Tag: philip guston

Philip Guston at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

In the late 60s, abstract artist Philip Guston stopped painting, then restarted his practice by building a new, figurative artistic vocabulary.  The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s newly installed mezzanine gallery features solitary painted objects – a lightbulb, a shoe – on small canvases that demonstrate how the artist weighed up the meaning and import of everyday objects that he would later repeat. This untitled painting shows a partial view of the artist himself, apparently painted over and covering another image. Wide-eyed and looking straight at the viewer, Guston is only partially visible, but his wary stare speaks volumes about his desire to communicate.  (On view on the Upper East Side in the Met’s ‘Philip Guston: The Panel Paintings, 1968-72 which includes work from Musa Guston Mayer’s promised gift.)

Philip Guston, Untitled, acrylic on panel, 1968.

Philip Guston at Hauser & Wirth Gallery

When Philip Guston stopped painting in an abstract expressionist style and adopted a new, faux-naïve look in 1970, art world response was so negative that the artist relocated to Rome for the better part of the following year.  ‘Pittore,’ part of a major show of Guston’s late work at Hauser & Wirth Gallery, expresses some of the anxiety that Guston must have felt as a painter, as well as his need to change to a representational style to engage in a more overt way with the politics of the day.  Here, the artist lies awake in bed at night, his paint and brush beside him.  Smoking, his eyes bloodshot, and with a clock rising behind him like a moon dominating a landscape, the pressure is palpable.  (On view in Chelsea.  Proof of vaccination, photo ID and masks are required).

Philip Guston, Pittore, oil on canvas, 72 ¾ x 80 ½ inches, 1973.

Philip Guston at Hauser & Wirth

In 1971 and 1975, Philip Guston created a powerful series of drawings as protest to then-president Richard Nixon’s policies, in particular his decision to visit China after years of anti-Communist rhetoric. Now on view at Hauser & Wirth’s new Chelsea location, this drawing shows the former president scrapping with his advisor Henry Kissinger at his Florida retreat as an empty speech bubble rises with the clouds. (At Hauser & Wirth Gallery in Chelsea through January 14th).

Philip Guston, from the show ‘Laughter in the Dark, Drawings from 1971 & 1975,’ at Hauser & Wirth Gallery, through Jan 28th, 2017.
Philip Guston, from the show ‘Laughter in the Dark, Drawings from 1971 & 1975,’ at Hauser & Wirth Gallery, through Jan 28th, 2017.

Philip Guston at McKee Gallery

To celebrate the centenary of the late Philip Guston’s birth, McKee Gallery is showing key later work by the artist who is known for his unnerving cartoonish figures such as this duo in Klan hoods who navigate urban streets with a car full of bodies at sunrise. (At 745 Fifth Ave, through April 20th)  

Philip Guston, ‘Dawn,’ oil on canvas,1970.