Description: This is a visually striking and RARE Modern Hard Edge Abstract Minimalist Op Art Oil Painting, Acrylic or Oil paint on aircraft-grade Aluminum, by the pioneering and influential Southern California modernist painter, Daniel Aksten. This work depicts a bold and imposing hard edge image, with a rectangular silver and white checkered grid, encapsulated in an ovoid form. Approximately 48 x 48 inches. Signed and titled on the verso: "Daniel Aksten '12." Good condition for decades of age and storage, with some light scuffing, scratches, heavy finger smudges and soiling along the edges, mild paint loss at the corners, and moderate edge wear throughout (please see photos carefully.) Acquired from the contents of a defunct contemporary art gallery in Los Angeles County, California. Priced to Sell. Aksten's original paintings have soared in value in recent years, and this artwork is a sound investment. Daniel Aksten's original artworks are held in prominent public and private collections across the world. Due to the large size and heavy weight of this piece, S&H costs will be unavoidably high. However, Free Local Pickup from Los Angeles County, California is also an option. If you like what you see, I encourage you to make an Offer. Please check out my other listings for more wonderful and unique artworks! About the Artist: Quirky, pixilated paintings by Daniel Aksten are the highlight of this inaugural show, âDifference and Repetition.â Uniform metal panels explore a restrained palette (red, grey, yellow) with taped grids and squares with rounded corners. Featuring both what the artist refers to as âportraitsâ and âlandscapes,â each work is a result of calculated construction and arbitrary randomness determined, literally, by a roll of dice. Interestingly, the carefully masked and unmasked marks of automotive paint refer not so much to the future as it once might have, given that the computer byte metaphor has ceased to arouse such associations. Even the subtle basket-weaving texture of the paint layers points to craft and the artistâs hand in a way that makes one think about how the word âmodernâ has come to seem âold-fashioned.â Daniel Akstenâs work distinguishes itself in all three genres. Exceptionally clean deliberate edges compliment an almost casual randomness in design. The roll of a die literally determines the application of color in layered grids committed to steel panels.Built up of automotive paint scientifically formulated to dazzle under the California Sun, the surface denies the expression of the artistâs hand, not uncommon with California Light and Space work and the aesthetic of the Finish-Fetish âCool School.â Conscious decisions have been made with regard to scale, texture, and paint color (or lack of it), while composition, shape and image are given to chance.Contrast is the subject, not only of luminous color abutting a neutral ground, but also light vs. solid, intention vs. happenstance: contrast getting along with harmony. Forms emerge from this complexity. Optical radiance occludes geometric certainty.A ubiquitous and familiar motif in Akstenâs work occupies the last layer of each panel: the round-cornered âscreenâ like a painted ghost frame reminds the viewer that eyesight has a limited range. Oneâs eyes are tempted to focus with tunnel vision, accustomed to seeing by proxy through technologic enhancements of camera viewfinders or binoculars. Perceptual awareness always excludes the complexity of the peripheral in an effort to grasp at a single subject before the ground. Akstenâs work regards this search obsolete, collaborating instead with the viewer as images co-arise from an ambient and dense atmosphere.Bill Wheelock During my childhood my father had one of the biggest antique gun collections in the Unites States, I grew up with 1,100 guns in the house. This taught me about collecting, and importance of one item over another. I also learned how to tell if something is real or not and how to grade items, this allowed me a schematic to apply to painting which I started in my early twenties when I moved to Los Angeles, after dropping out of school. I first moved to Venice where I got a job waiting tables at a small restaurant, which happened to be where several successful artist had