeFeo, Untitled, 1973 © 2020 The Jay DeFeo Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
In Conversation
In Dialogue
Through Jay DeFeo’s Lens
Wednesday, August 19, 2020, 7–8pm EDT
Join Leah Levy, executive director of the Jay DeFeo Foundation, and Natalie Dupêcher, assistant curator of modern art at the Menil Collection in Houston, for a conversation about the photo-based work of Jay DeFeo. The pair will discuss the works on view in the Menil’s exhibition Photography and the Surreal Imagination and those in the Menil’s permanent collection, and will consider how the artist adopted and transformed Surrealist strategies throughout her boldly imaginative career. To watch the live conversation, visit the Menil’s YouTube channel.
Jay DeFeo, Self-Portrait with Camera, Larkspur Studio, CA, 1972 © 2020 The Jay DeFeo Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Announcements
Launch
8-bridges
Gagosian will be participating in 8-bridges, a new online initiative created to highlight artists and galleries in the San Francisco Bay Area. Launching in October 2020, 8-bridges will present monthly exhibitions by Bay Area galleries, with a particular focus on artists and conversations relevant to the region. The platform will feature eight new presentations each month, and each cycle will also spotlight a local institution, starting with the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco. Gagosian is pleased to be a member of the 8-bridges founding committee. The gallery’s inaugural presentation will be devoted to the work of Jay DeFeo.
Jay DeFeo on Mount Tamalpais, Marin County, California, 1973. Photo: John Bogdanoff
Video
Jay DeFeo’s
The Rose
Discussing Jay DeFeo’s monumental painting The Rose (1958–66), now in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, are Dana Miller, curator of the Whitney’s permanent collection, David A. Ross, former director, and Lisa Phillips, former curator, with Leah Levy, director of the Jay DeFeo Trust (now the Jay DeFeo Foundation). They describe the significance of this pivotal work and detail the Whitney’s efforts to conserve it.
Still from “Jay DeFeo's The Rose”
Museum Exhibitions
On View
The Whitney’s Collection
Selections from 1900 to 1965
Opened June 28, 2019
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
whitney.org
This exhibition of more than 120 works, drawn entirely from the Whitney’s collection, is inspired by the founding history of the museum. The Whitney was established in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney to champion the work of living American artists. A sculptor and a patron, Whitney recognized both the importance of contemporary American art and the need to support the artists who made it. The collection she assembled foregrounds how artists uniquely reveal the complexity and beauty of American life. Work by Jay DeFeo, Willem de Kooning, Roy Lichtenstein, Man Ray, Ed Ruscha, Andy Warhol, and Tom Wesselmann is included.
Installation view, The Whitney’s Collection: Selections from 1900 to 1965, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, June 28, 2019–May 2022. Artwork, left to right: © 2020 The Jay DeFeo Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Norman Lewis; © 2020 The Franz Kline Estate/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Ron Amstutz
Closed
Degree Zero
Drawing at Midcentury
October 31, 2020–June 5, 2021
Museum of Modern Art, New York
www.moma.org
Bringing together approximately eighty works on paper from the museum’s collection, Degree Zero illuminates how artists used drawing to forge a new visual language in the aftermath of World War II. Modest, immediate, and direct, drawing was the ideal medium for this period of renewal. The exhibition looks across movements, geographies, and generations to highlight connections between artists who shared common materials and ideas between 1948 and 1961. Work by Jay DeFeo, Willem de Kooning, Alberto Giacometti, and Cy Twombly is included.
Jay DeFeo, Untitled (Florence), 1952, Museum of Modern Art, New York © 2020 The Jay DeFeo Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Closed
Artist’s Choice
Amy Sillman—The Shape of Shape
October 21, 2019–April 12, 2020
Museum of Modern Art, New York
www.moma.org
In The Shape of Shape, Amy Sillman—an artist who has helped redefine contemporary painting, pushing the medium into drawing, installations, video, and zines—has created a revelatory Artist’s Choice installation drawn from the museum’s collection. The exhibition features works, many rarely seen, spanning vastly different time periods, places, and mediums. Work by Jay DeFeo, Helen Frankenthaler, Howard Hodgkin, Henry Moore, Albert Oehlen, and Christopher Wool is included.
