Independent Visions: American Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture

John Berggruen Gallery is pleased to present Independent Visions: American Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture, a survey of new and historical works by a selection of prominent American artists whose aesthetic styles and prolific careers embody the independent nature and unconstrained creativity of the American spirit. Independent Visions occupies both floors of gallery space and features work by Elmer Bischoff, Alexander Calder, Mark di Suvero, Richard Diebenkorn, Isamu Noguchi, Nathan Oliveira, David Park, Martin Puryear, Robert Motherwell, Ed Ruscha, and Wayne Thiebaud. While each artist has a distinctly personal and stylistically disparate approach to their craft, they share a tenacious loyalty towards the integrity of their unique visions. All display an emphasis on the transparency of artist's hand, while many demonstrate an almost abstract approach towards figuration. Independent Visions will be on view through September 30, 2009.

Highlights include Martin Puryear's sculptures Face Down (2008) and Untitled (1994), Alexander Calder's mobile Untitled (c. 1938) and stabile Pic Jaune (1973), Isamu Noguchi's Untitled (c.1945) and The Stone Within (1978), and Mayakovsky (1976) by Mark di Suvero - whose marriage of an abstract expressionist sensibility with steel/found objects remains distinctly his own. Despite the lack of any obvious stylistic connection between them, the artist's hand is apparent in all of these works and each reflects an innate tendency toward a personal and handmade method of art making. 

Also on display are the paintings of David Park and Elmer Bischoff, two of the major figures associated with the Bay Area Figurative Movement. Park's Canoe (1957) and Figures in a Landscape and Bischoff's Girl Getting Haircut (1962) share more in common with each other than do the works of di Suvero and Calder. However, their individuality stems from the fact they were created as a conscious abandonment of the prevailing norms of the time and represented a return from the rough gesturalism of Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning to a more representational aesthetic. Along with Diebenkorn and Thiebaud, they represent a small cluster of artists whose singular approach to art existed independently from the dominating canon.

Other highlights on display include Richard Diebenkorn's Untitled (Ocean Park) (1987), Ed Ruscha's Pressurized Diabolics (1976) and Alexander Calder's painting A Manhattan (On a blue ground) (1944).