Alex Katz

Alex Katz - Blue Hat

Artist Biography: Alex Katz is born in New York in 1927. He studied at the Cooper Union in New York (1946-1949), at the Skowhagen School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine; his first solo exhibition was organized in 1954, and he is considered one of the forerunners of Pop Art. He is considered one of the forerunners of Pop Art. At that time, Alex Katz distinguished himself from the Abstract Expressionists by creating figurative paintings of very large formats. The fragmentation or repetition of his motifs makes him similar to painters such as Rauschenberg or Warhol. The artist paints almost only portraits according to the model. He first executes a sketch, then reworks it before enlarging it on the canvas. He paints portraits of the New York intelligentsia or stages himself in self-portraits. He paints, without interpreting, the seduction of the subject, his concerns, the mysterious expression of the glances. His characters stand out against backgrounds that are both abstract and highly colored. Alex Katz is sensitive to fashion, to the details of fashion (hairstyles, clothes, signs...) as well as to the symbols of his time. The artist also paints landscapes, flowers and seascapes. He collaborates with the choreographer Paul Taylor for various shows. In the early 70's his art is appreciated by both the public and the critics who admire without reserve his precise compositions, articulated by bright colors, without relief, on smooth surfaces, and are seduced by the multiple possible meanings hidden behind these images. In the 1980s Katz ironically synthesizes the joie de vivre of a decade marked by leisure and carefreeness. Alex Katz lives and works in New York.