A master of geometric abstraction, color field painter Larry Zox executed his energetic hard edge compositions in his New York City 20th street studio, a lively meeting ground for not only musicians and artists but also boxers and bikers, himself an avid boxer. The 1960s and 1970s were a spectacular time for Zox, he received a solo exhibition from the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1973 and counting Joseph Hirshhorn as an avid collector of his work he was included in the inaugural exhibition of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in 1974. The present lot was painted just a few years prior and is the epitome of his successful practice, large in scale, two colorful squares outline the composition while interior lines create triangles and diamond shaped pockets of varying colors. New York Times Art critic, Peter Schjeldahl beautifully described Zox’s paintings as “the result of such lavish, daring execution, within straightened circumstances, is a feeling of improvisation and fortuitous balance something like that of jazz. Maybe Mondrian, in attempting ‘Broadway Boogie-Woogie,’ was dreaming of Zox.”
Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner