Gary Lang
Throughout his long career, Lang has always meditated on painting and techniques. Whether he is creating a painting, “painting” a flower garden, or more recently, creating a video piece based on the process of painting which ends with layer upon layer of color, the same way Lang paints, his final word is always on the painting process.
In a 1988 article for Art in America, Stephen Westfall wrote:
“In Lang’s paintings, a refreshed modernist classicism stands forth. What makes them modern is not a nostalgia for purist geometry and interactive color, but rather a contemporary awareness of the virtues of equivocation.”
— Courtesy of Quint Gallery
Throughout his long career, Lang has always meditated on painting and techniques. Whether he is creating a painting, “painting” a flower garden, or more recently, creating a video piece based on the process of painting which ends with layer upon layer of color, the same way Lang paints, his final word is always on the painting process.
In a 1988 article for Art in America, Stephen Westfall wrote:
“In Lang’s paintings, a refreshed modernist classicism stands forth. What makes them modern is not a nostalgia for purist geometry and interactive color, but rather a contemporary awareness of the virtues of equivocation.”
— Courtesy of Quint Gallery
(b. 1950, Los Angeles, CA)
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1974
M.F.A., Yale University, New Haven, CT
Fulbright/Hayes Travel Grant, Barcelona, Spain -
1972
B.F.A., California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA
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1971
Whitney Independent Study Program, New York, NY
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1970
Chouinard Art Institute, Los Angeles, CA
Solo Exhibitions
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2015
Circles and Lines, KM Fine Arts, Chicago, IL
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2014
Circles and Words, ACE Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA
Words and Consequences, Blackboard Gallery, SCIART, Camarillo, CA -
2013
Whim Wham, MOAH – Museum of Art & History, Lancaster, CA
Edging Reason- Words, Carnegie Art Museum, Oxnard, CA -
2010
Dividing Time, Video Installation, McNay Museum, San Antonio, TX
Circles, Mikimoto, Beverly Hills, CA -
2009
Gary Lang, Circles Lines Grids, ACE Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA
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2008
Out Standing Time, Crisp Museum, Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, MO
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2006
Gary Lang, Nathan Larramendy Gallery, Ojai, CA
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2005
Sageing, Seven New Paintings, Bentley Projects, Phoenix, AZ
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2004
Abundance Automata, Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, Netherlands
Gary Lang, California Paintings, Galerie Zurcher, ParisCircling Madison, MMOCA, Garden Commission, Olbrich Botanical Gardens, Madison, WI
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2003
Four New Paintings, Quint Contemporary Art, La Jolla, CA
Gary Lang, Galerie Trabant, Vienna, Austria- Circles and Cycles, A Chance Garden phase 2, The Color Project, The Flower Fields in
Carlsbad, Public Garden Commission, Carlsbad, CA
Paintings, Gallery K, Kurashiki, Japan
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2001
Mirrors, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, CA
Native, Crocker Plaza, courtesy Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, CACalifornia Drip Lines, Stark Gallery, New York, NY
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2000
Open Studio, International Studio/Curatorial Program, New York, NY
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1999
Diamond Paintings, Stark Gallery, New York, NY
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1998
Testimonials, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA
Intimate Works, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, CA -
1997
Gary Lang, Paintings & Objects 1975-1997, Sordoni Art Gallery, Wilkes University, Wilkes-Barre, PA
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1996
Hague Project: Large Scale Wall Pieces, Crosby Street Project, New York, NY
Circle Paintings 1990-96, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, CA -
1993
Gary Lang, Galeria Cadaques, Cadaques, Spain
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1992
New Work, Michael Klein Inc., New York, NY
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1991
Plaid Paintings, Annina Nosei Gallery, New York, NY
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1987
Site Installation, Madison Art Center, Madison, WI
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1980
Weapons, L.A.C.E. Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
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1975
Institute of American Studies, Barcelona, Spain
Centro Cultural de los Estados Unidos, Madrid, Spain -
1974
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT
Selected Group Exhibitions
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2015
2015 Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts, American Academy of Arts & Letters, New York, NY
conTEXTual abstraction, Curated by Mat Gleason, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA -
2014
California Dreaming: An International Portrait of Southern California, Oceanside Museum of Art, CA
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2013
Outside: Selections from the Doug Simay Collection, Oceanside Museum of Art, Oceanside, CA
Julian Pretto Gallery, Minus Space, Brooklyn, NY -
2012
Ace Gallery, Bevery Hills, CA
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2011
Ace Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA
