Cary Leibowitz – also known as Candyass – belongs to Loser Art, a self-ironising, self-reflexive and at times self-loathing style that emerged in the 1990s. Also an exponent of what critics have dubbed ‘pathetic aesthetic’, Leibowitz narrates his experiences as a gay Jewish artist in mainstream American society with searing self-truths. It hardly needs to be said that, at this time of deep political fracture in the US, these are stories that need to be heard.
And Leibowitz doesn’t just tell his story. He yells it. His works are recalcitrant one-liners, imperatives and exclamations painted in unavoidable blues and pinks. 'Don’t HATE Me Because I’m Mediocre' shouts one painting, 'GO FAGS!' screams another. You can’t help but think these painted wooden panels would be better off gallery walls and out on the streets at the protests.
'I'm torn between you...', c 1990.
Twenty-five years – and more than 250 exhibitions – after Leibowitz’s first solo exhibition, at New York’s Stux Gallery in 1990, the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco is staging a retrospective that brings together Leibowitz’s popular text-based paintings with some recently rediscovered ceramics that were shut up in boxes for 24 years. Other works 'we literally excavated from the basement of his Harlem townhouse' says curator Anastasia James
'Applaud, Appalled', c 1990.
The pretensions of the art world are also called out in the show. 'I think that the main reason Cary’s work is so powerful is that it is accessible in a way that most contemporary art is not,' explains James. 'When so many of his peers shifted their practices to appeal to the art market and the critics, Cary continued on with consistency, making art that embraces complexity and contradiction. His work displays a palpable disdain for what is popular and a deep-rooted reverence for the ugly, and as a result has been intentionally out of step with the traditional narrative.'
In 2018, the retrospective will tour to the ICA in Philadelphia and the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.
Fried chicken (Being Jealous of Everyone), 1990.
Do these pants make me look Jewish, 2001.
Sad rainbow, Happy Rainbow, 2007.
INFORMATION
’Cary Leibowitz: Museum Show’ is on view until 25 June. For more information, visit the Contemporary Jewish Museum website
ADDRESS
Contemporary Jewish Museum
736 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
-
Here’s what to order (and admire) at Carbone LondonNew York’s favourite, and buzziest, Italian restaurant arrives in the British capital, marking the brand’s first expansion into Europe
-
Griffin Frazen on conceiving the cinematic runway sets for New York label Khaite: ‘If people feel moved we’ve succeeded’The architectural designer – who helped conceive the sets for ‘The Brutalist’ – collaborates with his wife Catherine Holstein on the scenography for her Khaite runway shows, the latest of which took place in NYFW this past weekend
-
How to travel meaningfully in an increasingly generic worldLauren Ho explores the need for resonance, not reach, in the way we choose to make journeys of discovery
-
Stephen Prina borrows from pop, classical and modern music: now MoMA pays tribute to his performance work‘Stephen Prina: A Lick and a Promise’ recalls the artist, musician, and composer’s performances, and is presented throughout MoMA. Prina tells us more
-
Curtains up, Kid Harpoon rethinks the sound of Broadway production ‘Art’He’s crafted hits with Harry Styles and Miley Cyrus; now songwriter and producer Kid Harpoon (aka Tom Hull) tells us about composing the music for the new, all-star Broadway revival of Yasmina Reza’s play ‘Art’
-
Richard Prince recontextualises archival advertisements in TexasThe artist unites his ‘Posters’ – based on ads for everything from cat pictures to nudes – at Hetzler, Marfa
-
The best Ruth Asawa exhibition is actually on the streets of San FranciscoThe artist, now the subject of a major retrospective at SFMOMA, designed many public sculptures scattered across the Bay Area – you just have to know where to look
-
Orlando Museum of Art wants to showcase more Latin American and Hispanic artists. Do you fit the bill?The Florida gallery calls for for Hispanic and Latin American artists to submit their work for an ongoing exhibition
-
The spread of Butter: the Black-owned art fair where artists see all the profitsThe Indianapolis-based art fair is known for bringing Black art to the forefront. As it ventures out of state to make its Los Angeles debut, we speak with founders Mali and Alan Bacon to find out more
-
Steve Martin wants you to visit The Frick CollectionThe actor has appeared in a video promoting New York’s newly renovated art museum
-
Architect Erin Besler is reframing the American tradition of barn raisingAt Art Omi sculpture and architecture park, NY, Besler turns barn raising into an inclusive project that challenges conventional notions of architecture
