This Moment / Alex Katz
June 11, 2020
This Moment
Alex Katz, Left: Photograph by Vivien Bittencourt. Right by Stephanie Sinclair
“Picasso and Matisse were the guys I wanted to get away from, and cubism is all still lifes. Their paintings are all closed drawings. And still life is a perfect form for that.
By the mid-’50s, I sort of dropped the still life. The large picture was a way of getting around them, too. The abstract expressionists were also into the large form because it was a way of getting around Matisse and Picasso. Picasso can’t paint big paintings. Matisse didn’t bother after a certain point”. Alex Katz
Three Dancers; Dancer 1, 2019, Suite of 3 color silkscreen on Saunders Waterford 425 gsm paper, 152 x 91 cm, 60 x 36 in, Edition 20/60
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Alex Katz is one of the most important and respected living American artists of the past 50 years. Best known for his larger-than-life portraits of family and friends, his influence is seen across generations.
Three major museums have just announced they will present a solo show for the artist.
In 2020, and for the first time in Spain, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museo National will be presenting a retrospective.
In 2021, Voorlinden will present the first solo show of the legendary American painter Alex Katz (1927) in the Netherlands.
In 2022, a career retrospective will be exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum in NY
Yellow Flags 3, 2020, Archival pigment inks on Crane Museo Max 365 gsm paper, 83 x 55 cm, 33 x 22 in, Edition 21/150
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ALEX KATZ / text by Dr. Josef Grodman
Alex Katz is an iconic 92 year old contemporary artist, whose Jewish parents emigrated from Russia to the USA. He was raised in the borough of Queens, NYC and has had a studio in SOHO for many decades. He is known for his prolific paintings, prints and sculptures. His landscapes, inspired by his home in Maine, scenes of lower Manhattan and especially his figurative works, are best known. His works can be seen in major contemporary museums and exhibitions throughout the world.
I have been following his artistry since I was 20 years of age, in the mid 1970’s. I have always been blown away by his signature style, which is cooly detached, economically sparse, yet intensely seductive and moving. His figurative works are extraordinary, capturing dramatically cropped faces, with excitingly vivid colors.
His works have been inspired by both Japanese artists and modern American culture, advertising and media. He has painted famous NYC writers, dancers, artists and fashion icons, notably, Kate Moss. He is indeed a genuine precursor to the Pop Art movement.
Alex and Ada Katz. Photo by BFA.com
Perhaps his greatest muse and subject, is his wife Ada. His artistic connection to her, as a primary subject and model, is among the greatest in the history of art, having painted her image in more than 250 works.
For me, his depictions of Ada are undoubtedly among his greatest works. I own but one, but, it moves me in powerful and absorbing ways.
Alex Katz will always stand out in my mind as an authentic contemporary artistic genius of ineffable power and importance.
His signature style is indelibly part of my artistic experience and has helped to inform my love of contemporary art.
Ada in Spain, 2018, Archival Pigment Inks on Crane Museo Max 365 GSM Fine Art Paper, 116 x 81 cm, 46 x 32 in, Edition of 150
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Dancer 2 (Cutout), 2020, Printed aluminum figure on aluminum base, 74 x 53 x 8 cm, 29 x 21 x 3 in, Edition 11/60
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