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2009
QUINT: Three Decades of Contemporary ART, California Center for the Arts, Escondido, CA
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2008
Dividing Time, The McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, TX
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2007
An Eclectic Eye, Selections from the Dan Leach Collection, Tuscon Museum of Art, Tuscon, AZ
Tenth Anniversary, SCIART, Cal State University, Camarillo, CA -
2005
Southern Exposure, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla, CA
Canard etait toujours vivant, Panorama de la peinture contemporaine, Abbaye Saint-Andre Centre d’art contemporain, Meymac, France -
2004
Specific Objects: The Minimalist Influence, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA
World Peace (20th Anniversary of Bijutsu Sekai), Liu Haisu Art Museum, ShanghaiRupertinum Museum of Contemporary Art, Salzburg, Austria
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2003
Nine Artists Installed, Peggy Phelps Gallery, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA
Continuous Senses, Kurashiki City Art Museum, Kurashiki, Japan -
2002
Minimal, Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, The Netherlands
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2001
Gallery Artists, Brian Gross Fine Art, Shasta College Art Gallery, Shasta College Art Department, Redding, CA
Chouinard: A Living Legacy, Oceanside Museum of Art, Oceanside, CA -
1999
Apprendre a Regarder, HEC Campus, Paris
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1998
I Love New York-Crossover of Contemporary Art, Museum Ludwig, Koln, Germany
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1997
Current Themes, Persistent Dialogues: Works from the Maslow Collection, Everhart Museum, Scranton, PA
La Regle et L’Emotion, Centre Xavier Battini, L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, France
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1996
The Collection of Julian Pretto, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT
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1995
Arresting Images, Gallery 400, The University of Illinois, Chicago, IL
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1993
The Return of the Cadavre Exquis, The Drawing Center, New York, NY
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1991
The Grid, Ben Shahn Galleries, William Paterson College, Wayne, NJ
Fluid Geometry, Cummings Art Center, Connecticut College, New London, CT -
1989
Artists of the 80’s, Sordoni Gallery, Wilkes College, PA
Coming of Age, Madison Art Center, Madison, WI -
1988
Albright-Knox Museum, Buffalo, NY
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1987
Working in Brooklyn/Painting, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
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1986
Paris Bienale, Paris
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1985
Bill and Merry Norris Collection, Pepperdine University, Los Angeles, CA
Recent Painting in Southern California, Fisher Gallery, USC, Los Angeles, CA -
1984
Crime and Punishment, Triton Museum, Santa Clara, CA
A Broad Spectrum: Contemporary Los Angeles Painters and Sculptors, Design Center, Los Angeles, CA -
1983
Plains Museum of Art, Fargo, ND
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1981
Sanders Collection, Plains Art Museum, Moorehead, MN
The New Art of Downtown Los Angeles, Madison Art Center, Madison, WI (traveled to 4 N. American Museums) -
1978
United Nations Plaza, New York, NY
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1974
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT
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1972
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Selected Collections
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Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Contemporary Art Museum, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI
Gemeentemuseum den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands
Madison Art Center, Madison, WI
Menil Collection, Houston, TX
Museum of Art Contemporain, Angers, France
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla, CA
Museum of Art, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME
Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT
Museum of Fine Arts (Santa Fe, NM)
Selected Awards & Grants
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2015
Arts & Letters Award, American Academy of Arts & Letters, New York, NY
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2000
International Studio Program Award, The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts
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1998
Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation Grant Recipient
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1974
Fulbright/Hayes Travel Grant Recipient
N.E.A., Yale University, Sculpture Commission for the City of New Haven, CT
My painting process is a vehicle for crossing the threshold. Simply put, it is a spiritual adventure that employs discipline and savors changeability. The wellspring source of the work is a mutating truth, which is what I nurture and what I am.
It has been said that the work has an uplifting affect on the viewer. This is not surprising to me when I consider that the process is ultimately a pleasure driven meditation on accumulating and organizing energy, while investigating the potential of color. The completion of a painting can take from several months to a few years. For me, they are testimonials, and the process an event.
The paintings define infinity in their own terms, and are visual odysseys that both welcome and hold the viewer in epic time and space. The painted object is a vehicle for transforming the moment, the power of which is unleashed in its presence.
— Gary Lang, NYC, 1998