At times deceptively simple, Katz’s works are the product of a practice as involved and rich as any renaissance painter yet still contains the immediacy of song, commercial design, advertisement, and fashion — all of which Katz claims as sources of inspiration. The cool detachment of his restrained imagery built of “faster than you can think” flat planes of color is now recognized as a fundamental precursor of Pop Art, just one reason he is among the most cited artistic influences of the several generations of contemporary artists that succeed him.

Discovering painting from life early in his education, Katz struck on the subject matters that would continually guide his work: portraiture, landscape, nature, and light. These gave him a perfect excuse, a passkey, into spending intensely focused time with the people most important to him (friends, family, and the poets, visual artists, dancers, and other cultural pioneers of New York) as well as the pine forests and summer blooms of the remote natural environment of Maine that he would return to three months of the year in a rejuvenating cycle. Seen together, these works create unexpected harmonics causing the New York society that Katz captures to be seen through an ecological lens of symbiosis and rhythm, while conversely giving each painted blossom and golden-hour vista the individuality of a portrait.

ALEX KATZ
Sara, 2012
38-color silkscreen on 2-ply museum board
39 x 41 inches
Edition of 60
$16,000

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It is with great pride that Hamilton Selway exhibits a selection of Katz’s prints from the last two decades, offering the west coast an in-person glimpse at the master’s practice as the world celebrates a lifetime of luminary achievement in painting, sculpture, and printmaking.

For a full catalog of Alex Katz works, please inquire directly or email us at gallery@hamiltonselway.com.