Among the reigning patriarchs of the New York School, the young Rauschenberg found his greatest and earliest champion in the painter Jack Tworkov.
Jack Tworkov
Newly Discovered Photographs Show an Abstract Expressionist Thanksgiving
Jason Andrew of the Estate of Jack Tworkov recently uncovered a new cache of Thanksgiving photographs featuring some of the leading Abstract Expressionists.
The Anti-Expressionist: Jack Tworkov’s Paradigm Shift
One of the many striking works in the exhibition Jack Tworkov: Mark and Grid is a large abstraction from 1977 called “Knight Series #8 (Q3-77 #2).” Resembling a Synthetic Cubist floor plan, it is in fact an experiment in gaming that looks back to the anti-art of Marcel Duchamp and forward to the rules-based systems of 21st-century conceptual painting.
America’s Grand Gestures Reign Supreme Again in Basel
BASEL, Switzerland — Fifty-five years ago, the exhibition The New American Painting arrived at the Kunsthalle Basel. It was the first stop on a yearlong tour that touted the work of seventeen Abstract Expressionists before eight European countries — the first comprehensive exhibition to be sent to Europe showing the advanced tendencies in American painting. All but five of the original artists from the show had work on view at last weekend’s Art Basel, where postwar American painting and sculpture dominated the halls.
Curator Diary: Jason Andrew in Asheville (Day 6 and 7)
In this final entry in Jason Andrew’s Curator Diary, the curator gives a lecture on Jack Tworkov’s life and work and wraps up his time in Asheville, making last stops at local galleries and homes of friends. The journey ends with a trip back to the airport. It’s the surreal end of a curating job — put up the exhibition, show it off, then pack up.
Curator Diary: Jason Andrew in Asheville (Day 5)
After all the curating is done, there’s usually a party to look forward to — the exhibition opening. In this last Curator Diary, Jason Andrew attends his own opening party at Black Mountain College, chats up visitors, meets painter Donald Sultan’s mom and hits the town afterward.
Curator Diary: Jason Andrew in Asheville (Day 4)
A curator’s job isn’t just to shuffle some art around in a gallery space. In many ways, curators are the glue that hold artistic communities together, by organizing group events, serving as hubs of communication and connecting people and groups on local, national and international levels. In this Curator Diary, Jason Andrew does a lot of visiting, a lot of lunching and a lot of talking. It’s all a part of the gig.
Curator Diary: Jason Andrew in Asheville (Day 3)
Today’s Curator Diary from Jason Andrew exposes the nuts and bolts of putting together an exhibition. Andrew works with an art handler to install pieces in the developing Jack Tworkov show, frets over catalogue corrections and reaches out to area artists and students. Curating isn’t all glamorous openings and swanning around with Marina Abramovic, after all.
Curator Diary: Jason Andrew & Tworkov at Black Mountain College
This Curator Diary is an editorial feature documenting curator and local Bushwick hero Jason Andrew’s trip to Asheville, North Carolina to mount an ambitious exhibition of work by Jack Tworkov. The column will explore the day-to-day process of curating, a behind-the-scenes look into what a curator actually does.
An Unknown Chapter at America’s Bauhaus
In the summer of 1952, artist Jack Tworkov traveled to Black Mountain College in Asheville, North Carolina. A leading figure of the New York School, his time at the influential American school, which some people consider “America’s Bauhaus,” is the subject of a new exhibition. We talked to the curator, Jason Andrew.
20th C Moderne at the Armory
If the contemporary side of the Armory is flashier with its glamor and energy, this is the tried and true historical wing that presents a more reserved modernist face but not one without a lot of seduction. Here are some of my picks for what to see if you visit.