The Art of Larry Rivers at Waterloo Center for the Arts

Wednesday, 10 May 2006 12:02

Waterloo, Iowa - While the moniker "Larry Rivers" may not garner the mainstream popular recognition that the names of his peers Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollack do, within "art heaven" Rivers certainly occupies a place at the same eternal banquet table.  A leading figure in what was to become known as Pop Art, this American artist was born in New York City in 1923.  He began his artistic career as a jazz saxophonist and turned to visual art in the 1940s, studying under renowned painter Hans Hoffman.  Responding to the Abstract Expressionists, Rivers explored figurative work and the figure remained an important element in his art throughout his career. 

An excellent draftsman inclined towards the culturally provocative, he was one of the first artists to include popular images in his paintings placing him at the forefront of the Pop Art movement.  At the height of his career, the 1960s, he continued to paint the figure, often including elements of stenciled lettering and photography.  His artistic contributions are marked by clever irony with subject matter ranging from the erotic to social concerns.

Commenting on Rivers, Jacquelyn Serwer, Chief Curator at the Corcoran observes, "For much of his career, Rivers was seen by observers and critics as a revolutionary deliberately opposing prevailing movements for the thrill of challenging the status quo.  By now we can see Rivers' rebellious moves as those of a true innovator whose once subversive ideas have become part of the accepted repertoire of contemporary art."  Critic John Gruen adds, "Early on, Rivers had developed a painting style he could call his own.  It might be categorized as being semi-abstract, semi-realistic, pop-artish, post-romantic, or neo-classic.  But whatever the label, it reflected (and still does) an untrammeled imagination, an extraordinary draughtsmanship,a color sense that has no truck with garishness or vulgarity, and an innate vitality that springs from Rivers' own restlessness and reflects itself with charged-up spontaneity, into whatever he paints."

The exhibition at WCA presents a sampling of Rivers' works including prints, drawings, collages and paintings - including portraits of members of the Pearson family of Okoboji, Iowa. Also featured in the exhibition are works by Rivers' contemporaries including Andy Warhol, Robert Motherwell, Lee Krasner, Philip Guston, Louise Nevelson, Robert Indiana, James Rosenquist Hans Hoffman, Robert Rauschenburg, Jasper Johns and Willem de Kooning. The works are on loan from the Pearson Art Foundation, University of Northern Iowa Gallery of Art, as well as other private and public collections. Exhibit ends May 26, 2006.

Visit the Waterloo Center for the Arts at : http://www.waterloocenterforthearts.org/