Richard Diebenkorn: Ocean Park Monotypes & Drawings

Catalogue available

Greenberg Van Doren Gallery is pleased to present a solo exhibition of ‘Ocean Park’ monotypes and drawings by the 20th century American painter Richard Diebenkorn (1922-1993). The show is on view from May 9 through June 27, 2008 and is accompanied by a fully-illustrated color catalogue.

Diebenkorn is best know for his luminous ‘Ocean Park’ series, which the artist began in 1967 and subsequently developed - through paintings, works on paper, and editioned prints - for over twenty-five years. While his graphic work during this productive period is well known, he also had the occasion to channel the series into unique and singular monotypes, which today allows the public to further examine his working process.

The exhibition features four bodies of work, including two suites of black and white monotypes made on two different dates (April 11 and 13, 1975); a set of color monotypes from 1988; and a group of paintings on paper. The earlier series of black and white works were made with the artist Nathan Oliveira at Stanford University while the later group was produced in collaboration with publisher and master printer Garner Tullis. This significant body of ‘Ocean Park’ work presents the artist at his more lyrical as well as playful, inscribing subtle shapes and symbols in his abstract compositions. While the graphic qualities of the black and white monotypes show the full range of his refined use of lines and arabesques – as well as a myriad of shades and textures – the colored monotypes and drawings exemplify his expressive use of blues, reds, yellows and greens with washes and layers of pigment. As in his celebrated paintings, Diebenkorn harnesses the full capacity of his gifts to create his distinctly personal vocabulary of abstraction, geometry, light and shadow.