lunch, these included Ed Ruscha, Alexis Smith, Jonathan Borofsky, Peter Alexander, and Billy Al Bengston. I was also introduced at that time to critical French philosophical theory, by the authors Deleuze and Guattari, Michel Foucalt, Henri Bergson, and Derrida. I was very excited about what I was reading by the authors, and inspired a great desire to write. I knew there was little chance of success for me in writing critical theory as I was not in academics, so I turned to painting instead to express my ideas. I had brought with me my Motherâs oil paints. She had died when I was 3, I still held on to them; so I just went to work, often painting ten to fourteen hours, allowing no mistakes or difficulties to stop me. Born: June 15, 1967EDUCATION:1986-89 California State University, Chico, CA.SOLO EXHIBITIONS:2012 âSupport, Edge -Variationâ - CB1, Los Angeles CA2010 âMaterialâ - CB1, Los Angeles âSynopsisâ - Oxnard College, Oxnard CAated2009 âGenerationâ - PĂST, Los Angeles, CA2002 âTreatmentâ - PĂST, Los Angeles, CA.2001 âFormulaâ - PĂST, Los Angeles, CA.1998 âScreen Testâ - Mesa College Art Gallery, San Diego, CA.1996 âCoverageâ - Simayspace Gallery, San Diego, CA. GROUP EXHIBITIONS:2020 âPositive Pandemic Experimentâ - curated by Kohl King on Instagram2018 âMagicâ - Roberts Projects, Culver City, CA2013 âGravityâ - Long Beach City College Art Gallery, Long Beach, CA âWhite Soup and Weighty Airâ - JAUS, Los Angeles, CA âMutual Appreciation Societyâ - ARTRA, Los Angeles, CA2012 The Happiness Machine, PĂST, Los Angeles, CA âCast. Reflect.â - CB1, Los Angeles2011 âMetallicâ - PĂST, Los Angeles, CA âColburn + CB1 â - The Colburn School, Los Angeles, CA2010 âDraftâ - 643 APROJECTSPACE, Ventura, CA âDifference and Repetitionâ - CB1, Los Angeles, CA2009 âHere and Nowâ - ARTRA, Los Angeles, CA âBlack, White, and Grey all overâ - APROJECTSPACE, Ventura, CA 2003 âFreshâ - MOCA Contemporary Art Auction, Los Angeles, CA.2002 âRelative Objectsâ - PĂST, Los Angeles, CA.2001 âMadeâ - PĂST, Los Angeles, CA. âAuxiliary Settingâ - Cirrus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. â100% Ragâ - PĂST, Los Angeles, CA.2000 âEmulsionâ - POST, Los Angeles, CA. âSummer Showâ - William Turner Gallery, CA.1999 âNew Visions, New Voicesâ - University Art Gallery, âUCSDâ - San Diego, CA 1996 âGroup Shotâ - Simayspace Gallery, San Diego, CA. âCon-Structuredâ - Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA.1995 âLos Angeles Juried Exhibitionâ - Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA.1994 âHouse of Stylesâ - TRI Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. SELECTED COLLECTIONS:Crocker Museum, Sacramento, CAPomona College Museum of Art, Pomona, CADr. Ilene Fort, Curator Emerita, Los Angles County Museum of ArtDavid Pagel, Art critic, Los Angeles TimesAlexina Matisse Morgan FisherSteve and Karen HillenburgYoka SmithBIBLIOGRAPHY:Pagel, David, Idiosyncrasies Come Out To Play, Los Angeles Times, May 18, 2012Frank, Priscilla, Daniel Akstenâs âSupport, Edge, Variationâ Hit CB1 Gallery, Huffington Post, May 8, 2012Frank, Peter, âHaiku Reviews,â Huffington Post, June 20, 2012Nys Dambrot, Shana, âMaterial,â Flavorpill Los Angeles, September 8, 2010Lee, Jeannie R., ArtScene, March 2010John, Heather, âArchitects and Heroes,â Los Angeles Times, April 8, 2001.Pincus, Robert, âMotley Crew,â San Diego Union-Tribune, May 13, 1999.Pagel, David, âUnfulfilled Fantasy of Democratic Inclusiveness,â Los Angeles Times, July 7, 1995.
Price: 3500 USD
Location: Orange, California
End Time: 2025-01-14T02:50:45.000Z
Shipping Cost: 100 USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Artist: Daniel Aksten
Unit of Sale: Single Piece
Signed By: Daniel Aksten
Size: Large
Signed: Yes
Period: Contemporary (1970 - 2020)
Material: Aluminum
Framing: Unframed
Region of Origin: California, USA
Subject: Industrial, Monument, Geometry
Type: Painting
Year of Production: 2012
Original/Licensed Reproduction: Original
Item Height: 48 in
Style: Abstract, Contemporary Art, Cubism, Expressionism, Modernism, Postmodernism, Hard Edge, Op Art
Theme: Architecture, Art, Exhibitions
Features: One of a Kind (OOAK)
Production Technique: Oil Painting
Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
Item Width: 48 in
Handmade: Yes
Time Period Produced: 2010-2019