Stephen Laub Explained

Stephen Laub
Nationality:American
Alma Mater:University of California, Berkeley
Occupation:Artist, Professor
Known For:Contemporary artist associated with the Conceptual Art movement in California in the 1970s.
Spouse:Claire Watson

Stephen Laub (born 1945) is an American artist who works in performance, video, and sculpture.

Education

Laub received both his undergraduate and master's degrees at the University of California, Berkeley studying under artists such as Peter Voulkos, Arnaldo Pomodoro, Mark di Suvero, William T. Wiley, and Jim Melchert.[1] At Berkeley, he studied painting with David Hockney. As a student, he was associated with Bay Area artists Theresa Hak Kyung Cha,[2] [3] Terry Fox, Howard Fried, and Paul Kos.[4] [5] [6] Between 1964 and 1966, he studied performance with Étienne Decroux in Paris.

Performance

In Laub's early performance work such as Relations (1970) the artist used projections and mirrors to insert himself into a historical photograph, merging his gestures and features with that of the person depicted. Other performances include Constellations (1975), a series commissioned by 112 Greene Street, NY.[7]

In the 1970s, Laub performed at venues such as the Museum of Modern Art,[8] the Whitney Museum of American Art, White Columns,[9] The Kitchen, the Museum of Conceptual Art, and the Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art.[10] [11] Series such as Bodies of Water (1970–73) have been documented in art publications such as Avalanche[12] and WET: The Magazine of Gourmet Bathing.[13]

Video

In the 1980s Laub began making video works also using the techniques of projection. Some had political overtones, such as White Food (1980) in which A U.S. Navy film about a battle in Vietnam is projected onto a series of white foods that make up a complete meal. The camera pans each course of the meal to reveal stages of the developing battle, from the hors d'oeuvres, progressing through the entree, and concluding with the dessert.[14] [15] White Food was exhibited at the 1984 Venice Biennale.

Laub's video work is included in the permanent collections of several major museums in the United States, including The Museum of Modern Art,[16] The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art,[17] The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive,[18] and the Addison Gallery of American Art.[19]

Sculpture

In the 1980s, Laub began making sculpture and was represented by Koury Wingate Gallery in New York.[20] His works in series such as Gold (1987-1989) and Silver (1989-1991) used wood coated in gold and silver leaf to create icons of common objects which framed historical photos, giving the object a new politically charged meaning.[21] His sculptures have been shown in the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Akron Art Museum, the Parrish Art Museum,[22] The Guild Hall of East Hampton, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, among others.[23] Laub's sculptures are in the permanent collection of the Yale University Art Gallery[24] [25] [26]

Context

Laub's work is considered important in the Conceptual Art movement in California in the 1970s, alongside figures such as Chris Burden, John Baldessari, Edward Ruscha, Terry Fox, Paul Kos, Lynn Hershman, Bruce Nauman, Howard Fried, Tom Marioni, Allan Kaprow, and Theresa Hak Kyung Cha.[27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] He has exhibited in Europe since the 1970s, where his work has been associated with Actionism in its use of performance, social critique, and address of themes such as war and historical memory.[34] [35] [36] [37] [38]

Personal life

Until 2018, Laub was a professor of arts, Culture, and Media at Rutgers University–Newark.[39]

Laub is married to visual artist Claire Watson and lives in Water Mill, NY.[40] [41]

