Stephan Kaltenbach: The Beginning and The End

On view January 26-May 10,2020

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Stephen Kaltenbach and guests, MODERN DRAPERY, 2020. Felt Fabric, 45 x 60 inches.

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Stephen Kaltenbach, Portrait of My Father, 1972-79. Acrylic on canvas, 114 x 170 3/4 inches

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Stephen Kaltenbach, Room Cube, 1967. Blueprint, 18 x 24 inches, edition of 10.

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Stepehn Kaltenbach, OPEN AFTER MY DEATH, 1970, Mild steel, engraved with unknown contents, 3 x 6 x 3 inches.

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During the late 1960s, after graduating from UC Davis (BA, 1966; MA, 1967) and moving to New York, Stephen Kaltenbach established a reputation in the emerging international field of Conceptual art. But in 1970, just as he was achieving career success, Kaltenbach abruptly withdrew to California’s Central Valley, appearing to abandon Conceptual work in favor of the more traditional mediums of painting and sculpture. Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of his “dropout,” this exhibition considers Kaltenbach’s engagement with time as a principal theme across his remarkably diverse career, which encompasses bronze time capsules, advertisements placed anonymously in Artforum magazine in 1968-69, and the monumental photorealist painting Portrait of My Father (1972-79)

Guest Curators: Constance Lewallen and Ted Mann