Fluxus Founder George Maciunas Exhibition At Stendhal Gallery Chelsea, New York

PRLog (Press Release) - Oct 19, 2009 -
GEORGE MACIUNAS
NO SMOKING
Project Room: 7 Paintings from the 1950s

Stendhal Gallery
October 31, 2009 - December 19, 2009


MEDIA ADVISORY


Stendhal Gallery is pleased to announce the exhibition 7 Paintings from 1950’s and Graphic Works from October 31 - December 19, 2009. One of the exhibitions highlights an installation-like display of the typographic print No Smoking, devised by Fluxus artist George Brecht and designed by Maciunas. This print in particular encapsulates key aspects of Fluxus, including artistic collaboration, economy of idea and form, innovative graphic design, humor, early examples of artistic ‘logoing,’ sociopolitical engagement, and even Maciunas’s desire for discipline and commitment to the Fluxus cause. In conjunction with the exhibition Stendhal Gallery will release a 2-color Hand-pulled screen prints of No Smoking in its striking original black-and-white design. All profits from the sale of this print will go to the George Maciunas Foundation, a 501 (c)(3) non-for profit tax exempt organization.

Also on display will be recently discovered paintings by Fluxus founder George Maciunas. As these canvases have never been exhibited publicly, this is a rare viewing opportunity and a chance to understand more about Maciunas’s personal history as an artist. Dating from the early- to mid-1950s, when Maciunas was just entering his twenties, the canvases reveal an eclectic mix of influences and interests. Maciunas had not yet begun formal post-secondary training in architecture, design and art, but was already an autodidact in art and its history, both western and eastern. Indeed, European and Asian aesthetics are evident in the images, which variously evoke Max Ernst’s surrealist landscapes, Joan Miro’s colorful biomorphic shapes, a broody German Expressionism, Japanese nature scenes and calligraphic brushstrokes.

No Smoking is printed as a hand-pulled silkscreen in a first edition of 500. For the special price of $300. Please contact the gallery for further information.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Stendhal Gallery
info@stendhalgallery.com
212-366-1549

Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/10381240/1