Jonathan Borofsky

Last updated

Jonathan Borofsky
Molecule Man - Berlin - 2013.jpg
Molecule Man, Berlin
Born (1942-12-24) December 24, 1942 (age 81)
Education Carnegie Mellon University
Yale University
Known for Painting, Sculpture, Installation art

Jonathan Borofsky (born December 24, 1942) is an American sculptor and printmaker who lives and works in Ogunquit, Maine. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Borofsky was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University in 1964, after which he continued his studies at France's Ecole de Fontainebleau and received his Master of Fine Arts from Yale University in 1966. He lived in Manhattan until a teaching position at the California Institute of the Arts brought him to Los Angeles in 1977. He resided in Venice [2] and Tuna Canyon, [3] Los Angeles from 1977 to 1992, [4] In the 1960s, Borofsky's art sought to interconnect minimalism and pop art.

On May 21, 2006, Borofsky received an honorary doctorate in Fine Arts from Carnegie Mellon, his alma mater.

Works

Jonathan Borofsky's most famous works, at least among the general public, are his Hammering Man public art sculptures. Hammering Man has been installed in various cities around the world. The largest Hammering Man is in Seoul, Korea and the second largest is in Frankfurt, Germany. Other Hammering Man sculptures are in Basel, Switzerland, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York City, Seattle, Gainesville, FL, Washington, D.C., and Lillestrøm, Norway.

In 1989 developer Harlan Lee commissioned Borofsky's 30-foot-tall Ballerina Clown , a building-mounted kinetic aluminum, steel and fiberglass public art sculpture for a mixed use residential and commercial building in Venice, California in 1989. The clown sculpture's right leg was motorized with a kicking motion. Tenant complaints followed about the sculpture's mechanical noise and after years of in-operation the kinetic leg component was restored in 2014 to move only intermittently. [5] Another Ballerina Clown was installed in the Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst in Aachen, Germany. [6] This version dates from 1991 and was part of the Metropolis exhibition at Gropiusbau Berlin that year.

In 1990, the Newport Harbor Art Museum commissioned Ruby, a 5-foot-tall plastic sculpture containing an internal lighting system and swaying, diamond-shaped light deflectors. [7]

Between 1989 and 1999, Borofsky completed a series of Molecule Man public art sculptures consisting of three connected perforated aluminum sheets, ranging in height from 11 feet to 100 feet. [8] Three of his 100-foot Molecule Man sculptures were set directly into the Spree River in Berlin as a commission for German insurance company Allianz. [9]

In 2004, the Municipal Art Society of Baltimore commissioned Jonathan Borofsky to create his 51-foot (15.5 m) Male/Female aluminum sculpture as the centerpiece of a re-designed plaza in front of Penn Station to celebrate its 100th anniversary. The sculpture was a gift to the city from the Society.

In May 2006, Borofsky's Walking to the Sky [10] was permanently installed on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University near the intersection of Forbes Avenue and Morewood Avenue in Pittsburgh. The piece was temporarily installed at Rockefeller Center during the fall of 2004 and in 2005 at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, Texas.

Major permanent commissions

Selected exhibitions

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Documenta</span> Contemporary art exhibition in Kassel, Germany

Documenta is an exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany.

James Lee Byars was an American conceptual artist and performance artist specializing in installations and sculptures, as well as a self-considered mystic. He was best known for his use of personal esoteric motifs, and his creative persona that has been described as 'half dandified trickster and half minimalist seer'.

Hammering Man is a series of monumental kinetic sculptures by Jonathan Borofsky. The two-dimensional painted steel sculptures were designed at different scales, were painted black, and depict a man with a motorized arm and hammer movement to symbolize workers throughout the world. They were structurally engineered by Leslie E. Robertson Associates (LERA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A. R. Penck</span> German painter

Ralf Winkler, alias A. R. Penck, who also used the pseudonyms Mike Hammer, T. M., Mickey Spilane, Theodor Marx, "a. Y." or just "Y" was a German painter, printmaker, sculptor, and jazz drummer. A neo-expressionist, he became known for his visual style, reminiscent of the influence of primitive art.

James McGarrell was an American painter and printmaker known for painting lush figurative interiors and landscapes.

<i>Walking to the Sky</i> Outdoor sculpture by Jonathan Borofsky

Walking to the Sky is an outdoor sculpture by Jonathan Borofsky. The original was installed at Rockefeller Center in the fall of 2004 before being moved to the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, Texas in 2005. A copy is installed on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Another copy is installed in front of the Kiturami Homsys Co. building in Hwagok-dong, Gangseo-gu, Seoul, South Korea.

John De Andrea is an American sculptor known for his realistic sculptures of human figures, dressed or nude and in true-to-life postures.

Roman Signer is principally a visual artist who works in sculpture, art installations photography, and video.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst</span> Art museum in Aachen, Germany

The Ludwig Forum for International Art is a museum for modern art in Aachen. It is based on the Ludwig Collection, which was brought together by the Aachen collector couple Irene and Peter Ludwig, and is supported by the Peter and Irene Ludwig Foundation.

Paul Thek was an American painter, sculptor and installation artist. Thek was active in both the United States and Europe, exhibiting several installations and sculptural works over the course of his life. Posthumously, he has been widely exhibited throughout the United States and Europe, and his work is held in numerous collections including the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC, the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, and Kolumba, the Art Museum of the Archdiocese of Cologne.

