Nicolas Krushenick: Electric Soup

Ian Berry & Harry Cooper

Hardcover | 24.61 x 3.02 x 30 cm | 280 pp

Prestel | 2017 | 9783791356181

Nicholas Krushenick (b.1929) is a key figure in the history of late 20th-century American art. Juxtaposing broad black lines with bold, flat colours, Krushenick created hard-edged abstractions that fill his canvases from corner to corner. His energetic forms used experiments in cut paper collage as a springboard, creating an aesthetic all his own that earned him the title "father of Pop abstraction."

This book offers a mix of archival writings and interviews with new perspectives on the artist who is largely considered a precursor to Pop Art. Preparatory drawings, early collages, and scenes of Krushenick in his studio offer insight into the artist's creative process, while newly commissioned essays take a fresh look at a remarkable oeuvre.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Krushenick had solo exhibitions at many of the most influential and prestigious galleries, including: Graham Gallery (1958, 1962, 1964, New York), Fischbach Gallery (1965, New York), Galerie Sonnabend (1967, Paris), Galerie Ziegler (1969, Zürich), Galerie Beyeler (1971, Basel), and Pace Gallery (1967, 1969, 1972, New York). During this period, his work also figured prominently in many landmark museum exhibitions, such as Post Painterly Abstraction (1964, Los Angeles County Museum of Art), Vormen van de Kleur (1964, Stedelijk Museum), Systemic Painting (1965, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum), and Documenta 4 (1968, Fredericianum), among others. In 1968, the Walker Art Center mounted a retrospective exhibition of Krushenick’s work. His first European retrospective came four years later, in 1972, at the Kestner-Gesellschaft in Hannover, Germany. This volume was published to accompany the 2015 retrospective at the Tang Gallery, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York.