JOHN CHAMBERLAIN (1927-2011)

John Chamberlain was an American sculptor, and one of the most influential three-dimensional Abstract Expressionists of the twentieth century. He is best known for his large-scale, twisting sculptures made from scrap metal, discarded automobile parts, and other industrial detritus.

Born John Angus Chamberlain on April 16, 1927 in Rochester, IN, he served in the United States Navy as seaman first class during World War II. After the war, he enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago on the GI Bill, and later studied poetry and sculpture at the renowned Black Mountain College, where he developed his ideas around visual language.

Throughout the 1960s, Chamberlain continued to experiment with this method of fusion and collision, trying different materials such as plexiglass, and even foam to create many pieces which remain untitled. He has said of his work, “My work has nothing to do with car wrecks - I believe common materials are the best materials.”

Chamberlain’s works have been exhibited widely, and his collection of crushed cars is on permanent display at Dia:Beacon in upstate New York. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship twice, and in 1993 was given a Lifetime Achievement Award in Contemporary Sculpture from the International Sculpture Center. He died on December 21, 2011 in New York, NY at the age of 84.