More Dimensions Than You Know: Jack Whitten, 1979 – 1989

Hauser & Wirth’s first London exhibition with Jack Whitten, the American abstractionist celebrated for his innovative processes of applying and transfiguring paint in works equally alert to materiality, politics and metaphysics. Curated by Richard Shiff, the presentation will have a historical focus, bringing together a large number of his paintings from the 1980s. Whitten holds a unique place in the narrative of postwar American art: over the course of a five-decade career, he has bridged gestural abstraction and process art, experimenting ceaselessly to arrive at a nuanced language of painting that hovers between mechanical automation and personal expression. Whitten has had a profound influence on many artists working today and in September 2016 he was awarded the 2015 National Medal of Arts in recognition of his major contribution to the cultural legacy of the US. Works by the artist will be shown in ‘Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power’ at Tate Modern (12 July – 22 October 2017), which coincides with his solo presentation at Hauser & Wirth London.