Jack Whitten.
Jack's Jacks March 29, 2019 - September 1, 2019
Hamburger Bahnhof – National Gallery of the Present

From March 29th to September 1st, 2019, the Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum für Aktuell - Berlin is presenting an extensive solo exhibition with works by the American painter Jack Whitten (1939-2018) for the first time in Europe. Conceived during his lifetime and in close consultation with the artist, Jack's Jacks shows how Whitten continually expanded the boundaries of abstract painting over a period of more than five decades. Starting with gestural paintings that were created under the influence of abstract expressionism, the exhibition traces Whitten's development up to his later experiments with structure and materiality, which ultimately resulted in his unique mosaic style. The focus is on paintings dedicated to historical events and prominent people.

The presentation at Hamburger Bahnhof brings together 30 major works from European and US collections, which Whitten viewed as “gifts” for the personalities quoted in the work titles. His fellow artists and painters occupy a special place. On display are works dedicated to his mentors Romare Bearden and Norman Lewis, his early role model Arshile Gorky, and prominent colleagues such as Andy Warhol, Louise Bourgeois, Robert Rauschenberg and Ellsworth Kelly.

Figures that shaped the painter's socio-political environment also appear on the canvas: King's Wish (Martin Luther's Dream) (1968), for example, was created as a psychedelic elegy to Martin Luther King; or the digital-looking forms of Apps for Obama (2011), which Whitten put together in honor of the 44th President of the USA, Barack Obama. The dazzling colors of his fragmented paintings are strongly reminiscent of the improvised solos and rhythms of jazz and reveal Whitten's unmistakable love for this style of music. In fact, several paintings were created in memory of the greats of jazz, such as Duke Ellington, John Coltrane and Bud Powell. But you can also meet other musicians such as Prince and BB King in the exhibition.

Partly formally reduced, partly of exuberant material and visual power, the works offer insight into the cultural, political and spiritual cosmos that shaped Jack Whitten's thinking and work. They are Jack's Jacks.

On the occasion of the exhibition, Prestel Verlag is publishing an extensive, illustrated catalog with contributions by Udo Kittelmann, Sven Beckstette, Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr., David Reed and Stanley Whitney, an interview between Zoé Whitley and Melvin Edwards and texts by Jack Whitten himself.