BIOGRAPHY
John Newsom is an American painter. Newsom was born in Hutchinson, Kansas in 1970. He is best known for combining multiple techniques of formal painting strategies onto large canvases, featuring dynamic spectacles of the natural world. In 1992 he completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at The Rhode Island School of Design and subsequently moved to New York City, where he attended New York University’s studio arts program. He graduated with a Master of Fine Arts degree from NYU at the age of twenty-four. Newsom has recently been the focus of several early-career survey exhibitions presented at notable institutions including The Richard J. Massey Foundation for the Arts and Sciences in New York 2011–2012, as well as MANA Contemporary located in Jersey City, NJ, held in 2015. Beneath his thick and sensuous painted renderings of flora and fauna is a grappling with the giants of abstraction. In a 2015 monograph of Newsom’s paintings, critic Barry Schwabsky writes in his essay, “what keeps ‘strong painting’ from becoming merely muscle-bound is Newsom’s secret weapon: the discipline that comes from considering himself, not a painter of images, but rather an abstractionist … to appreciate his paintings is … to engage with their surfaces of purely sensual incident.” His work is included in numerous private and public collections including The Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, and The Brooklyn Museum in New York, The Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Neuberger Museum of Art in Purchase, NY, The Yale University Art Gallery, in New Haven and The RISD Museum in Providence, RI.
Education
1994 MFA, New York University, New York
1992 BFA, The Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2018
Brintz Gallery, Palm Beach, FL (forthcoming)
2016
Patrick Painter Inc, Los Angeles (two-artist exhibition with Rinus Van De Velde)
2015
MARC STRAUS, New York (cat.)
Rogue Arena, MANA Contemporary, Jersey City, NJ (cat.)
2013
Bestiary, MARC STRAUS, New York
2011-12
Crescendo, The Richard J. Massey Foundation for the Arts and Sciences, New York (cat.)
2011
Nocturne Paintings, Patrick Painter Inc., Los Angeles (West Gallery)
Motifs and Methods, Patrick Painter Inc., Los Angeles (East Gallery)
2009
Beyond the Horizon, Patrick Painter Inc., Los Angeles (West Gallery)
Rebels and Raptors, Lattuada Gallery, Milan, Italy (cat.)
Selected Group Exhibitions
2017
Back to the Shack (curated by André Butzer), Meliksetian | Briggs, Los Angeles, CA
CHROMA, MANA Contemporary (Glass Gallery), Jersey City, NJ
Garden Party, Brintz Gallery, Palm Beach, FL
LOB DES SCHATTENS - DJ Piet Mondrian's Sister in the Year 2849 - and her books (from Vienna), curated by DJ Arnold Schoenberg and Rhianna, MARC STRAUS, New York (catalogue)
2016
DER FUNKE SOLL IN DIR SEIN (curated by André Butzer), Salon Dahlmann, Berlin, Germany
Urban Dawn II, McCaig + Welles, Beirut, Lebanon
Sizing It Up: Scale in Nature and Art, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA
2014-15
Late Harvest, The Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV (cat.)
The Hollow Bone (curated by Robert Banat), Ray Smith Studio, Brooklyn, NY
2014
Xigue-Xigue, MARC STRAUS, New York
All the Best Artists are My Friends (curated by Ray Smith), MANA Contemporary, Jersey City, NJ
2013
Prints & Paper, The Richard J. Massey Foundation for the Arts and Sciences, New York
2012
ESTATE, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York
Ai Weiwei Humanitarian Award Exhibition, WhiteBox, New York
PRINTED HISTORIES: 16 Years of Print Portfolios at Exit Art, Exit Art, New York
2011
An Instance of Vibration, The Bowery Hotel, New York
Outer Space, EXIT ART, New York
ART MANA FEST, The Eileen S. Kaminsky Family Foundation, Jersey City
2010
Exquisite Corpse Project (curated by David Salle), Gasser&Grunert Inc., New York
Fire, Burning Rain (curated by Jihae Kim), Le Poisson Rouge Gallery, New York
A Group Painting Show, Patrick Painter Inc., Los Angeles (West Gallery)
Blood, Sweat and Tears, Leyendecker Gallery, Tenerife, The Canary Islands
In.flec.tion, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY (cat.)
In Dialogue (curated by Peter Makebish), Anonymous Gallery, New York (cat.)
Quick While Still (curated by Colin Huerter), Heist Gallery, New York (Part 2) (cat.)
2009
Quick While Still, Motus Fort Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (Part 1) (cat)
2008
Pop-Auge und die ewigen Quatschkommonden Deutsche und Amerikanische Kunst seit 1999
(German and American Art since 1999) (curated by André Butzer), Patrick Painter Inc., Los Angeles (Melrose Gallery)
Faces and Figures (Revisited), Marc Jancou Contemporary, New York (cat.)
2007
Size Matters: XXL – Recent Large Scale Paintings, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, New York
Paradise (Robert Crumb, John Newsom, Peter Saul and H.C. Westermann), Patrick Painter Inc., Los Angeles (West Gallery)
Trance/Borders: Exit Art Print Portfolio, Exit Art, New York (cat.)
