Hackett Mill is pleased to present a selection of rare paintings by Richard Diebenkorn, Wayne Thiebaud and Elmer Bischoff, now on view through October 30.
Wayne Thiebaud (b. 1920) is known for his depictions of ordinary objects encountered by chance, most notably sweets and food, which he isolates and transforms. He tilts his subjects toward the picture plane and reduces them to basic formal units, drawing on his early experience as a commercial illustrator. The resulting still lifes are luminous celebrations of pigment and iconic, nostalgic imagery. According to art historian Steven Nash, "This signature style of Thiebaud's paint handling - the rich, smooth dragging of paint across a surface or around a shape both proclaims the luscious texture of oils and often transforms itself into the very material being depicted, from frosting or whipped cream to metal."
Richard Diebenkorn (1922-1993) believed still life was the most objective form of figurative painting and his approach was modest, thoughtful and intimate. These works often have a flattened picture planes that distort space, causing the elements to become dramatic subjects on a parallel plane. The canvases are loaded with thickly impastoed brushwork and the utilitarian objects Diebenkorn was drawn to. The geometric swaths of color prefigure Diebenorn's tireless investigation into the landscapes of his Ocean Park series.
Elmer Bischoff (1916-1991) married the lessons of action painting with the emotional and psychological possibilities inherent in figuration. A founding member of the Bay Area Figurative Movement, Bischoff fused the figures with the landscape as a way to reconnect the figure to an abstract plane, eliminating the traditional hierarchy between figure and ground. The picture's dynamic surface energy relates to the tenets of the New York School of Abstract Expressionism, but with a renewed interest and focus on subject matter.
