Windows Series No. 6

NER-035-OC

Hackett-Freedman Gallery proudly presents an exhibition devoted to the rare early works of internationally acclaimed sculptor Manuel Neri, October 4-27. The show includes a variety of rarely exhibited plaster figures and heads, as well as a superb group of abstract canvases and works on paper Neri created from the late-1950s to 1970. This exhibit forms the first of a two-part series at Hackett-Freedman Gallery devoted to Neri's career. (Part II will take place in 2002-3). These works greatly expand the public's understanding of this California-born artist whose works have become internationally recognized talismans of post-war American art. Manuel Neri will be present at the opening reception on Thursday, October 4, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at 250 Sutter Street, San Francisco.

At 71, Neri is one of the premier American figurative sculptors working today. Born in Sanger, California, Neri began exploring new forms and materials as a student at the S.F. Art Institute (CSFA) and the California College of Arts & Crafts in the early 1950s. During this time, many of Neri’s teachers and mentors, such as Elmer Bischoff, David Park, Nathan Oliveira, and Richard Diebenkorn, began integrating the lessons of abstract expressionism into figurative painting and drawing. Their approach, like that of many abstract painters at the time, emphasized spontaneity, intuition, and an overall formal composition. To this day, Neri remains one of the few contemporary artists consistently devoted to the expressionistic figure.

Neri began sculpting in "junk"—burlap, wire, cardboard—and soon thereafter in simple plaster. His lone female figures, often in frankly erotic or naturalistic poses, were lauded immediately for their contemporary yet timeless quality.

From the onset, Neri made violent marks on the "skin" of his figures and then painted their surfaces in patches of bright color—a conscious bow, he has said, to the painted sculpture of Marino Marini and to the ceramics of Pablo Picasso, as well as to the visceral expressionism of Willem de Kooning.

Neri's figures and abstractions on paper are equally lush and expressive. In the words of Jack Cowart, now executive director of the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation, who organized a 1997 Neri retrospective at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., they are "the record of an artist anxiously, constantly, experimenting and visualizing his craft."

Michael Hackett, director of Hackett-Freedman Gallery, was initially surprised to find so many polished abstract paintings in Neri's early work. "I am struck by the consistent strength of Neri's early abstract paintings, which is one reason they are now gaining as much recognition as his sculptures," says Hackett. "I believe Neri's experimental paintings rank in inventiveness with Richard Diebenkorn's abstractions."

Many of Neri's first forays into using plaster to form full-scale standing figures will be represented in this exhibit, including the Hombre Colorado (1957-58), a striking male figure which was recently spotlighted at the Los Angeles County Museum. Additional key works include Chanel (1957-58) and the explosive Kneeling Figure (1960; 1962–64), which ignited Neri's lasting focus on the female figure— a focus which continues 30 years later with Neri's muse and model, Mary Julia. Indeed, the figure of a lone, archetypal woman, remains the vehicle for Neri's most ambitious formal and symbolic goals.

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