QUOGUE GALLERY PRESENTS ARTHUR PINAJIAN AT ART ON PAPER NEW YORK
Art on Paper New York: March 3 - 6, 2016 at Pier 36
Quogue Gallery: Booth 117
Gallery Talk: Saturday, March 5, 2016 at 2 p.m.
Gallery Talk reveals "The Pinajian Discovery: Bringing the Forgotten to Light and Establishing Value” by Art historian and Pinajian Estate Collection Chief Curator Peter Hastings Falk
Quogue Gallery will present rarely seen works on paper by Arthur Pinajian (1914 – 1999) to Booth 117 at Art on Paper New York, held March 3 - 6, 2016, during Armory Week in New York City. Although Pinajian died in obscurity, the widely publicized discovery of a vast trove of his work in Bellport, Long Island in 2007 led to a critical evaluation and appreciation of his major contributions to modern art at the end of the 20th century.
To explore the Pinajian art journey, Quogue Gallery will hosting a Gallery Talk at Booth 117 on Saturday, March 5, 2016 at 2 p.m., when art historian and Pinajian Estate Collection Chief Curator Peter Hastings Falk will provide a unique look into the Pinajian story and some insight into why the artist is now being widely collected internationally by institutions and individuals alike.
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"No. 4359" by Arthur Pinajian, 1962. Oil on paper, 17.5 x 22.5 inches.
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In the fall of 2015, Quogue Gallery mounted a solo exhibition of works by Arthur Pinajian earned critical praise in a review at Hamptons Art Hub by Charles A. Riley II and was the subject of a feature article in The Southampton Press. For Works on Paper New York, Quogue Gallery has assembled a range of Abstract Expressionist works from the years 1959 to 1998, including abstract landscapes and other abstract and figurative works.
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"No. 4288" by Arthur Pinajian, 1959. Oil and pencil on paper, 20 x 27.5 inches.
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In March 2013, hundreds of news outlets reported the extraordinary value experts had placed on the Arthur Pinajian collection. First discovered in a garage in Bellport in 2007, this remarkable cache of art required years of cleaning, archiving and scholarship to prepare the canvasses for exhibition. The discovery created a media frenzy with ABC-TV’s “Good Morning America” featuring the story as “the unlikely discovery that rocked the art world”; ABC’s ”20/20” reporting that "art experts decree Pinajian deserved to be called one of the great undiscovered geniuses of the Modern Art Movement”; and The New York Times devoting two lengthy articles to Pinajian.
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"No. 1585" by Arthur Pinajian, 1973. Ink and watercolor on paper, 18 x 24 inches.
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As a boy growing up in an Armenian community in West Hoboken, New Jersey, Pinajian was a completely self-trained cartoonist. During the Depression, he became one of the pioneers in a new medium: the comic book. In 1940, he created “Madam Fatal,” the first cross-dressing superhero, for Crack Comics. After World War II, he enrolled at the Art Students League's summer school of painting in Woodstock, N.Y.
Although he was acquainted with a number of the New York Abstract Expressionists, such as Franz Kline and Philip Guston, Arthur Pinajian was largely reclusive. For 22 years his life revolved around Woodstock, N.Y. while he pursued his painting. Late in life, he moved in with his sister in Bellport Village on Long Island, N.Y. There, in a tiny bedroom studio, he worked out his own responses to questions regarding flatness and color posed by the Abstract Expressionist movement.
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"No. 736" by Arthur Pinajian, 1989. Oil, acrylic and enamel on illustration board on masonite, 21.25 x 27.5 inches.
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Although Pinajian died in 1999, it was not until 2007 that five decades of accumulated artwork were found stacked up in the property’s one-car garage. In time, the artwork drew the attention of renowned art historian Dr. William Innes Homer, who examined Pinajian’s lyrical abstract landscapes, abstract and figurative paintings.
Dr. Homer wrote: “Even though Pinajian was a creative force to be reckoned with, during his lifetime he rarely exhibited or sold his paintings. Instead, he pursued his goals in isolation with the single-minded focus of a Gauguin or Cézanne, refusing to give up in the face of public indifference. In his later years he could be compared to a lone researcher in a laboratory pursuing knowledge for its own sake. His exhaustive diaries and art notes make it clear that he dedicated all of his days to his art. He was passionate and unequivocally committed.”
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"No. 871" by Arthur Pinajian, 1990. Oil and enamel on illustration board on Masonite, 22.5 x 28.25 inches.
ABOUT QUOGUE GALLERY
Quogue’s first and only private art gallery, the Quogue Gallery is a new space in The Hamptons where artists, collectors, and art enthusiasts can meet and share their common passion for serious artistic investigation. The Gallery’s mission is to bring a program of artistic excellence not limited to any genre or medium. Its focus is on modern and contemporary art created by emerging, established and historically important artists. Essential to the Gallery’s mission is establishing itself as an active, vibrant, and inventive participant in the Hamptons art panorama, with artist talks and events that significantly contribute to the modern and contemporary art discourse.
While the Gallery is closed from January to April, representatives are available by appointment. For further information, please visit www.quoguegallery.com or contact Chester Murray by calling 203-321-9427 or email to [email protected] or Christy Murray by calling 203-981-8260 email to [email protected].
The Quogue Gallery is located at 44 Quogue Street in Quogue, N.Y. www.quoguegallery.com
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Art on Paper New York takes place from March 3 to 6, 2016 at Pier 36, 299 South Street, New York, NY 10002. www.thepaperfair.com.
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