Jack Whitten at Dia Beacon
JACK WHITTEN: THE GREEK ALPHABET PAINTINGS
Dia Beacon, Beacon, United States of America
November 18, 2022 - July 10, 2023
Jack Whitten at the New Museum, New York
GRIEF AND GRIEVANCE: ART AND MOURNING IN AMERICA
New Museum, New York, United States of America
January 27, 2021 - June 13, 2021
Jack Whitten at Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin
JACK'S JACK
Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany
March 29 - September 1, 2019
Jack Whitten at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
ODYSSEY: JACK WHITTEN SCULPTURE, 1963 - 2016
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, United States of America
March 3 - May 27, 2019
Jack Whitten at The Met Breuer, New York
ODYSSEY: JACK WHITTEN SCULPTURE, 1963 - 2017
The Met Breuer, New York, United States of America
September 6 - December 2, 2018
Jack Whitten at Fondazione Prada, Milan
SANGUINE. LUC TUYMANS ON BAROQUE
Fondazione Prada, Milan, Italy
October 18, 2018 - February 25, 2019
Jack Whitten at Baltimore Museum of Art
ODYSSEY: JACK WHITTEN SCULPTURE, 1963 - 2016
Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, United States of America
April 22 - July 29, 2018
Jack Whitten at Tate Modern, London
SOUL OF A NATION: ART IN THE AGE OF BLACK POWER 1963 - 1983
Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom
July 12, 2017 - October 22, 2017
● Jack Whitten
News
Jack Whitten (1939, Bessemer, Alabama (US) – 2018, New York (US))
Jack Whitten's earliest experiments with painting date back to the 1960s, when he created dynamic works inspired by abstract expressionism. Noted for their raucous colours and density of gesture combined with topical content, these artworks manifested emotionally complex meditations on Dr. Martin Luther King, the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War.
Experimentation turned to abstraction for Whitten in the 1970s. A new method of painting developed, one that resonated more closely with photography. Gesture was removed from the making of the work. The paint and canvas were ‘processed’, produced from large troughs of paint, dragged across the canvas with tools including squeegees, rakes and Afro combs. This process yielded palpable surface texture, line and void.
Paint became a metaphor for skin during the 1980s, when Whitten experimented with ‘casting’ acrylic paints and compounds to create new surfaces and textures. In contrast to the narrative-based and didactic pieces made by many Black artists during this period, Whitten’s works reintroduced gesture with aspects of sculpture and collage.
In the 1990s Whitten's experiments with paint as a medium progressed further towards sculpture, as he transformed paint compounds into tiles and applied them to the canvas as mosaics. These works allude to ancient architecture and murals, serving as both an homage to and memorial of celebrated public figures and intimate friends.
Jack Whitten had solo exhibitions at MoMA PS1 (New York), Hamburger Bahnhof (Berlin), Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), Museum of Contemporary Art (San Diego), Wexner Center for the Arts (Columbus), The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum (Ridgefield), Rose Art Museum (Waltham), The Studio Museum in Harlem (New York), Baltimore Museum of Art and Atlanta Contemporary Art Center.
Jack Whitten participated in both the Venice Biennale (2013) and the Whitney Biennial (1969 and 1972). His work featured in group shows at Tate Modern (London), The Menil Collection (Houston), Hammer Museum (Los Angeles), Fondazione Prada (Milan), Brooklyn Museum (New York), Haus der Kunst (Munich), New Museum (New York), Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, MOCA (Los Angeles) and MCA (Chicago).
Jack Whitten joined the gallery in 2011.
● Jack Whitten
Biography
Zeno X Gallery exhibitions
Selected solo exhibitions
Selected group exhibitions
Public collections
Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, United States of America
Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, United States of America
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, United States of America
Columbia University, New York, United States of America
Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, United States of America
Fogg Art Museum at Harvard, Cambridge, United States of America
High Museum of Art Atlanta, Atlanta, United States of America
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, United States of America
MoMA Museum of Modern Art, New York, United States of America
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, San Diego, United States of America
Newark Museum, Newark, United States of America
Palm Springs Museum, Palm Springs, United States of America
Princeton Art Museum, Princeton, United States of America
Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham/Boston, United States of America
SFMOMA San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, United States of America
Studio Museum of Harlem, New York, United States of America
Tate Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, New York, United States of America
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, United States of America
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, United States of America
Press
“Jack Whitten’s ‘Lost Chapter’, Now at Dia:Beacon”
The New York Times, article by Aruna D’Souza (online)
December 2022
“It’s All About Materiality: Watch Jack Whitten Experiment With the Physicality of Paint in His Abstract Artworks”
ArtNet News, article (online)
November 2022
“The art and wisdom of Jack Whitten”
Apollo, article by Richard Shiff (online)
January 2018
“Portfolio Jack Whitten”
Modern Painters, article by M.P. (p.21-23)
September 2013
“Jack Whitten: Committing Abstract Thoughts to Canvas”
The Wall Street Journal, article by Andy Battaglia (online)
February 2013
“Jack Whitten Portfolio. When does an image end?”
Artforum, vol. 50, no.6, article by Michelle Kuo (p.184-195)
February 2012
“Process, Image and Elegy”
Art in America, article by Saul Ostrow (p.148-153;183)
April 2008
“Jack Whitten with Robert Storr”
The Brooklyn Rail, article by Robert Storr (online)
September 2007
Museum of Contemorary Art San Diego
San Diego, United States, 2015
192 pages, ISBN 9780934418744
Alexander Gray Associates
New York, United States, 2013
39 pages
Zeno X Gallery
Antwerp, Belgium, 2011
47 pages
Atlanta Contemporary Art Center
Atlanta, United States, 2008
70 pages, ISBN 9780615199658
