Allan Kaprow, Figures in Yellow Interior (1954), all images via Hauser & Wirth

Similar to many artists who later found their true voices in relatively more alternative mediums, New York performance legend Allan Kaprow began his artistic practice as a painter, studying at the famed Hans Hoffman School of Fine Arts under the German Abstract-Expressionist who heavily influenced his work on canvas. Focusing on a ten-year period between mid ‘40s and forth, Paintings New York at Hauser & Wirth brings attention to possibly the least-known aspect of Kaprow’s decades-long career, bringing together a body of works at the gallery’s uptown outpost, a location where the former Martha Jackson Gallery housed the artist’s first Yard installation in 1961. (more…)

YARD (to harrow), William Pope L. Via ArtNet

Dramatic reinventions of Allan Kaprow’s ‘YARD‘ are currently on show at various locations in New York City; the primary site, showcasing the sprawling reinvention realized by the famed performance artist William Pope L., is the Manhattan townhouse at 32 East 69th Street where Kaprow first exhibited his Environment YARD in 1961. The townhouse was then home to the legendary Martha Jackson Gallery and has just now opened as Hauser &Wirth’s first American Gallery.  Hauser & Wirth has extended the show to include reinventions of YARD in public spaces in Queens and downtown Manhattan by the two noted artists Josiah McElheny and Sharon Hayes.

Allan Kaprow installing YARD in New York City in 1961. Via Hauser & Wirth

Related Links:
Hauser & Wirth Homepage
Allan Kaprow Homepage
Queens Museum of Art Homepage
Changing Un-Arts Tires [NYTimes]
Video of YARD (to harrow) at Hauser & Wirth [ArtObserved via Twitvid]
Triple blowout for Hauser & Wirth debut [Artnet]
Reinventing the Wheel [Artinfo]
Yard (To Harrow), 1961/2009 [The New York Times]
Wall to Wall: Homage to Allan Kaprow [The Wall Street Journal]

More text and images after the jump….

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