Albert Oehlen, Untitled, 1989, Museum of Modern Art, New York © Albert Oehlen
Closed
Undersoul
Jay DeFeo
March 8–July 7, 2019
San José Museum of Art, San Jose, California
sjmusart.org
Undersoul: Jay DeFeo features unique photographs, photocollages, photocopies, drawings, and paintings from the 1970s and 1980s that track the artist’s visual vocabulary across mediums and subject matter. This focused exhibition highlights Jay DeFeo’s prolific use of photographic practices as an underexamined but critical facet of her transmutative process. Building upon four works in the San José Museum of Art’s permanent collection as guiding linchpins, the exhibition draws largely on previously unpublished and unexhibited works from the rich holdings of the Jay DeFeo Foundation.
Installation view, Jay DeFeo: Undersoul, San José Museum of Art, San Jose, California, March 8–July 7, 2019. Artwork © 2020 The Jay DeFeo Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Phil Bond
Closed
Jay DeFeo
The Ripple Effect
June 29–October 28, 2018
Aspen Art Museum, Colorado
www.aspenartmuseum.org
This exhibition examines integral themes within the practice of Jay DeFeo, from her use of unconventional materials and blurring of abstraction and representation to her devotion to chance and experimentation. The title of the exhibition, The Ripple Effect, refers to DeFeo’s lasting influence on contemporary artists working today. Presenting a core selection of the artist’s work in drawing, painting, collage, and photography, the show examines her legacy through the work of eleven contemporary artists, all of whom were influenced by her delicate, deliberate approach and intimate vision. This exhibition has traveled from Le Consortium in Dijon, France.
Installation view, Jay DeFeo: The Ripple Effect, Aspen Art Museum, Colorado, June 29–October 28, 2018. Artwork © 2020 The Jay DeFeo Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Closed
Jay DeFeo
The Ripple Effect
February 3–May 20, 2018
Le Consortium, Dijon, France
www.leconsortium.fr
This exhibition examines integral themes within the practice of Jay DeFeo, from her use of unconventional materials and blurring of abstraction and representation to her devotion to chance and experimentation. The title of the exhibition, The Ripple Effect, refers to DeFeo’s lasting influence on contemporary artists working today. Presenting a core selection of the artist’s work in drawing, painting, collage, and photography, the show examines her legacy through the work of eleven contemporary artists, all of whom were influenced by her delicate, deliberate approach and intimate vision.
Installation view, Jay DeFeo: The Ripple Effect, Le Consortium, Dijon, France, February 2–May 20, 2018. Artwork © 2020 The Jay DeFeo Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Closed
Jay DeFeo
A Retrospective
November 3, 2012–June 9, 2013
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
www.sfmoma.org
This retrospective is the definitive exhibition to date of the work of Jay DeFeo. At the outset of her career, in the 1950s, DeFeo was at the center of a vibrant community of Beat artists, poets, and musicians in San Francisco. Although she is best known for her monumental painting The Rose (1958–66), which she spent eight years making, DeFeo created an astoundingly diverse range of works spanning four decades. Her unconventional approach to materials and intensive, physical process make DeFeo a unique figure in postwar American art who defies easy categorization. The full breadth of her work is presented for the first time in this exhibition of more than 130 objects. The astonishing array of collages, drawings, paintings, photographs, small sculptures, and jewelry on view illuminate DeFeo’s courageous experimentation and extraordinary vision.
Installation view, Jay DeFeo: A Retrospective, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, November 3, 2012–June 9, 2013. Artwork © 2020 The Jay DeFeo Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Closed
Jay DeFeo
A Retrospective
February 28–June 2, 2013
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
whitney.org
This retrospective is the definitive exhibition to date of the work of Jay DeFeo. At the outset of her career, in the 1950s, DeFeo was at the center of a vibrant community of Beat artists, poets, and musicians in San Francisco. Although she is best known for her monumental painting The Rose (1958–66), which she spent eight years making, DeFeo created an astoundingly diverse range of works spanning four decades. Her unconventional approach to materials and intensive, physical process make DeFeo a unique figure in postwar American art who defies easy categorization. The full breadth of her work is presented for the first time in this exhibition of more than 130 objects. The astonishing array of collages, drawings, paintings, photographs, small sculptures, and jewelry on view illuminate DeFeo’s courageous experimentation and extraordinary vision. This exhibition has traveled from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Jay DeFeo, Untitled (Salvador Dalí’s Birthday Party), May 11, 1973, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York © 2020 The Jay DeFeo Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Sheldan C. Collins