Pop Art 1960′s – 2000′s, Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki, Japan; traveling to Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art and the Hachoiji Yune Art Museum, Japan (cat.)
2005
Contemporary Voice: Contemporary American Art from The Misumi Collection, Tottori Perfectural Museum, Osaka, Japan (cat.)
Hope, Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, New York
Curated Exhibitions
2011
CIRCA 1986 (co-curated with Nicola Trezzi and Astrid Honold), Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY (cat.)
2008
Markus Lüpertz: Tent Paintings 1965, Patrick Painter Inc., Los Angeles (Melrose Gallery) (cat.)
Writings And Interviews
2014
John Newsom in conversation with Patrick Painter, FLATT Magazine, issue #7.
John Newsom in conversation with Tracey Emin, FLATT Magazine, Spring/Summer issue, pp. 147-157.
For Sigmar Polke: Alchemical Painting, Flash Art, Spring/Summer issue
2013
Francesco Clemente: Of an Historical Nature, FLATT Magazine, Spring/Summer issue, pp. 51-60.
No one ever called Pablo Picasso an Asshole. Picasso, Black and White at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY, ROOM 100 Magazine
2012
John Newsom in conversation with Will Cotton, FLATT Magazine, Spring/Summer issue, pp. 68-77
2011
John Newsom in conversation with Andre Butzer (Cover Story), Flash Art, Spring/Summer issue, pp. 80-84
John Newsom in conversation with Ross Bleckner, FLATT Magazine, Winter Issue
Radical Nomadic Freedom and the Transfigured Spirit of the 1980′s, CIRCA 1986, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY (cat. Essay)
Roaming the Grounds: The Zeitgeist International Art Exhibition, Martin-Gropius-Bau Berlin 1982, Flash Art, Jan/Feb Issue
2009
Substance in the Material World, ORIGINS, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY (cat. Essay)
2008
Alchemical Painting and the Anomoly of Sigmar Polke, Sigmar Polke: Large Scale Paintings on Paper & Unique Photographs, Patrick Painter Inc., Los Angeles (East and West Galleries) (cat. Essay)
Diamonds are Forever – The Dithyrambic Tents of Markus Lüpertz, Markus Lüpertz: Tent Paintings 1965, Patrick Painter Inc., Los Angeles (Melrose Gallery) (cat. Essay)
Reviews and Publications
2012
Marc and Livia Straus: Collectors, LUXE IMMO Magazine, Fall Issue, pp. 22-25
Jimenez, Luis. Art Does Dallas, WhiteHot Magazine, April Issue
Luby, Abby. CIRCA 1986: A Tumultuous Time for the Arts, The Examiner Newspaper, July 15
2011
TOP 100 ARTISTS, Flash Art, Nov/Dev issue, pp. 50-51
Schwendener, Martha. The Complex 1980s – Viewed by 47 Artists, The New York Times, November 4
Trezzi, Nicola. John Newsom: Beyond the Horizon, FLATT Magazine, Spring Issue, pp.92-97.
Fashion News: Fresh Picks, The Wall Street Journal, November 26
Robinson, Walter. Art Basel Miami Beach – More on Miami Art Week, Artnet, December
At Art Basel – Swimming in the Nudes, Style.com, December 2
2010
Smith, Steve. Remaking a Dark Tale, With Real-Life Notes, The New York Times, September 19.
Haden-Guest, Anthony. Deck the Walls: the DJ as curator, The Art Newspaper, April 2010, p.52
2009
Wise Up To Owls, British Vogue, October Issue, p.125
Talbot, Amanda. Fresh and Wild, ELLE Decoration UK Edition, Cover and pp.100-109
Walsh, Daniella. Cover Story: Patrick Painter Does It His Own Way (with reproduction of Resting Place, 2008, by John Newsom on the cover), Art + Living, Winter Issue, Cover and pp.60-64
2008
John Newsom: Artist’s Profile for Patrick Painter Inc., Los Angeles (with reproduction of For All Ages, 2007-08), Frieze Art Fair Yearbook 2008-09, Frieze Art Fair 16-19 October, London.
The Armory Show Highlights, The Art Newspaper TV, March 28.
2007
Morgan, Robert C. John Newsom: Allegory of Nations at Mike Weiss Gallery, New York (with reproduction of Shadowland, 2005-06) The Brooklyn Rail, February Issue, p.55
Garbarino, Steve. We Got Ourselves A Live One! Painter John Newsom Has Bats (and Bugs) In His Belfry and That Makes Us Happy, BlackBook, Dec/Jan Issue, pp.40-43
Sisco, Josh. Bullies Go Down! John Newsom Takes You to School, Glitterati, Nov/Dec Issue, pp.26-27
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2015
John Newsom: Rogue Arena, Mana Contemporary/MARC STRAUS: Meridian.
2011
John Newsom: Crescendo, Milan: Charta.
2009
John Newsom: Allegories of Naturalism, Milan: Charta.
SELECTED MUSEUMS AND PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY
Tottori Prefectural Museum, Osaka, Japan
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT
RISD Museum of Art, Providence, RI
Neuberger Museum of Art, Westchester County, NY
New York Public Library, New York, NY
Library of Congress, Washington D.C.