Untitled

Craig KauffmanWW-1968-049151

1968·Synthetic polymer on vacuum-formed acrylic plastic·57.2 × 132.1 × 31.8 cm (22 1/2 × 52 × 12 1/2 in.)

<p>Craig Kauffman pursued unorthodox materials from early in his career. Initial efforts in glass led him to engage less-fragile industrial plastics, and his first painted wall relief dates to the mid-1960s. Kauffman remains best known for the oblong bubble shape of works like <em>Untitled</em>, returning repeatedly not only to this shape but also to the perceptual effect generated by his painting of it: pearlescent, with a fuzzy, darkened contour, the edges of the relief appear to shimmer as if they might be permeable. Although vacuum-formed and slick, even impersonal, Untitled exudes a kind of sensuousness, as much biological as technological in its associations.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1968
Medium: Synthetic polymer on vacuum-formed acrylic plastic
Dimensions: 57.2 × 132.1 × 31.8 cm (22 1/2 × 52 × 12 1/2 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Craig Kauffman

Artist

Craig Kauffman

Painting

Best-known for his vacuum-formed plastic works, whose curving surfaces extend from the wall in stunning, vibrant hues, Craig Kauffman was one of the most significant figures to emerge from the lively art scene in 1950s and 1960s Los Angeles. Deeply engaged with art history and twentieth-century modernism, Kauffman’s work reflected artistic currents of his time, including painterly abstraction, minimalism and post-minimalism, but retained a formal thrust and an aesthetic energy all its own. Operating first and foremost as a painter, Kaufmann created dazzling forms that explore unconventional painterly supports while illustrating the artist’s luminous color sensibilities.

Los Angeles, CA, USA

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