Jackson Hole Gallery Walkthrough 2021

PUBLISHED IN: Gallery Tours
Jim Dine was an American Pop artist whose work meditated on objects with childlike appeal to find a universal and nostalgic language. Dine’s robes are among the most recognizable images to have emerged from his long and illustrious career. They were first shown at Sidney Janis gallery in the fall of 1964 – this is one such example. Double Silver Point Robes is a large-scale mixed media assemblage. The work is executed in silverpoint – a technique that utilizes a piece of silver as a drawing instrument over a specially prepared ground by which it oxidizes over a period of months to create a warm brown tone. The two joined canvases feature blocks of wood in place of where the heads should be and a hanging wood element that moves in response to air currents.

JIM DINE

FERNANDO BOTERO - Autoretrato a la manera de Velázquez - sanguine and crayon on cardboard - 60 1/2 x 47 1/2 in.

FERNANDO BOTERO

The essential and dramatic declaration “Let there be light” of Genesis is not so far removed from Mary Corse’s recollection of the moment in 1968 when the late afternoon sun electrified the reflective road markings of Malibu as she drove east. In an instant, the glowing asphalt markings provided the oracle she needed to realize she could ‘put light in the painting and not just make a picture of light’.  Using the same glass microbeads utilized by road maintenance services, she layers and embeds the prismatic material in bands and geometric configurations creating nuanced glimmering abstract fields which shift as the viewer moves in relationship to the work. Move to one side and dimness brightens to light. Walk back and forth and you might feel a rippling effect from its shimmering, prismatic effects.
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<br>A photographic image of a Mary Corse microsphere painting is not only a dull representation, but it also misses the point – it is experience dependent art that requires participation to ‘be’.  Of course, “Untitled” (1975) defies that one-point static perspective and instead, depends upon a real time, interactive art experience which heightens awareness of the body in space as the viewer experiences shifts of retinal stimulation, sensation and feeling. It is a rare bird.  Unusually petite at two-foot square, its design, geometry and color belie her earlier revelation that led to a devotion to her usual reductive palette. Instead, it is a bold statement in sequined color, its center field bounded at the corners by a sparkling red stepped motif that separates it from its starry night sky corner spandrels. It may not include a star motif, but it has the glamour and presence that belongs along Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.

MARY CORSE

"Ray Gun became a catch title for all sorts of things. Looking down on the street, I would find this angle in the shape of a ray gun everywhere. And I would collect the ray guns. They became quite an obsession."
<br>-Claes Oldenburg
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<br>"Two Ray Guns" (1964) was initially sold through the venerable Sidney Janis Gallery. The work draws upon Oldenburg's keen observational sense and fascination with science fiction and popular American culture. The fascination with Ray Guns became a conceptual art practice for Oldenburg; he would not construct them in the traditional sense but instead, find objects that could be reduced into the form. Ray Gun Examples exist in plastic, bronze, plaster, and many different media.  
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<br>Our example from the Ray Gun series has been in the same important American collection for many years. Several examples from this series are in prominent museum collections worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

CLAES OLDENBURG

CARLOS LUNA - La Mia (1225 OC) - oil on canvas - 47 x 58 in.

CARLOS LUNA

OLAF WIEGHORST - Apaches - oil on canvas - 20 x 24 in.

OLAF WIEGHORST

Signed, titled and dated ‘81 verso
<br>JR-198-81

JACK ROTH

ARNE HIERSOUX - Mem Sahib - acrylic and paper on canvas - 70 1/2 x 120 1/2 in.

ARNE HIERSOUX

ARNE HIERSOUX - Yonder Cisco - acrylic and paper on canvas - 59 x 93 3/4 in.

ARNE HIERSOUX

Robert Rauschenberg, along with Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, and Roy Lichtenstein, started the revolution of Pop Art in the 1960s. Rauschenberg's later career was a time for the artist to work on experimental and innovative projects, including the 1993 "Prime Pump from ROCI USA (Wax Fire Works Series)." This series comes from the artist's philanthropic project, "ROCI USA," demonstrating "Rauschenberg's belief in the power of art as a catalyst for positive social change."  The reference to "wax fire" in the title is Rauschenberg's term for encaustic - hot wax with colored pigments - which he used in other works from the series. 
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<br>Executed in a small edition of just 17 examples, this piece incorporates printmaking, a medium to which he often returned to explore new modes for layering imagery. Rauschenberg worked on editions since the early 1960s when he was a fixture at the ULAE and Gemini G.E.L. printshops.  Rauschenberg's printmaking and editioned works were an extension of the creative act for the artist; he could achieve sculptural and 3D effects through his editions.

ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG

FRANK TENNEY JOHNSON - Scouting - oil on canvas - 13 1/2 x 17 in.

FRANK TENNEY JOHNSON

HASSEL SMITH - 9000 and 9 Nights - acrylic and graphite on canvas - 68 x 68 1/8 in.

HASSEL SMITH

ROBERTO MATTA - L'epreuve - oil on canvas - 29 1/2 x 25 1/2 in.

ROBERTO MATTA

The Arts and Crafts Movement in Great Britain and the corresponding ripples that made their way across the Atlantic Ocean were felt in the work of Jesse Arms Botke (1883-1971).  Botke was born in Chicago, Illinois but found her home in California, where she had a successful career working first in Carmel and later in Southern California. 
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<br>Rich textures, extensive use of gold leaf, and highly stylized birds would become synonymous with Botke's mature work as she established herself as one of the West Coast’s leading decorative mural painters of the 20th century.
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<br>"The White Peacock" (1922) shows an idyllic landscape with Botke's signature bird subject matter; the white peacock and cockatoos were among her favorite aviary subjects. Her work today can be found in countless museum collections, including the Art Institute, Chicago.

JESSIE ARMS BOTKE

ROBERT NATKIN - Bern Series - acrylic on canvas - 48 x 53 in.

ROBERT NATKIN