James Brooks
dal 16/4/2004 al 29/5/2004
Segnalato da
16/4/2004
James Brooks
Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles
Selected Works, 1948 - 1986 will consist of both works on canvas and paper executed over the course of Brook's entire career.
Selected Works, 1948 - 1986
Manny Silverman Gallery is pleased to present the first west coast exhibition of original Abstract Expressionist, James Brooks (1906-1992).
James Brooks: Selected Works, 1948 - 1986 will consist of both works on canvas and paper executed over the course of Brook's entire career. It will be on view from Saturday, April 17 through May 29, 2004.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1906, James Brooks moved to New York City in 1926. Attending classes at the famed Art Student's League, he fast became acquainted with Jackson Pollock, Philip Guston and the group of post World War II artists who have now come to be known as the Abstract Expressionists. Early on (late 1930s) Brooks worked as a commercial letterer and display artist to support himself and worked on the WPA Federal Art Project painting murals in the Queens Public Library, the Little Falls, New Jersey Post Office and the Marine Air Terminal at La Guardia Airport in New York (the only one that remains today). Then in the early 1940s Brooks served in the United States Army as an art correspondent. This duty took him to Egypt and the Near East. Upon his return to New York, he returned to painting and abstraction. The military service that broke the continuity of the artist's progression affected him deeply. Brooks' works of the late 1940s indicate a determination to abandon spatial conventions, his focal points are ambiguous and the viewer must adjust to areas of floating forms and wayward linear gestures. In the 1950s he modified his approach further and eliminated the linear flourishes and concentrated on saturated colorforms. This period was rich and fruitful for Brooks whose works were included in a variety of exhibitions at The Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the historic "Ninth Street Show" curated by Leo Castelli, the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and the Albright Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo. During his long career, Brooks continued to push the parameters of abstraction. His work has been the subject of a dozen retrospective exhibitions and his works can be found in the collections of the most prestigious museums in the United States.
For additional information about or photographic material please contact Linda Hooper, Gallery Director at 310.659.8256.
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 17, 5-8pm.
Image: James Brooks, 'Elybrook',
1983, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 60 inches
Manny Silverman Gallery
619 N. Almont Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90069
(310) 659-8256, fax (310) 659-1001