JULIAN STANCZAK Dynamic Fields
DAVID RICHARD GALLERY
ISBN : 978-0-9907011-8-7
FRONT COVER - Julian Stanczak, Structure In Yellow, 1989, Acrylic on canvas, 60” x 60” TITLE PAGE - Installation Image: Julian Stanczak, Invitation to Touch 2, 1986 Acrylic on canvas, 44” x 44”; Julian Stanczak, Central Shift, 1986, Acrylic on canvas, 44” x 44”; Julian Stanczak, Centered Duality Red II, 1981, Acrylic on canvas, 30” x 30” BACK COVER - Installation Image: Julian Stanczak, Disaligned, 1987, Acrylic on canvas, 60” x 60” ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Published on the occasion of the exhibition, Julian Stanczak, Dynamic Field February 10 - March 17, 2018 Published by: David Richard Gallery, LLC, 1570 Pacheco Street, E2, Santa Fe, NM 87505 www.DavidRichardGallery.com 505-983-9555 | 212-882-1705 DavidRichardGalleries DavidRichardGallery Gallery Staff: David Eichholtz and Richard Barger, Managers
All rights reserved by David Richard Gallery, LLC. No part of this catalogue may be reproduced in whole or part in digital or printed form of any kind whatsoever without the express written permission of David Richard Gallery, LLC. Art: © 1981- 2006 Julian Stanczak Estate Catalogue: © 2018 David Richard Gallery, LLC, Santa Fe, NM | New York, NY Introduction: © 2018 David Eichholtz Catalogue Design: David Eichholtz and Richard Barger, David Richard Gallery, LLC, Santa Fe, NM | New York, NY Artwork Images: © David Richard Gallery, LLC Photo: Greg Zinnel David Richard Gallery extends a very special thanks to Barbara Stanczak for her tireless efforts maintaining Julian’s paintings and legacy. She is an invaluable resource and so generous with her time, supporting our exhibitions and answering questions about Julian’s artworks and career. A special thanks also goes to Krzys Stanczak for taking such great care of his parents, Barbara and Julian, and driving them across the US to participate in our opening receptions and exhibitions. What a trooper! We also thank Neil Rector for introducing us to Barbara and Julian and for his continued support of our exhibitions. Neil has been so dedicated to the Stanczak’s and spent so much time speaking with Julian, learning and understanding his art, passions and career. He has become another invaluable resource. We also thank Robert Grosman of Mitchell-Innes and Nash for being such a great colleague and supporter of our efforts and exhibitions for Julian, his insights and help are very much appreciated. We all miss Julian and our gallery is so thankful that we knew and worked with him to curate several wonderful exhibitions for nearly a decade. He will always be cherished and never forgotten.
DAVID RICHARD GALLERY
JULIAN STANCZAK Dynamic Fields
Introduction
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The exhibition, Dynamic Fields, explores the “impact” of Stanczak’s paintings on the viewer and the sensations they create from their color palettes and compositions. Stanczak was interested in creating vibrant works that convey not only energy, but the sensation of movement and motion within them. Selections from certain bodies of work, such as his “bound boxes” and “diagonal constructs” as well as more lyrical and rhythmic compositions from his “grass” paintings, demonstrate how he used a variety of methods, including angled and diagonal lines and gradients of color to achieve his objectives. Stanczak’s paintings were inspired by his love of nature, but color was his passion, how the palette of the paintings could transform the energy of a space and effect the mood of the viewers. He was interested in developing methods and approaches using simple lines and geometric shapes as well as repetition of such elements at angles of 45 degrees or more to suggest direction and movement. When combined with value gradients of colors or ranges of saturation, the painting surfaces softly undulated like a wave or pivoted on an edge. The artist was most interested in how the viewer experienced his work, their reaction and interpretation. His creations were always elegant and sophisticated, meticulously painted with attention given to every detail. The Gallery’s three prior solo exhibitions for Stanczak focused on specific bodies of work. The first solo presentation in 2011, Elusive Transparencies, was a survey of what the artist referred to as “see-through” paintings—overlapping planes of color that looked as though they were floating in space, conveying depth and perspective—that were very important to him and spanned nearly his entire career. Grids and Planes, in 2012, was the second solo exhibition that presented classic grid structures with endless gradients of color that, depending upon the palette, either created a portal to access a world beyond or the center of the grid seemed to lift off the wall and intervene in the gallery space. The third solo exhibition, Lineal Pathways, in 2014 explored Stanczak’s return in the 1990s and 2000s to his more reductive approach of using just lines and a simple palette of only 2 or 3 colors to create illusory topographical surfaces that looked as though silk cloth had been draped over an array of structures on a flat surface. These were evocative of the artist’s works from the 1960s and demonstrated his continued interest in and mastery of creating the most impact with the greatest economy of means. David Eichholtz
Julian Stanczak Measure Dark Blue, 1991 Acrylic on canvas, 34” x 24”
