Jonathan Borofsky
Jonathan Borofsky | |
|---|---|
 Molecule Man, Berlin | |
| Born | December 24, 1942 Boston, Massachusetts, US |
| Education | Carnegie Mellon University Yale University |
| Known for | Painting, Sculpture, Installation art |
Jonathan Borofsky (born December 24, 1942) is an American sculptor and printmaker who lives and works in Ogunquit, Maine.[1]
Early life and education
[edit]Borofsky was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University in 1964, after which he continued his studies at France's Ecole de Fontainebleau and received his Master of Fine Arts from Yale University in 1966. He lived in Manhattan until a teaching position at the California Institute of the Arts brought him to Los Angeles in 1977. He resided in Venice[2] and Tuna Canyon,[3] Los Angeles from 1977 to 1992,[4] In the 1960s, Borofsky's art sought to interconnect minimalism and pop art.
On May 21, 2006, Borofsky received an honorary doctorate in Fine Arts from Carnegie Mellon, his alma mater.
Works
[edit]Jonathan Borofsky's most famous works, at least among the general public, are his Hammering Man public art sculptures. Hammering Man has been installed in various cities around the world. The largest Hammering Man is in Seoul, Korea and the second largest is in Frankfurt, Germany. Other Hammering Man sculptures are in Basel, Switzerland, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York City, Seattle, Gainesville, FL, Washington, D.C., and Lillestrøm, Norway.
In 1989 developer Harlan Lee commissioned Borofsky's 30-foot-tall Ballerina Clown, a building-mounted kinetic aluminum, steel and fiberglass public art sculpture for a mixed use residential and commercial building in Venice, California in 1989. The clown sculpture's right leg was motorized with a kicking motion. Tenant complaints followed about the sculpture's mechanical noise and after years of in-operation the kinetic leg component was restored in 2014 to move only intermittently.[5] Another Ballerina Clown was installed in the Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst in Aachen, Germany.[6] This version dates from 1991 and was part of the Metropolis exhibition at Gropiusbau Berlin that year.
In 1990, the Newport Harbor Art Museum commissioned Ruby, a 5-foot-tall plastic sculpture containing an internal lighting system and swaying, diamond-shaped light deflectors.[7]
Between 1989 and 1999, Borofsky completed a series of Molecule Man public art sculptures consisting of three connected perforated aluminum sheets, ranging in height from 11 feet to 100 feet.[8] Three of his 100-foot Molecule Man sculptures were set directly into the Spree River in Berlin as a commission for German insurance company Allianz.[9]
In 2004, the Municipal Art Society of Baltimore commissioned Jonathan Borofsky to create his 51-foot (15.5 m) Male/Female aluminum sculpture as the centerpiece of a re-designed plaza in front of Penn Station to celebrate its 100th anniversary. The sculpture was a gift to the city from the Society.
In May 2006, Borofsky's Walking to the Sky[10] was permanently installed on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University near the intersection of Forbes Avenue and Morewood Avenue in Pittsburgh. The piece was temporarily installed at Rockefeller Center during the fall of 2004 and in 2005 at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, Texas.
Major permanent commissions
[edit]- Walking to the Sky – 2006, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Male/Female – 2004, Baltimore, Maryland
- Freedom: Male/Female – 1997, Friends-of-the-Constitution Square, Offenburg, Germany
- Walking Man – 1995, Munich, Germany
- Ballerina Clown – 1991, Aachen, Germany[11]
- Ballerina Clown – 1989, Venice, Los Angeles
- Molecule Man – 1981, Little Tokyo, Los Angeles
Selected exhibitions
[edit]- 2004 – Rockefeller Center, New York City
- 2002 – Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Cuneo, Italy
- 1999 – Kunstmuseum Basel; Remba Gallery, Los Angeles
- 1996 – Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City
- 1992 – Documenta 9, Kassel
- 1987 – Documenta 8, Kassel
- 1985 – Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, California
- 1984 – Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- 1984 – Stadel, Frankfurt
- 1982 – Documenta 7, Kassel
- 1981 – Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas
Gallery
[edit]-
Human Structures at "blickachsen 7", 2009 -
Hammering Man in Frankfurt -
Man walking to the sky, Kassel -
-
Ballerina Clown at the Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst in Aachen
References
[edit]- ^ Hunter Drohojowska-Philp (October 24, 1999), Living Outside His Own Shell Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Cathy Curtis (December 13, 1990), Art Museum Gets Borofsky's 'Ruby' Work Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Kristine McKenna (July 30, 1989), Why Jonathan Borofsky Bowed Out: 'I needed to be alone with myself and find out what was left of my art.' Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Hunter Drohojowska-Philp (October 24, 1999), Living Outside His Own Shell Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Christopher Knight (May 20, 2014), Jonathan Borofsky's 'Ballerina Clown' in Venice dances again Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Breuer, Werner. "Ludwig-Forum: Ballerina-Clown soll bald wieder das Tanzbein schwingen". Aachener Nachrichten. Archived from the original on July 8, 2018. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
- ^ Cathy Curtis (December 13, 1990), Art Museum Gets Borofsky's 'Ruby' Work Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Curran, Ann (Spring 2002). "Jonathan Borofsky Nobody Knows His Name, Everybody Has His Number". Carnegie Mellon Magazine. Retrieved November 1, 2020.
- ^ Hunter Drohojowska-Philp (October 24, 1999), Living Outside His Own Shell Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Publicartfund.org Archived June 14, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Breuer, Werner. "Ludwig-Forum: Ballerina-Clown soll bald wieder das Tanzbein schwingen". Aachener Nachrichten. Archived from the original on July 8, 2018. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
External links
[edit]- Borofsky's website, borofsky.com
- Art Signature Dictionary, genuine signature by the artist Jonathan Borofsky Here are several examples of Jonathan Borofsky's signature.
- 1942 births
- Living people
- 20th-century American sculptors
- 20th-century American male artists
- 21st-century American sculptors
- 21st-century American male artists
- American male sculptors
- American contemporary artists
- American printmakers
- Carnegie Mellon University College of Fine Arts alumni
- Yale School of Art alumni
- ROIR artists