What Nerve! Alternative Figures in American Art, 1960 to the Present
Matthew Marks Gallery
502 West 22nd Street
522 West 22nd Street
526 West 22nd Street, New York, NY 10011
July 8 – August 14, 2015
Now on view at Matthew Mark’s three 22rd Street galleries, What Nerve! Alternative Figures in American Art, 1960 to the Present presents possibilities for an expanded history of American art, focusing on four groups of artists practicing outside of art capitals New York and Los Angeles. This selection of alternative figures includes the Chicago-based Hairy Who (Jim Falconer, Art Green, Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, Suellen Rocca, and Karl Wirsum), representatives of Bay Area Funk Art (Jeremy Anderson, Robert Arneson, Joan Brown, Roy De Forest, Robert Hudson, Ken Price, Peter Saul, and Peter Voulkos), members of the Ann Arbor-based Destroy All Monsters (Mike Kelley, Cary Loren, Niagara, and Jim Shaw), and representatives of Forcefield from Providence (Mat Brinkman, Jim Drain, Leif Goldberg, and Ara Peterson). The exhibition, combining these four groups of influential outsiders, encourages a reconsideration of American art history with more attention paid to the margins.
Suellen Rocca, Chocolate Chip Cookie, 1965. Oil on canvas, Each: 84 x 60 inches. Courtesy of Matthew Marks Gallery.
Robert Arneson, Untitled (Binoculars), 1965. Ceramic with glaze, 6 x 6 x 2 inches. Courtesy of Matthew Marks Gallery.
Installation view, What Nerve! Alternative Figures in American Art, 1960 to Present at Matthew Marks Gallery, New York, 2015. Courtesy of Matthew Marks Gallery.
Jim Nutt, I’m Wet, 1969. Painted metal lawn chair, 33 x 20.25 x 27 inches.
Karl Wirsum, Chairy Blossom, 1969. Painted metal lawn chair, 32 x 20 x 26 inches. Courtesy of Matthew Marks Gallery.
Jim Shaw, Blueprint, 1977. Blueprint, 15 x 21.125 inches. Courtesy of Matthew Marks Gallery.
Installation view, What Nerve! Alternative Figures in American Art, 1960 to Present at Matthew Marks Gallery, New York, 2015. Courtesy of Matthew Marks Gallery.
Roy De Forest, The Young Wordsworth, 1963. Acrylic on wood, 31 x 31 x 5 inches. Courtesy of Matthew Marks Gallery.
The Collected Hairy Who Publications 1966–1969, the first text to compile the artist books of the Chicago group, will be published in conjunction with the exhibition.
