John Wesley (artist)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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John Mercer Wesley (November 25, 1928 – February 10, 2022) was an American painter, known for his spareness of technique and flat-style of painting.
He worked in the Pop art and Minimalist idioms. His closest personal associations were with artists such as Dan Flavin and Donald Judd, the latter of whom wrote a laudatory essay on Wesley's early work (Donald Judd " John Wesley , " Arts Magazine , New York , April , 1963 , p . 50) and later set aside a space for him at his complex in Marfa, Texas. Wesley himself considered his work to be aligned with Surrealism, and many of his paintings since the 1960s have taken this dimension yet further, while retaining an extremely limited range of colors and a sign-like flatness.
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Early life
Wesley was born in Los Angeles, California, on November 25, 1928, to Elsa Marie Patzwaldt and Ner Wesley. His parents were separated at the time of his birth, and he was initially raised by his father until his death from a stroke in 1934. Wesley then lived in an orphanage for a year, until his mother remarried and assumed custody of him.
In his early career he worked at the United States Post Office, as a dishwasher and as a draftsman at the Northrop Aircraft Company. After holding a series of odd jobs, he began painting at the age of 22. When he decided to paint he had no formal training in art.
Career
Wesley's first exhibition consisted mostly of large-format acrylic paintings of imaginary seals and stamps; he would retain the flatness and limited color range of these works, but would move into the depiction of bodies and cartoon characters, the latter of which led him to be grouped with Pop Art as the 1960s progressed.
Several retrospectives of his work have been held, including one at the MoMA PS1 (formally P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center) in 2000. He was invited to design the cover for the catalogue of the 2006 Armory Show, and his recent paintings were given a substantial amount of space at the Fredericks and Freiser Gallery booth, which represented him. Replicas of his paintings were also featured in the window of the Hermès boutique on Madison Avenue for the duration of the show.
Personal life and death
Wesley was married to Jo Baer from 1960 to 1970. In 1970, he married the American writer Hannah Green until her death in 1996. The playwright and painter Patricia Broderick, who died in 2003, was his partner for the last six years of her life.
Wesley died at his home in Manhattan, on February 10, 2022, at the age of 93.
Linking in as of 2022
2010 in comics, Alanna Heiss, Chinati Foundation, Documenta 5, Fondazione Prada, Germano Celant, Hannah Green (author), Jamian Juliano-Villani, Jo Baer, Leigh Behnke, List of American artists 1900 and after, Patricia Broderick, Pop art, The Baker Museum, Timeline of art
