Artist of the week: Leon Golub

Finally made it to the MET Breuer to see the Leon Golub show just before it closes on May 27th. So amazing to see this work close up, and experience the enormity of both the materials and subject matter. Golub's work is so much about power struggle, and it is expressed so perfectly through his materials. The violent torn and raw canvases, and the dry dragging of paint look almost as painful as the atrocities they depict. If I had to describe Golub's work with one word, it would be Monstrous. 

Excerpt taken from the MET's statement:

His devotion to the figure, his embrace of expressionism, his fusion of modern and classical sources, and his commitment to social justice distinguish his practice as an artist.

Alongside the monumental, terrifying Gigantomachy II, Leon Golub: Raw Nerve features paintings from the artist's most important series....  that represent subjects of longstanding interest to the artist, from mercenaries, interrogators, and the victims of violence to political figures, nudes, and animals, all of them rendered in the raw, visceral style for which he is justly celebrated.

Together, these paintings attest to Golub's incisive perspective on the catastrophes that afflict human civilization and his critique of brutality and belligerent masculinity. The artist's work has much to teach us in the twenty-first century, as does his belief in the ethical responsibility of artists.

detail, Two Black Women and a White Man, 1986, acrylic on linen, 120 x 163 inches

detail, Two Black Women and a White Man, 1986, acrylic on linen, 120 x 163 inches

Two Black Women and a White Man, 1986, acrylic on linen, 120 x 163 inches

Installation view at the MET

The Conversation, 1990, acrylic on linen, 92 x 170 inches

Colossal Torso III, 1960, lacquer on canvas, 82 x 96 inches

Tete de Chevall II, 1963, acrylic on canvas, 81 x 81 inches

Combat I, 1970, offset lithograph

detail, Gigantomachy II, 1966, acrylic on linen, 9 x 24 feet

detail, Gigantomachy II, 1966, acrylic on linen, 9 x 24 feet

detail, Gigantomachy II, to show scale

Gigantomachy II, 1966, acrylic on linen, 9 x 24 feet

Leon Golub (1922-2004) was married to artist Nancy Spero (1926-2009)

Further looking and reading:
The Canvas takes Shape, on Youtube
The Paris Review
Leon Golub: Raw Nerve

Champ de Bataille, 1965, oil on canvas, 91 x 66 inches

Leon Golub in his studio

detail, Vietnam II, 1973, acrylic on canvas, 9 x 37 feet

Riot I, Lithograph

The Go-ahead, 1986, acrylic on canvas, 120 x 192 inches