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Julian Stanczak Pulsating Line I, 1988 Acrylic on canvas, 50” x 84”
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Julian Stanczak Pulsating Line II, 1988 Acrylic on canvas, 50” x 84”
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Julian Stanczak Forming In White 3, 1991 Acrylic on canvas, 30” x 30”
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Julian Stanczak Structure In Yellow, 1989 Acrylic on canvas, 60” x 60”
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Installation view: Julian Stanczak, Pulsating Line I, 1988, Acrylic on canvas, 50” x 84” Julian Stanczak, Pulsating Line II, 1988, Acrylic on canvas, 50” x 84” Julian Stanczak, Forming In White 3, 1991, Acrylic on canvas, 30” x 30”
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Installation View: Julian Stanczak, Measure Dark Blue, 1991, Acrylic on canvas, 34” x 24” Julian Stanczak, Structure In Yellow, 1989, Acrylic on canvas, 60” x 60”
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Julian Stanczak Central Shift, 1986 Acrylic on canvas, 44” x 44”
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Julian Stanczak Invitation to Touch 2, 1986 Acrylic on canvas, 44” x 44”
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Julian Stanczak Centered Duality Red II, 1981 Acrylic on canvas, 30” x 30”
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Julian Stanczak Disaligned, 1987 Acrylic on canvas, 60” x 60”
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Julian Stanczak Centered Duality Pale, 1981 Acrylic on canvas, 30” x 30”
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Julian Stanczak Centered Duality Blue II, 1981 Acrylic on canvas, 30” x 30”
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Installation view: Julian Stanczak, Central Shift, 1986, Acrylic on canvas, 44” x 44”
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Installation View: Julian Stanczak, Centered Duality Red II, 1981, Acrylic on canvas, 30” x 30”
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Julian Stanczak Filled with Light, 2002 Acrylic on canvas, 32” x 38”
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Julian Stanczak Detail: Filled with Light, 2002 Acrylic on canvas, 32” x 38”
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Installation view: Julian Stanczak, Accumulating Warm, 2002, Acrylic on canvas, 38” x 38” Julian Stanczak, Filled with Light, 2002, Acrylic on canvas, 32” x 38”
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Julian Stanczak Accumulating Warm, 2002 Acrylic on canvas, 38” x 38”
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Julian Stanczak Detail: Holding Secrets Late Light, 2006 Acrylic on panel, 24” x 24”
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Julian Stanczak Holding Secrets Late Light, 2006 Acrylic on panel, 24” x 24”
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Julian Stanczak Everything Passing, 1990 Acrylic on canvas, 68” x 36”
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Julian Stanczak Vertical Succession, 1999 Acrylic on canvas, 52” x 45”
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Installation view: Julian Stanczak, Everything Passing, 1990, Acrylic on canvas, 68” x 36” Julian Stanczak, Vertical Succession, 1999, Acrylic on canvas, 52” x 45”
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Julian Stanczak Late Desert Hue, 1999 Acrylic on canvas, 80” x 50”
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Julian Stanczak Pathway, 1992 Acrylic on canvas, 34” x 32”
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Julian Stanczak Pathway in Blue, 1992 Acrylic on canvas, 34” x 24”
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Installation view: Julian Stanczak, Everything Passing, 1990, Acrylic on canvas, 68” x 36” Julian Stanczak, Vertical Succession, 1999, Acrylic on canvas, 52” x 45”
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Installation view: Julian Stanczak, Late Desert Hue, 1999, Acrylic on canvas, 80” x 50”
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Julian Stanczak was born in Borownica, Poland in 1928. After a challenging childhood that included moves to Siberia, the Middle East and Africa, he and his family finally moved outside London where he studied at the Borough Polytechnic Institute. After immigrating to the US in 1950s, Stancazak studied with Josef Albers and Conrad Marca-Relli at Yale University where he earned his MFA in 1956. He had an impressive career with over 100 solo exhibitions across the US and internationally. His artworks have been included in many important group shows such as the seminal exhibitions in 1965 that established the perceptual art movement, Vibrations Eleven, at the Martha Jackson Gallery, New York and The Responsive Eye, at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Stanczak’s artworks are included in the permanent collections of 80 museums and public collections, among them, Albright-Knox Art Gallery (Buffalo), Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (Washington, D.C.), Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Museum of Modern Art (New York), National Gallery of Art and Sculpture Garden (Washington, D.C.), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington, D.C.) and Victoria and Albert Museum (London, England). His artworks are also featured in many important public and private collections. Julian Stanczak lived and worked in Seven Hills, Ohio, where he died March 25, 2017.
DAVID RICHARD GALLERY