Peter Plagens

Peter Plagens
Born1941 (age 82–83)
Dayton, Ohio, U.S.
EducationSyracuse University
University of Southern California
Known forPainting, drawing, art criticism
StyleAbstract
SpouseLaurie Fendrich
WebsitePeter Plagens

Peter Plagens (born 1941) is an American artist, art critic, and novelist based in New York City.[1][2][3] He is most widely known for his longstanding contributions to Artforum[4] and Newsweek (senior writer and art critic, 1989–2003),[5] and for what critics have called a remarkably consistent,[6] five-decade-long body of abstract formalist painting.[7] Plagens has written three books on art, Bruce Nauman: The True Artist (2014),[8] Moonlight Blues: An Artist's Art Criticism (1986)[9] and Sunshine Muse: Modern Art on the West Coast, 1945-70 (1974),[10] and two novels, The Art Critic (2008)[11] and Time for Robo (1999).[12] He has been awarded major fellowships for both his painting (John Simon Guggenheim Foundation,[13] National Endowment for the Arts) and his writing (Andy Warhol Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts).[14][15] Plagens's work has been featured in surveys at the Museum of Modern Art,[16] Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Whitney Museum, and PS1, and in solo exhibitions at the Hirshhorn Museum and Las Vegas Art Museum.[17][1] In 2004, the USC Fisher Gallery organized and held a 30-year traveling retrospective of his work.[15] Critics have contrasted the purely visual dialogue his art creates—often generating more questions than answers—with the directness of his writing;[18] they also contend that the visibility of his bylines as a critic has sometimes overshadowed his artmaking—unduly.[2][19][7] Los Angeles Times critic David Pagel described Plagens's painting as a "fusion of high-flying refinement and everyday awkwardness" with an intellectual savvy, disdain for snobbery and ungainliness he likened to Willem de Kooning's work.[6] Reviewing Plagens's 2018 exhibition,[20] New York Times critic Roberta Smith called the show an "eye-teasing sandwich of contrasting formalist strategies," the hard-won result of a decade of focused experimentation.[2]

Peter Plagens, Cleveland Defaults on Its Debts, acrylic on canvas, 66" x 90", 1979
  1. ^ a b Online Archive of California. Peter Plagens papers, 1938-2014. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
  2. ^ a b c Smith, Roberta. "Peter Plagens," The New York Times, February 7, 2018. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
  3. ^ Wilkin, Karen. "Peter Plagens," The Hudson Review, Spring 2018.
  4. ^ Newman, Amy. Challenging Art: Artforum, 1962-1974, New York: Soho Press, 2000. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  5. ^ Newsweek. "Peter Plagens," Authors, Newsweek. Retrieved January 21, 2018.
  6. ^ a b Pagel, David. "Push It to the Edge," Los Angeles Times, December 1, 2004.
  7. ^ a b Hickey, Dave. "The Jabberwocky and the gorilla in the Corner," Peter Plagens: An Introspective, Los Angeles: Fisher Gallery, University of Southern California, 2004, p. 16–25.
  8. ^ Plagens, Peter. Bruce Nauman: The True Artist, London: Phaidon, Inc., 2014. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  9. ^ Plagens, Peter. Moonlight Blues: An Artist's Art Criticism, Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1986. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  10. ^ Plagens, Peter. Sunshine Muse: Modern Art on the West Coast, 1945-70, Berkeley: UC Press, 2000; re-issue of New York: Praeger, 1974. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  11. ^ Plagens, Peter. The Art Critic, New York: www.ArtNet.com (2008) and e-book, Hol Art Books, 2012. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  12. ^ Plagens, Peter. Time for Robo, Seattle: Black Heron Press, 1999. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  13. ^ John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Peter Plagens, Fellows. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
  14. ^ ArtsWriters Grant Program, "Peter Plagens," Grantees, Creative Capital/Andy Warhol Foundation, 2008. Retrieved January 21, 2018.
  15. ^ a b USC Fisher Gallery. Peter Plagens: An Introspective, Los Angeles: Fisher Gallery, University of Southern California, 2004.
  16. ^ Museum of Modern Art. "Peter Plagens," Artists, Retrieved January 21, 2018.
  17. ^ Clark, Joseph. "Waxing Idealistic: Post-art melancholy effortlessly reigns in Peter Plagens Painting, 1989-2000," LVcitylife, November 30, 2000.
  18. ^ Zona, Louis A. "Afterword," Peter Plagens: An Introspective, Los Angeles: Fisher Gallery, University of Southern California, 2004, p.27.
  19. ^ Saltz, Jerry. Review, Peter Plagens, New York Magazine, March 4, 2018. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
  20. ^ Nancy Hoffman Gallery. Peter Plagens, January 25–March 10, 2018. Retrieved January 18, 2018.