David Sharpe (artist)

David Sharpe
Born1944
Owensboro, Kentucky, US
EducationSchool of the Art Institute of Chicago
Known forPainting, Drawing
StylePostmodern, Figurative, Abstract
SpouseAnne Abrons

David Sharpe (born 1944) is an American artist, known for his stylized and expressionist paintings of the figure and landscape and for early works of densely packed, organic abstraction.[1][2] He was trained at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and worked in Chicago until 1970, when he moved to New York City, where he remains.[3] Sharpe has exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA), The Drawing Center, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Indianapolis Museum of Art, and Chicago Cultural Center, among many venues.[2][4][5][6] His work has been reviewed in Art in America,[7] ARTnews,[8] Arts Magazine,[9] New Art Examiner,[10] the New York Times,[11] and the Chicago Tribune,[12] and been acquired by public institutions such as the Art Institute of Chicago,[13] Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art,[14] MCA Chicago,[15] Smart Museum of Art,[16] and Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, among many.[17]

Critic Dennis Adrian divided Sharpe's work into two periods: organic abstract works mixing the traditions of Kandinsky, Miró and Pop Art—including some that suggest landscapes—and work featuring the figure, which includes various stylistic modes.[1] MCA Chicago curator Lynne Warren wrote that Sharpe's early paintings represent "an important body of abstract work" completed while Chicago Imagism was the predominant style in the city;[2] the New Art Examiner’s Jane Allen described them as a key strain of Chicago art on "a razor’s edge between Chicago-style funk and mainstream American abstraction."[18] Discussing his later figurative works, critics such as Arts Magazine’s Stephen Westfall have noted the "sheer scope of his synthesis" of diverse 20th-century art sources, his painterly surfaces and skilled use of high-key color.[9][19][20] In a review of Sharpe's 1990 retrospective, Frank Lewis wrote that long before the term "postmodernism" became a catchword, Sharpe was "borrowing from history in a kind of free association of visual references" that form a "perfect mix of learning, irony, and faux naivete."[21]

David Sharpe, Three, oil on canvas, 66" x 72", 1970.
  1. ^ a b Adrian, Dennis. "David Sharpe Paintings 1968–1988: A Brief Consideration," In David Sharpe: 20 Years of Painting 1968-1988, Milwaukee: University of Wisconsin, 1990. Retrieved August 31, 2018.
  2. ^ a b c Warren, Lynne. "David Sharpe," Art in Chicago 1945-1995. Museum of Contemporary Art, ed. Lynne Warren, New York: Thames and Hudson, 1996, p. 281–2. Retrieved August 31, 2018.
  3. ^ Jacob, Mary Jane. "David Sharpe," Selections from the Dennis Adrian Collection, Catalogue, Chicago: Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, 1982.
  4. ^ Glueck, Grace. "When Todays Artist Raid The Past," New York Times, July 21, 1985. Retrieved August 31, 2018.
  5. ^ Sharpe, David. David Sharpe: 20 Years of Painting 1968-1988, Milwaukee: University of Wisconsin, 1990. Retrieved August 31, 2018.
  6. ^ Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. "Selections from the Dennis Adrian Collection," 1982. Retrieved August 31, 2018.
  7. ^ Frueh, Joanna. "David Sharpe," Art in America, July–August 1978.
  8. ^ Kind, Joshua. "David Sharpe" ARTnews, 1974.
  9. ^ a b Westfall, Stephen. "David Sharpe," Arts Magazine, May, 1981.
  10. ^ Upshaw, Regan. "David Sharpe" New Art Examiner, May 1980.
  11. ^ Glueck, Grace. "Madison Avenue: Uptown, It's Couples." New York Times, February 17, 1984. Retrieved August 31, 2018.
  12. ^ Artner, Alan G. "Sharpe weds expressionist touch to familiar subjects," Chicago Tribune, March 25, 1994. Retrieved September 9, 2018.
  13. ^ Art Institute of Chicago. David Sharpe, Collections. Retrieved September 9, 2018.
  14. ^ National Galleries Scotland. David Sharpe, Nude with Still Life. Retrieved September 9, 2018.
  15. ^ Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. David-Sharpe, Figure With Flower (1977), Collection. Retrieved August 31, 2018.
  16. ^ Smart Museum of Art. Works of David Sharpe, Smart Collection. Retrieved September 9, 2018.
  17. ^ Carl Hammer Gallery. "David Sharpe,". Biography. Retrieved September 9, 2018.
  18. ^ Allen, Jane and Derek Guthrie. "David Sharpe," New Art Examiner, April 1974.
  19. ^ Artner, Alan G. "Brilliantly Honed Point of View from Sharpe," Chicago Tribune, May 29, 1987. Retrieved August 31, 2018.
  20. ^ Tatransky, Valentin. "Fischl, Lawson, Robinson & Sharpe," Catalogue, Buffalo: Hallwalls. Retrieved September 9, 2018.
  21. ^ Lewis, Frank. "Sharpe images: pedantry or parody," Milwaukee Sentinel, March 23, 1990.