by Annette Hinkle
There are many artists who are reluctant to allow the public a glimpse of the inner workings of creativity and the steps taken from preliminary idea to realized vision.
But Alex Katz is not one of them.
Opening this week at the Parrish Art Museum is “Alex Katz: Seeing, Drawing, Making,” a show of some 50 works by the Brooklyn born artist that not only highlights finished paintings, but also features many of the working sketches and color studies that document Katz’s process along the way. The exhibit comes to the Parrish by way of David Moos, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
Moos organized the exhibit for the Gallery at the Windsor in Vero Beach, Florida, but because he and Terrie Sultan, director of the Parrish, are part of a group of museum and gallery professionals who meet periodically to talk about art, he knew Sultan would be interested in this show for the museum.
“He called me and said of our curatorial group, ‘I know we’re interested in process. He’s [Katz] allowed me to get his sketches and cartoons out and I wondered if you’re interested,’” recalls Sultan. “It was David’s impetus and quite obvious to me that there’s a connection to the East End. There’s also a connection with the Parrish’s core values of documenting the creative process.”
Though Katz, when he isn’t in New York, spends far more time in Maine than he does on the East End, he was friends with many of the well known artists of this area in the last half century.
“He came to Water Mill in 1957. He palled around with Fairfield Porter, Larry Rivers, Jane Freilicher and Frank O’Hara,” says Sultan. “He met Porter in the late ‘50s and he said he found Porter to be a really interesting guy — but they disagreed on every painter they talked about. “
Like many of his East End contemporaries, Katz, who was born in 1927 and attended Cooper Union, came out of the New York School of action painting. But he found the method didn’t entirely suit his needs. Though Katz liked the sense of motion inherent in capturing a scene through a quick sketch, small scale drawings did not easily lend themselves to large format painting. So Katz developed his own way of doing things.
“He was looking to maintain the immediacy of the quick gesture, yet produce in monumental scale,” explains Sultan.
The first step in Katz’s process begins with a simple drawing or oil sketch that captures a moment – or the gesture of a figure. He then expands on the original image through a series of additional pen and ink drawings and finally, large-format charcoal cartoons. These cartoons are then transferred to a canvas by use of a tool that leaves a charcoal outline of the image. The outlines become the guides for Katz’s final painting.
“I’ve always been drawn to Alex’s work,” says Sultan. “Even the big paintings have an amazing sense of immediacy and whether it’s a landscape or a figure, he has an ability to stress to me, as the viewer, what was going on with his experience in terms of place or activity – I love that sense of connection and immediacy.”
Beginning in 1960, Katz began a long collaboration with choreographer Paul Taylor and his dance company, first by designing costumes and set pieces, and later, using his dancers as subjects of his art. Among the work on view in this exhibit is “Last Look,” a series of drawings, sketches and finalized paintings of dancers which Katz undertook in the mid-1980s.
“‘Last Look’ shows a clear way of how Alex approaches work,” says Sultan. “He starts with small pencil and pastel drawings on paper, then there’s a paper doll set where he’s working on costumes and the color scheme. Then he took ink drawings of the dancers so they really come to life, then there are more detailed sketches, a cartoon and a painting.”
“Rarely as a visitor to a museum do you get to see that,” adds Sultan. “I’m appreciative of that. One thing I think the Parrish can do is provide that kind of experience and access. Give people an experience of what an artist is experiencing himself. There are several insistences of that in the show, a progression from quick sketches to more elaborate work.”
Sultan, who will lead a talk with Katz as part of the show’s opening reception this Saturday, emphasizes the unique chance this exhibition provides viewers for truly seeing process in action.
“For me, the favorite part of this enterprise is the opportunity to see things people don’t normally get to see and share it,” explains Sultan. “I’m lucky, I can call Alex and ask him If I can poke through the drawers. It’s not something artists tend to do out there in the public.”
“I’m really happy that he was willing to do it,” she adds.
“Alex Katz: Seeing, Drawing, Making,” opens to the public on Sunday, February 7, 2010 at the Parrish Art Museum (25 Job’s Lane, Southampton). The reception on Saturday, February 6 features the 6 p.m. conversation between Alex Katz and Terrie Sultan in the museum’s concert hall, followed by wine and hors d’oeuvres. The exhibit remains on view through April 4. Call 283-2118 for details.
Top: Alex Katz's "Picnic Table 2," 1984, oil on board, 9 x 12 inches
