B. Wurtz

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B Wurtz with New York Arts Practicum at his home B Wurtz with New York Arts Practicum at his home (14958195456).jpg
B Wurtz with New York Arts Practicum at his home

Bill Wurtz, known professionally as B. Wurtz (b. 1948, Pasadena, California), [1] is an American painter and sculptor. He lives and works in New York City. [2]

Contents

Education

Wurtz received a BA from the University of California at Berkeley in 1970, and an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts in 1980. [2]

Work

Wurtz is known for his transformations of commonplace materials into sculptures. [3] Wurtz's sculptures are characterized by an appreciation for the ubiquitous, common-place items he uses: plastic grocery bags, disposable baking trays, coat hangers, tuna tins, buttons, shoelaces, cardboard, and construction lumber. [4]

Wurtz's work has been described as a "bricolage of found objects." [1] He has shown his work widely in solo and group exhibitions internationally. He works in a variety of scales from small-scale sculptures to large-scale public sculptures. In 2015, The Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, United Kingdom mounted a retrospective exhibition of the artist's work that traveled to La Casa Encendida in Madrid through 2016. [3] [5] In 2018, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles mounted a major solo exhibition of his work, This Has No Name. [6]

His work has been reviewed in the New York Times, [7] Artsy, [8] Surface, [9] Artforum, [10] Frieze, [4] among other publications.

Collections

Wurtz's work is represented in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, [11] the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, [12] the Portland Art Museum, [13] among others.

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References

  1. 1 2 Cumming, Laura (3 January 2016). "B Wurtz: Selected works 1970-2015 review – everyday rubbish reimagined". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  2. 1 2 "B. Wurtz". ArtNet. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  3. 1 2 "B. WURTZ, Selected Works 1970-2015". Centre for Contemporary Art. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  4. 1 2 Grabner, Michelle (4 April 2001). "B. Wurtz". Frieze. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  5. "B. WURTZ, Selected Works 1970-2015". La Casa Encendida. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  6. "B. Wurtz: This Has No Name". Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  7. Smith, Roberta (30 June 2011). "An Artist Who Makes Much Out of Very Little". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  8. Indresek, Mark. "At 70, Playful Provocateur B. Wurtz Is Finally Having His Watershed Moment". Artsy. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  9. Storey, Nate. "The Immaculate Pan Paintings of B Wurtz". Surface. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  10. Hainley, Bruce (October 2005). "Only Connect: The Art of B. Wurtz". Artforum. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  11. "Artist: B. Wurtz". Whitney Museum of American Art. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  12. "B. Wurtz". Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  13. "B. Wurtz". Portland Art Museum. Retrieved 21 April 2022.