Julian Schnabel, Untitled. On view at Phillips Southampton on 10 October – 22 November.
Written by Vito Schnabel
I was born at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital in 1986. I spent a lot of time on the East End of Long Island with my family while I was growing up. The area has a rich history of artists living and working here. Some say it's the light that draws artists to the area, some say it's the freedom of the landscape. Others might say it's the sea. For most, a major reason is the history and the community created by other artists, primarily the postwar Abstract Expressionists. In the 1940s and '50s, Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Alfonso Ossario moved out East and established their studios here. This is what drew my father, Julian Schnabel, and my mother Jacqueline, as well as many other artists, to this community — from Dan Flavin, John Chamberlain, Neil Williams, and Andy Warhol on occasion, to Mary Heilmann, Robert Willson, Ron Gorchov, and Cindy Sherman.
I took this as an opportunity to reflect on what it means to grow up here within a culture of artists, an extended family of creativity.
Francesco Clemente, Clouds IV. On view at Phillips Southampton on 10 October – 22 November.
When asked by the team at Phillips to curate an exhibition for their space in Southampton, I took this as an opportunity to reflect on what it means to grow up here within a culture of artists, an extended family of creativity. I thought about artists I've admired over the years – my own personal connection to their work but also how their art and their ways of expressing themselves have inspired my life and the lives of so many others
Some of the artists in this exhibition are people I've worked with closely, others are simply artists whose work I adore. Ron Gorchov and Rene Ricard were two of the artists I started my career with: one of the first exhibitions I presented was a solo show with Ron in 2005. Shortly after that I organized Rene's first painting exhibition. Over the last few years, I have had the privilege to present solo exhibitions with Francesco Clemente, Walton Ford, Tom Sachs, Julian Schnabel, and Pat Steir, at my spaces in New York City and St. Moritz.
While I've never exhibited Albert's paintings publicly, I have had the privilege of living with them at home, and I’m excited to include an outstanding example of his painterly prowess from 1986, the year I was born.
Tom Sachs, Sandcrawler. Albert Oehlen, Rechtaberei in der Nahe II. Walton Ford, Ausbruch. On view at Phillips Southampton on 10 October – 22 November.
For this exhibition, I’m happy to introduce some new voices to this area. I recently began working with Ariana Papademetropoulos and Robert Nava, young painters who I believe are among the most exciting talents working right now. I am thrilled to show their new paintings alongside masterworks from the 1980s by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Albert Oehlen, one of the very first painters whose work spoke to me in a way that remains as strong now as ever. While I've never exhibited Albert's paintings publicly, I have had the privilege of living with them at home and I’m excited to include an outstanding example of his painterly prowess from 1986, the year I was born.
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