The Walter Wickiser Gallery is pround to present an exhibition of paintings by Phyllis Krim, entitled Realism Meets Hard-Edge Abstraction of Classic Cars, from September 30th to October 25th, 2017. The opening reception will be held on Thursday, October 5th, 6pm – 8pm.
Phyllis Krim was born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania in 1930. Since her infancy, Phyllis had developed a lifelong love for color, motion, and the beauty of machines and cars. Phyllis was the only person to successfully complete the joint program between the University of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Museum College of Art (now the University of the Arts) and received the Bachelor of Applied Arts degree from UPenn in 1953. Around 1968 Phyllis resumed her studies in hard-edge abstraction with Will Barnet at the Art Students’ League. Around 1970, in Woodstock, NY, Phyllis started to focus primarily on depictions of classic cars. From the 1970s until about 2005, she painted dozens of large (typically 40 x 40) acrylic paintings of classic cars. Other work on automobiles includes lithographs, drawings and serigraphs. In the last years of her life, she focused more on drawing (a lifetime passion of hers), especially portraits and hard-edge abstract works, and worked on writing poetry.
Phyllis said “I have always been interested in the inherent energy in machines and have painted them realistically and abstractly; in totality and in parts … I consider them moving ‘still life’ and choose the most beautiful of the classic machines to work from. My work is simple and bold, yet composed of many abstract elements that combine to become a realist image. Color is precise, yet I see and use many colors within the realist framework.”
During her lifetime, Phyllis had over 100 shows in galleries and museums throughout the United States, during which her work has appeared alongside that of many luminaries in the art world, including Louise Bourgeois (a close friend of hers since the 1970s), Elaine deKooning, Alfred Leslie, Andy Warhol, Frank Stella, Wolf Kahn, Ellsworth Kelly, Robert Rauschenberg, Milton Avery, Maurice Sendak, and Robert Beauchamp. Phyllis has received a number of painting and drawing prizes, including a painting prize from the 6th annual New York Exhibition for Painting, Sculpture and Graphics in 1973. In 1975, a documentary video on Phyllis and her work, Driving Passion, was broadcast on Manhattan Cable Television. In 1986 Phyllis was the only woman invited to be a charter member of the Automotive Fine Arts Society .
An opening reception for Phyllis Krim – Realism Meets Hard-Edge Abstraction of Classic Cars will be held on Thursday, October 5th, from 6 – 8 pm. For further information, please contact the gallery at (212) 941-1817, Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.