Julian Schnabel’s far-reaching practice spans painting, sculpture and film. Use of material throughout is expansive and mutable. Wood, velvet, linoleum, army tarpaulins and animal hides all act as sculptural surfaces – layered with mediums such as wax, car bondo and resin. Similarly, recovered postcards, old x-rays and found images become grounds for new paintings. The artist’s Plate Paintings began in the 1970s and continue today. To create them he breaks plates. Reassembles them. Then paints over the top. They arrive as portraits and landscapes – sometimes abstract, often allegorical. Self P...
Bio
Julian Schnabel (he/him) was born 1951 in Brooklyn, New York. He now lives and works between his New York City home Palazzo Chupi and Montauk, Long Island.
Collections
Schnabel’s work appears in the collections of major institutions worldwide, including MOMA, the Guggenheim, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney in New York, Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Guggenheim in Bilbao. He is also a critically-acclaimed filmmaker, awarded Best Director for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007) at both Cannes Film Festival and the Golden Globes.
Did you know?
At the age of 14 Schnabel moved from Brooklyn to Brownsville, Texas. It was here that his lifelong passion for surfing began. The appeal? Much like painting – freedom.