Julian Schnabel
Julian Schnabel (born
26 October 1951) is an
American painter, sculptor and filmmaker.
Schnabel was born in
Brooklyn,
New York but moved with his family to west
Texas at an early age. Upon being introduced to painting by his friend the Houston-based artist
Michael Hollis — an occasional member of the
Red Krayola and a co-founder with
Andy Feehan (an artist better known perhaps for his tattooed pigs and dogs) of the anarchic art group
Daucus Carota — Schnabel obtained a
BFA at the
University of Houston in 1973. He had his first solo show at the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston two years later, but it was his solo show at the Mary Boone Gallery in 1979 that launched his rise to prominence as an artist. He participated at the Venice Biennale in 1980 and by the mid-1980s had become a major figure in the
Neo-expressionism movement.
The works that first brought him recognition, and notoriety, are painted on collaged surfaces of broken dishes mounted usually on a wooden support. Like his subsequent paintings, which have also incorporated animal hides, these are messy tableaus which owe something to the work of
Willem De Kooning, the aforementioned Michael Hollis, and Galveston artist
Joe Glasco. Schnabel also cites as influences
Antoni Gaudi,
Cy Twombly and
Joseph Beuys.
Schnabel published his autobiography
CVJ: Nicknames of Maitre D's & Other Excerpts From Life, in 1987, and has written and directed two films:
Basquiat a biopic on the controversial painter
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1996) and
Before Night Falls, an adaptation of
Reinaldo Arenas' autobiographical novel (2000), which he also produced. He was also the painter, photographer and director for the cover of the
Red Hot Chili Peppers' album
By The Way and illustrated the album
The Raven by
Lou Reed.
In 1995, Schnabel released his first pop-music endeavour, Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud, (
Island Records).
Julian Schnabel lives in New York, maintaining studios in New York City and in
Montauk on the eastern end of Long Island.His works are in the collections of museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Museum of Modern Art; The Whitney Museum; MOCA in L.A.; Reina Sofia and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
*
links to works of art by Julian Schnabel*
Julian Schnabel at Gagosian Gallery
