In a new exhibition at Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles, celebrated painter and CalArts alum Henry Taylor (Art BFA 95) pays tribute to his late mentor, James Jarvaise, a towering yet often overlooked figure in American modernism. It was Jarvaise who first recognized Taylor’s talent and encouraged him to pursue a serious path as an artist, ultimately guiding him toward CalArts. Their relationship evolved into a lifelong mentorship and friendship that deeply influenced Taylor’s artistic practice.
For the first time, their work will be seen together in James Jarvaise & Henry Taylor: Sometimes a straight line has to be crooked. The exhibition spans nearly 70 years of painting, drawing collage, and sculpture, and features new works created by Taylor specifically for the show. More about the exhibition from Hauser & Wirth:
‘Sometimes a straight line has to be crooked’ connects Jarvaise and Taylor formally—works on view spotlight the two artists’ approaches to massing flat shapes that move between figuration and abstraction, and their talent for deploying off-beat colors, strong tones, straight horizons and curvaceous lines—and unites them energetically across time.
Highlights from Jarvaise include selections from his Hudson River Series, a body of work first exhibited in The Museum of Modern Art’s 1959 landmark exhibition Sixteen Americans, which also featured artists such as Jay DeFeo, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Frank Stella. Sometimes a straight line has to be crooked also includes Jarvaise’s 1950s modernist collages, figurative paintings from the 1960s, and large-scale burlap paintings from the 1970s—works personally selected by Taylor.
Taylor’s contributions include more than 40 pieces spanning three decades. The works range from intimate portraits of friends, family, and strangers to figure studies, urban scenes, and landscapes. Among the new works is the For-Us Forest, a sculptural installation composed of tree trunks sporting afros of artificial hair.
Jarvaise was a key figure in California modernism. He taught at several institutions, including the Chouinard Art Institute (which later became CalArts), USC, Occidental College, and Oxnard College, where he retired in 2004. His work is held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Carnegie Museum of Art, and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, among others.
James Jarvaise & Henry Taylor: Sometimes a straight line has to be crooked is on view at Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles through Sunday, October 5.
