Art Brenner: Action Paintings

Art Brenner: Action Paintings October 3-31, 2015

From left: Nigeria, Nok Culture, Male Figure, 500 BCE - 200 CE, terra cotta, 12.7 x 7 x 11.5 inches Peru, Huarmey Culture, Yoke of a Poncho, 800-1100 CE, camelid wool and natural dyes, 35 x 35 inches Herbert Bayer, Memorial Structure, 1961/2007, bronze, 48 x 22 x 24 inches, edition 2/6 Art Brenner, Untitled, 1960, oil on canvas, 50.5 x 40 inches, 52.25 x 42.25 inches framed

Figure, 1958

Oil on canvas 32 x 42 inches 34 x 44 inches framed Titled, dated “2/58� and studio stamped verso 0124

Untitled, 1960

Oil on canvas 40 x 50 inches 42 x 52 inches framed Signed, dated “6/60�, and studio stamped verso 0125

Sunday #2, 1959

Oil on canvas 50 x 58 inches 52 x 60 inches framed Titled, dated “4/59� and studio stamped verso 0130

Untitled, 1960

Oil on canvas 50 x 60 inches 52 x 62 inches framed Dated “4/60� and studio stamped verso 0131

Stowe, 1960

Oil on canvas 50 x 60 inches 52 x 62 inches framed Dated “4/60� and studio stamped verso 0132

Untitled, 1958

Oil on canvas 46 x 42 inches 48 x 44 inches framed Dated “8/58� and studio stamped verso 0133

Untitled, 1958

44 1/4 x 32 inches 46 1/4 x 34 inches framed Oil on canvas Dated “1/58� and studio stamped verso 0136

Untitled, 1958

44 x 27 inches 46 x 29 inches framed Oil on canvas Dated “Mar, 58� and studio stamped verso 0139

Untitled, 1960

50 x 60 inches 52 x 62 inches framed Oil on canvas Dated “5-6/1960� and studio stamped verso 0142

Untitled, 1960-61

54 x 72 inches 56 x 74 inches framed Oil on canvas Dated “1960-8/1961� and studio stamped verso 0145

Untitled, 1958

42 x 27 inches 44 x 29 inches framed Oil on canvas Studio stamped verso 0149

Untitled, 1959

50 x 60 inches 52 x 62 inches framed Oil on canvas Dated “12/59� and studio stamped verso 0152

Untitled, c. 1959

36 x 61 inches 38 x 63 inches framed Oil on canvas Studio stamped verso 0147

Art Brenner (1924-2013)

Art Brenner, a prolific painter, sculptor, and scholarly writer, was born in New York City in 1924. He lived and worked in Paris for several decades until his death in Australia in 2013.

Brenner exhibited in solo and group exhibition in numerous countries for over 36 years, and participated in more than 60 exhibitions throughout his career thus far. He also received the highest honor as a “Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres”(“Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters”) in France bestowed upon individuals who have distinguished themselves by their creativity in the world of art, culture and literature and their contribution to the influence of arts in France and the throughout the world. Brenner’s first solo show was held at Galerie Lucien Durand, in Paris, in 1967, and from then on his acclaimed work became an international success. He had a long and prestigious career, and continued exhibiting into his nineties. In 1995 he was the subject of a CNN film titled “An American Sculptor in Paris.”

One of his best-known articles, entitled “Concerning Sculpture and Architecture”, explores the relationship between Modern architecture and sculpture. Brenner suggests that monumentality in sculpture was a direct product of Modernist thinking in architecture, and uses this as a call for architects and sculptors to collaborate to create public spaces that are not merely functional, but aesthetically satisfying environments for living. Brenner heeded his own call, and has continued to collaborate with architects to create incredible works in public spaces, and in conjunction with various building projects around the world.

Though best known for his sculptural work, and written essays and articles on the changing nature of sculpture in society, Brenner was also an astonishingly capable painter. His works created in the 1950s reflect the second generation Abstract Expressionist movement of the time. Though clearly part of one oeuvre, his style is difficult to pigeonhole. He clearly has a spatial sensibility to his canvases, but his color is careful, deliberate, and unflinchingly unique. His works from that period are gestural, with controlled, but choppy swaths of color, whispering, interrupting each other, and creating a vibrant plane of conversation on the canvas. Though they are reminiscent of many other painters of the time, such as Joan Mitchell, Michael Goldberg, Norman Bluhm, Edward Dugmore, John Grillo, and Alma Thomas among others, Brenner brought a spatial awareness that was a point of departure for his future years and life’s devotion to sculpture.