Allan D’Arcangelo
Allan D'arcangelo
Photo courtesy of UB Art Gallery, University at Buffalo, New York
In the early 1960s Allan D’Arcangelo chose the vast highways of America for his subject matter. Flattened expanses of bold colour punctuated by petrol stations and traffic signs became his signature treatment for these legendary roadways, resulting in an uncanny aesthetic that blends elements of both Pop and Minimalist art.
In 1966 Tyler’s contract shop, Gemini Ltd, became Gemini Graphic Editions Ltd (Gemini GEL) and D’Arcangelo’s lithograph Untitled was the first edition issued by the newly established print publisher. In typical D’Arcangelo style, the work evokes the sensation of travelling at speed in a car—roadside signs and trees blur, the white lines of the highway rise to meet the horizon—but the composition is dominated by a large white square that obscures all but the very edges of the roadway. D’Arcangelo’s work of this period was often punctuated by voids, echoing a burgeoning highway culture and epic journeys interrupted only by roadside diners and truck stops: a ‘flickering image seen as our experience of the nature of American place’.
Emilie Owens
Chronology
1930 Born in Buffalo, New York, June 16
1953 Receives Bachelor’s degree in History from University of Buffalo, Buffalo, New York
1957-59 Studies painting at Mexico City College, Mexico
1958 First solo exhibition, Galerie Genova, Mexico City, Mexico
1963 Begins creating paintings of American highways for which he becomes renowned; included in exhibition The popular image, Institute of Contemporary Art, London; first New York solo exhibition at Fischbach Gallery, New York
1963-68 Teaches at School of Visual Arts, Manhattan, New York
1964 Included in exhibition, American landscape painting, Museum of Modern Art, New York; commissioned to paint a mural for the Transportation and Travel Pavilion for the World’s Fair in New York
1965 Included in exhibition, Comparaisons, Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris, France; solo exhibition, Galerie Ileana Sonnabend, Paris, France
1966 Works with Kenneth Tyler at Gemini GEL, Los Angeles, California, on the four colour lithograph Untitled
1967 Solo exhibition, Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, Germany; included in São Paulo Biennale, São Paulo, Brazil
1968 Included in exhibition, Two decades of American prints 1947-1968, Brooklyn Art Museum, New York
1970 Receives the National Institute of Arts and Letters Annual Award
1971 Solo exhibition, Marlborough Gallery, New York
1973-92 Teaches at Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, New York
1980 Included in exhibition, Printed art: a view of two decades, Museum of Modern Art, New York
1982-92 Teaches again at School of Visual Arts, Manhattan, New York
1987 Awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. Allan D’Arcangelo died on December 17, 1998, in Manhattan, New York.
1998 Allan D'Arcangelo died in New York
Emilie Owens 2007
This chronology provides an overview of selected biographical information, major solo and group exhibitions held within the artist's own lifetime.
Further Reading
NATIONAL GALLERY PUBLICATIONS
- Workshop: The Kenneth Tyler Collection, Jane Kinsman (ed.), 2015
RELATED LINKS
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