Public Collections

Notes and References

  1. Lewallen, Constance and Moss, Karen. State of Mind: New California Art circa 1970. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011. Page 88.
  2. Web site: CONSTANCE LEWALLEN with Phong Bui . The Brooklyn Rail . 15 July 2013. 2016-02-11.
  3. Book: Lewallen. Constance. Rinder. Lawrence. Trinh. Thi Minh-Ha. The Dream of the Audience: Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951-1982). 2001. University of California Press. Berkeley, California. 7.
  4. Web site: Bay Watch: A Snapshot of the Visual Arts in the Bay Area. 2 November 2017.
  5. Eds. Loeffler, Carl E. and Tong, Darlene. Performance Anthology: Source Book of California Performance Art. San Francisco: Contemporary Arts Press, 1989. Page 139.
  6. Web site: Lewallen . Constance . The Eighties in 1970 . Art Practical . 2013-09-11 . 2016-02-11.
  7. Web site: Stephen Laub: "Relations" and "Constellations". 2021-04-20. White Columns. en.
  8. Eds. Loeffler, Carl E. and Tong, Darlene. Performance Anthology: Source Book of California Performance Art. San Francisco: Contemporary Arts Press, 1989. Page 319.
  9. Web site: White Columns - Archive . www.whitecolumns.org . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20171201034144/https://www.whitecolumns.org/archive/index.php/Detail/Occurrence/Show/occurrence_id/134 . 2017-12-01.
  10. Eds. Loeffler, Carl E. and Tong, Darlene. Performance Anthology: Source Book of California Performance Art. San Francisco: Contemporary Arts Press, 1989. Page 263.
  11. Web site: VHS Kunststation : Ausstellung . Kleinsassen.de . 2016-02-11.
  12. Web site: Stephen Laub | Avalanche Magazine Index . Avalancheindex.org . 1974-12-10 . 2016-02-11.
  13. Web site: Leonard Koren Interview: Making WET | AGITPROP . Agitpropspace.org . 2011-12-18 . 2016-02-11.
  14. Web site: PERFORMANCES . stephenlaub.net . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130609042926/http://stephenlaub.net/PERFORMANCES.html . 2013-06-09.
  15. Web site: Stephen Laub. White Food. 1983 | MoMA.
  16. Web site: Stephen Laub . MoMA . 2010-02-22 . 2016-02-11.
  17. Web site: Stephen Laub · SFMOMA . Sfmoma.org . 2016-02-11.
  18. Web site: Art Collection | CollectionSpace.
  19. Web site: Unknown.
  20. News: Roberta Smith . Review/Art - Condo Creates a Future With Layers of Nostalgia . . 1988-03-25 . 2016-02-11.
  21. Hagen. Charles. Charles Hagen on Stephen Laub. Artforum. 1988. Summer 1988.
  22. Web site: Parrish East End Stories . https://web.archive.org/web/20180614021212/http://artists.parrishart.org/index.php/Detail/Entity/Show/entity_id/869 . 2018-06-14.
  23. Ed. Day, Holliday T. Power: Its Myths and Mores in American art, 1961-1991. Indianapolis: Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1991. Pages 59-61.
  24. Web site: Untitled(Train) | Yale University Art Gallery.
  25. Web site: Untitled(Pole) | Yale University Art Gallery.
  26. Web site: Untitled (Arrow) | Yale University Art Gallery.
  27. Eds. Marcus, George E. and Myers, Fred R. The Traffic in Culture: Refiguring Art and Anthropology. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995. Page 201.
  28. Eds. Loeffler, Carl E. and Tong, Darlene. Performance Anthology: Source Book of California Performance Art. San Francisco: Contemporary Arts Press, 1989. Pages 139; 181.
  29. Lewallen, Constance and Moss, Karen. State of Mind: New California Art circa 1970. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011. Page 2.
  30. Eds. Loeffler, Carl E. and Tong, Darlene. Performance Anthology: Source Book of California Performance Art. San Francisco: Contemporary Arts Press, 1989. Page 99.
  31. Ed. Day, Holliday T. Power: Its Myths and Mores in American art, 1961-1991. Indianapolis: Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1991. Page 20.
  32. Ed. Schimmel, Paul and Mark, Lisa G. Under the Big Black Sun: California Art 1974-1981. Prestel Publishing, 2011. Pages 25, 274-277, 280.
  33. Web site: Letter to Tom Marioni from Stephen Laub. 1971.
  34. Web site: Art and Destruction Since 1950 / Damage Control. Body Art and Destruction 1968-1972: Im Sog der Zerstörung . Artmagazine.cc . 2016-02-11.
  35. Web site: "Damage Control" at Kunsthaus and BRUSEUM, Graz / MOUSSE CONTEMPORARY ART MAGAZINE . Moussemagazine.it . 2015-02-15 . 2016-02-11.
  36. Web site: Der Löwe : Aktionismus . Specific Object . 2016-02-11.
  37. Web site: Damage Control - Graz.
  38. Web site: Art and Destruction Since 1950 / Damage Control. Body Art and Destruction 1968-1972: Im Sog der Zerstörung.
  39. Web site: Stephen Laub - ACM. Acm.newark.rutgers.edu. 2016-02-11.
  40. Lewallen, Constance and Moss, Karen. State of Mind: New California Art circa 1970. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011. Page 260.
  41. Web site: Claire Watson.
  42. Web site: Search the Collection The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston . www.mfah.org . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20180612141307/https://www.mfah.org/art/search?q=stephen+laub&sort=relevance&artist=Stephen+Laub . 2018-06-12.

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