Haim Steinbach is an Israeli-American artist, based in New York City. His work consists of arrangements of everyday objects, presented in “Displays” and shelves of his own making.

James Welling is an American artist, photographer and educator living in New York City. He attended Carnegie-Mellon University where he studied drawing with Gandy Brodie and at the University of Pittsburgh where he took modern dance classes. Welling transferred to the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California in 1971 and received a B.F.A. and an M.F.A. in the School of Art. At Cal Arts, he studied with John Baldessari, Wolfgang Stoerchle and Jack Goldstein.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cady Noland</span> American artist

Cady Noland is an American postmodern conceptual sculptor and an internationally exhibited installation artist whose work deals with the failed promise of the American Dream and the divide between fame and anonymity, among other themes. Her work has been exhibited in museums and expositions including the Whitney Biennial in 1991 and Documenta 9 in Kassel, Germany. Noland is known for her reluctance to be publicly identified, having only ever allowed one photograph of herself to be publicly released, and for her numerous disputes and lawsuits with museums, galleries, and collectors over their handling of her work. She attended Sarah Lawrence College and is the daughter of the Color Field painter Kenneth Noland.

<i>Molecule Man</i> (sculpture) Sculpture series by Jonathan Borofsky

Molecule Man is a series of aluminium sculptures, designed by American artist Jonathan Borofsky, installed at various locations around the world, including Germany and the United States. Borofsky made the first Molecule Man sculptures for locations in Los Angeles in 1977 and 1978. They were installed later in 1981 and 1983.

<i>Walking Man</i> (Borofsky) Sculpture by Jonathan Borofsky

Walking Man is a 1995 sculpture by Jonathan Borofsky, standing 17 metres (56 ft) tall and weighing 16 tonnes (35,000 lb). It is located on the Leopoldstraße in Munich, next to the Munich Re business premises. It was presented to the public on 21 September 1995 by then-head of Re, Hans-Jürgen Schinzler, and then-mayor of Munich, Christian Ude.

Kim McCarty is an artist and watercolor painter living and working in Los Angeles, California. Her work has been exhibited in over twenty solo exhibitions in New York and Los Angeles. She often works in large formats using layers of monochromatic colors.

Michael Frimkess is an American ceramic artist who lives in Venice, California. In the 1950s and 60s, he was a pupil of Peter Voulkos, a prominent figure in the California Clay Movement. Frimkess' pottery is noted for its classical style, employing forms from Greek, Chinese, and Indigenous American antiquity. His wife and collaborator, Magdalena Suarez Frimkess, paints his ceramic pieces, often using anachronistic, contemporary images like Minnie Mouse or Condorito. He is also well-known for his innovative wheel-throwing and firing techniques.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Main Street (Santa Monica, California)</span>

Main Street, from the intersections of Strand to Rose streets, mostly in Santa Monica, California, but also in the Venice neighborhood in the City of Los Angeles, from Strand to Rose is a popular upscale shopping district on the Westside of Los Angeles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephan Balkenhol</span> German artist

Stephan Balkenhol is a German artist, famous for his figurative painted wooden sculptures and reliefs. He is currently Professor of Sculpture at the State Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe (Germany). Lives and works in Karlsruhe, Germany and Meisenthal, France.

<i>Ballerina Clown</i> Sculpture in California

Ballerina Clown, also known as Clownerina, is a public sculpture in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles. It was unveiled in 1989 and was created by Jonathan Borofsky. The sculpture is animated, occasionally kicking during a scheduled time in the afternoon. It is located on top of a CVS Pharmacy at the corner of Rose Ave. and Main St.

References

  1. Hunter Drohojowska-Philp (October 24, 1999), Living Outside His Own Shell Los Angeles Times .
  2. Cathy Curtis (December 13, 1990), Art Museum Gets Borofsky's 'Ruby' Work Los Angeles Times .
  3. Kristine McKenna (July 30, 1989), Why Jonathan Borofsky Bowed Out: 'I needed to be alone with myself and find out what was left of my art.' Los Angeles Times .
  4. Hunter Drohojowska-Philp (October 24, 1999), Living Outside His Own Shell Los Angeles Times .
  5. Christopher Knight (May 20, 2014), Jonathan Borofsky's 'Ballerina Clown' in Venice dances again Los Angeles Times .
  6. Breuer, Werner. "Ludwig-Forum: Ballerina-Clown soll bald wieder das Tanzbein schwingen". Aachener Nachrichten. Archived from the original on July 8, 2018. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
  7. Cathy Curtis (December 13, 1990), Art Museum Gets Borofsky's 'Ruby' Work Los Angeles Times .
  8. Curran, Ann (Spring 2002). "Jonathan Borofsky Nobody Knows His Name, Everybody Has His Number". Carnegie Mellon Magazine. Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  9. Hunter Drohojowska-Philp (October 24, 1999), Living Outside His Own Shell Los Angeles Times .
  10. Publicartfund.org Archived June 14, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  11. Breuer, Werner. "Ludwig-Forum: Ballerina-Clown soll bald wieder das Tanzbein schwingen". Aachener Nachrichten. Archived from the original on July 8, 2018. Retrieved May 25, 2018.