FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FOR ADDITIONAL PRESS INFORMATION AND/OR IMAGES, PLEASE CONTACT THE BLOSSOM GROUP
Telephone: 949.494.1257
E-mail: ginny@blossomgroup.com
JOHN ALTOON: Paintings and Drawings
OPENING GALA
Saturday, May 20, 2000
Sponsor and Press Preview, 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
General Admission: $75/person, 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
ONGOING EXHIBITION VENUES
WHEN: MAY 20 – 22, 2000
WHERE: Christie’s
360 N. Camden Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Telephone: 323.257.2002
May 27 – June 17, 2000
Peter Blake Gallery
326 N. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach, CA 92651
Telephone: 949.376.9994
E-mail: pblake@gte.net
RARE EXHIBITION AND SALE OF WORKS FROM THE WEST COAST ARTIST’S ESTATE TO BENEFIT JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF ARMENIA
JOHN ALTOON: Paintings and Drawings is a rare opportunity to view many of the most important works by one of California’s most hotly debated, controversial – and influential – artists of the 1950s and 1960s. This extraordinary exhibition, which includes a number of works from the archives of the Estate of John Altoon, will be launched during a Gala Benefit and Preview Evening at Christie’s in Beverly Hills on Saturday, May 20, 2000. The twenty-five to thirty paintings and drawings showcased in the exhibition were created by the artist in the 1950s and 1960s and have been released from the archives of the Estate of John Altoon especially for Junior Achievement of Armenia (JAA). JOHN ALTOON: Paintings and Drawings may be the last occasion to view these works together in one location, and will offer collectors a special opportunity to purchase works from his estate.
“The artistry and expressiveness of John Altoon’s works, in both his drawings and his paintings, reveal a passion and energy unlike that of any other artist working in California at that time,” commented Silva Bezdikian, Board Member of JAA and Chairperson of the exhibition. “These works are witty, dark, explosive, passionate, vibrant – all of the elements that made up the character of the artist himself. Looking at these paintings and drawings, one wants to laugh and blush at the same time, as if caught in a moment of voyeurism – peeking into the deepest inner reaches of Altoon’s troubled soul.”
The exhibition, organized by JAA as one of a series of programs designed to present the work of Armenian-American artists, is the first survey of Altoon’s work to be presented since the 1997 retrospective mounted at the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art. A portion of proceeds from sales will benefit JAA in support of its expanding educational and democracy-building programs in Armenia and other countries in the region. JOHN ALTOON: Paintings and Drawings will remain on view at Christie’s through Monday, May 22 after which time it will travel to Laguna Beach to the Peter Blake Gallery where works by Altoon’s contemporary, Ed Moses, will also be showing.
Jack Berberian, Art Collector and President of Junior Achievement of Armenia, stated “John Altoon’s legendary contribution to the arts – far undervalued until now – is finding its proper place among those of the greatest artists of the 20th Century. I am proud that our organization has chosen to highlight the life’s work of this very important member of the Armenian-American arts community in such a significant way.”
ABOUT JOHN ALTOON
John Altoon’s artistic presence in the late ‘50s and throughout the ‘60s had a strong influence in developing and promoting the art scene on the West Coast, at a time when New York was the flourishing hub of artistic avant-garde. Altoon, along with his equally talented and important contemporaries such as Ed Kienholz, Ed Moses, Robert Irwin, Billy Al Bengston, Kenneth Price, and Craig Kauffman, established the art historical importance of Los Angeles, anchored around the famous Ferus Gallery. Altoon’s untimely death at the age of 43 left behind a large body of works and numerous vivid memories of his unique personality. He is remembered for his talent, vitality, and inspiration. Stated Irving Blum, a partner in Ferus Gallery at the time, “if the gallery was closest in spirit to a single person, that person was John Altoon – dearly loved, defiant, romantic, highly ambitious – and slightly mad.”
As curator, Hugh Davies, expressed in his 1997 San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art catalogue for the John Altoon retrospective exhibition: “The legend of his persona continues to some degree to eclipse the radiance of his considerable artistic achievement…While sober hindsight confirms that Altoon’s behavior was at times diabolical, with this exhibition we can see for ourselves that – to quote the words of more than one of his contemporaries – ‘he drew like an angel.’” The same is apparent in the collection selected for JOHN ALTOON: Paintings and Drawings.
ABOUT THE ARTWORK
A prolific and gifted draftsperson, Altoon created both figurative and abstract drawings throughout his life. His compositions conveyed a sense of emotive release through their spontaneity, reflective of the artist’s expressive personality. As Los Angeles Times art writer, Suzanne Muchnic, wrote in a review of the Norton Simon Museum’s 1993 exhibition of Altoon’s work: “Trained as a commercial artist, Altoon was a fluid draftsman and an exuberant colorist with a gift for capturing fleeting feelings and sexual yearnings on paper and canvas. Though his work ranges from abstraction to caricature, he is best known for juicy images of biomorphic shapes floating through dreamy space.”
Altoon’s imagery is filled with wit, particularly in his drawings. As respected gallery owner, Tibor de Nagy, remarked after Altoon’s death, “people were intimidated, even spooked, by the humor. They didn’t know what to do with a picture that was so inescapably funny, and if it was in part laughing at them, it surely could be with them, also.”
It has become standard to speak about Altoon as a magnificent draftsman and to focus attention on his extraordinary works on paper in ink, pastel, watercolor and the revolutionary new artistic tool of the time – airbrush. However, Altoon’s oil paintings, though comprising a far smaller percentage of his work than his drawings, are equal in quality to them. His achievement as an artist cannot be assessed without considering his works on canvas, a strong selection of which has been included in JOHN ALTOON: Paintings and Drawings.
Altoon’s work has been exhibited in many of the country’s finest museums, including the Museum of Contemporary Art/Los Angeles, the Norton Simon Museum/ Pasadena, Museum of Contemporary Art/San Diego, Whitney Museum of American Art/New York, and Museum of Modern Art/San Francisco, among others. His work is part of such significant collections as the Eli and Edythe L. Broad Collection, SunAmerica Collection, and The Capital Group Foundation.
ABOUT JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF ARMENIA
JOHN ALTOON: Paintings and Drawings will pioneer JAA’s effort to generate new sources of funding to replace support from the U.S. Agency for International Development, whose grant to JAA will expire in August. Because USAID has been JAA’s main source of funding to date, the loss of this support will be a significant adjustment to the organization’s financial forecast for 2000. JAA regards this event as its single most important fundraising effort for 2000.
Junior Achievement was established in 1992 to assist Armenia’s transition from Communism to Democracy by introducing an economic education program. An affiliate of Junior Achievement International, JAA offers Applied Economics and Civics courses in 350 of Armenia’s high schools and institutions of higher learning, reaching more than
24,000 students in cities, towns, and villages throughout the country. Begun as an after-school course in eight schools, today JAA is a core subject, with both its Economics and Civics curricula. The US Agency lists JAA as one of its success stories. Over the past eight years, JAA has built a strong reputation based on the reach and quality of its programs.
Funding for the program derives primarily from U.S. foreign assistance programs, private foundation grants, and individual contributions. The California-based board of directors sets policy and provides oversight for both Armenia and U.S. operations and program development. JAA’s executive director is Armine Hovannisian, a U.S.-educated attorney, who moved to Armenia ten years ago with her husband, Raffi, and their family. She has been JAA’s chief administrator since 1994.
Please call for times and/or to schedule a private viewing.
Return to John Altoon Essays
Return to John Altoon