Julian Schnabel

"New Plate Paintings"

Pace Gallery

New York, 10 West 25th Street

Julian Schnabel goes back to his roots with a series new additions to his emblematic plate paintings that brought him massive success in the ‘70s. The Brooklyn-born artist, who emerged alongside Jean-Michel Basquiat, Francesco Clemente, and David Salle with his then-unorthodox fashion that rebelled against the reign of Minimalism and burgeoning Conceptualism, played key role in re-introduction of painterly gestures and figurative motifs into the art scene. 

Julian Schnabel, Rose Painting (Near Van Gogh's Grave) X, 2016 Oil, plates and bondo on wood © Julian Schnabel StudioPhotograph by Gary Mamay, Courtesy of Pace Gallery

In his new exhibition at Pace Gallery, Schnabel delivers a series of oil, plate, and Bondo on wood paintings that illustrate the roses growing by the cemetery of Vincent Van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise in France. Lush tones of pink and earthiness of green convey the vibrancy of the ambiance Schnabel finds inspiration in, while his utilization of plates as his source material infuses humor, volume, and fragility to the works’ highly lyrical and otherworldly feel. Following Plate Paintings 1978-1986, the artist’s solo exhibition at the Aspen Art Museum that focused on his early plate paintings, this refreshing exhibition demonstrates the influential artist’s ability to find endure rapid transformations in today’s art.  

“The plates seemed to have a sound, the sound of every violent human tragedy, an anthropomorphic sense of things being smeared and thrown. I wanted to make something that was exploding as much as I wanted to make something that was cohesive,” notes the artist about his plate paintings in his 1987 autobiography titled CVJ: Nicknames of Maitre D's & Other Excerpts From Life.

On view through March 25, 2017