For Immediate Release


Contact: Diane Frankel, Executive Director
Artists' Legacy Foundation
Tel: (510) 834-2787

THE ARTISTS’ LEGACY FOUNDATION
AWARDS $25,000 TO LLYN FOULKES  

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA (September 25, 2009) The Artists’ Legacy Foundation announced today that its third annual Artist Award of $25,000 will be given to painter Llyn Foulkes. The Foundation created the Artist Award to recognize and honor accomplishments of an outstanding visual artist whose primary medium is painting or sculpture.

Mr. Foulkes’ nominator wrote “Foulkes has been a major figure in the Los Angeles art scene since 1961 when he had a solo exhibition at the Ferus Gallery. Foulkes began as an abstract expressionist painter but by 1962 in his solo show at the Pasadena Art Museum, he showed emotionally charged, expressionist works that incorporated assemblage and found objects. His influence can be seen in several later generations of artists. Over his lengthy career, Llyn Foulkes has demonstrated exceptional talent, influence, perseverance and absolute dedication…. [His life as an artist has been marked by] his inability to compromise, his slightly acerbic and irreverent wit, and the challenging aspect of his work to a general audience.”

Pop, 1985-1990, mixed media including clothing and upholstery on wood, 84 x 123 x 3 in. Collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

Mr. Foulkes has been a practicing artist for over 40 years. Currently his work can be seen in New York at Kent Gallery and in Santa Monica at Craig Krull Gallery. Born in Yakima, Washington in 1934, he now resides in Los Angeles. He attended the Chouinard Art Institute (now CalArts) and upon graduating won the First Award for Painting and the First Award for Drawing. Throughout the late sixties and early seventies, Foulkes became well known for his paintings of rocks and the desert landscape of Southern California. In the seventies Foulkes stopped making the rock paintings fearing that he had “lost his soul and was selling out.” In 1973 he began a new series of paintings, which he referred to as “the bloody head paintings.”

Since the early eighties, Foulkes has been working on a series of tableaux including several recent large scale projects, The Lost Frontier (1997-2005), a tour de force image of the Los Angeles landscape as a heavenly wasteland; Deliverance (2004-2007), depicting the artist right after he has murdered Mickey Mouse (for Foulkes, long a symbol of corporate brainwashing); and The Awakening (1994-2009), a highly emotional and personal painting of the artist and his ex-wife that he began in the early nineties during the breakup of his marriage. He works on the tableau paintings for years, adding and subtracting elements, and painting with textured paste and paint in his pursuit of the ultimate illusion of depth.

Music has been a very important part of Llyn Foulke’s life. “Painting is my torment and music is my joy,” he says in a video. He performed in high school and later played drums with City Lights (1965-1971), followed by his own band named The Rubber Band (1973-1977). By 1979, Foulkes returned to a childhood interest in one-man bands, and constructed a machine from which he plays strings, keyboard, drums, horns, bells and sings. He performs regularly on the West Coast and in 2004 released a CD of original compositions entitled Llyn Foulkes and His Machine: Live at the Church of Art.

The Lost Frontier, 1997-2005, mixed media with soundtrack, 87 x 96 x 8 in.

Mr. Foulkes was surprised by the award and when reached by phone said, “Receiving the Artists’ Legacy Foundation’s Artist Award is a total surprise. I am thrilled and delighted to accept it and it will help me a great deal.” A ceremony honoring the artist will take place in Oakland, CA this October.

Each year, ten artists, either painters or sculptors, are nominated anonymously by five nominators for the Artist Award. This year the Foundation’s panel of jurors, which reviewed the nominations, included Judy Pfaff, painter; Michael Duncan,art critic, curator, and art historian; and Christopher Brown, painter. The nominators and the jurors are art world peers chosen. The 2009 jurors agreed: “It was very challenging to select the award recipient because all nominees were quite different from each other and extremely worthy.”

The Artists’ Legacy Foundation was established by artists Squeak Carnwath and Viola Frey and incorporated in Oakland, California in 2000. After the death of Viola Frey in 2004, her estate became the first to be transferred to the Artists’ Legacy Foundation. Over time, the Foundation anticipates adding additional artists’ estates.

Deliverance, 2004-2007, mixed media, 72 x 84 in.

The mission of the Artists’ Legacy Foundation is to promote the art and legacy of Foundation artists after their deaths and to support and advance painters and sculptors of the highest quality through award and grant programs. The Artist Award program is designed to encourage recipients to spend more creative time in their studios and allow ongoing professional enrichment. There are no restrictions on the use of funds by the recipient.

The Foundation serves as a resource to scholars, curators and the general public to deepen their understanding of the work of Foundation artists. Currently, Bigger Better More, The Art of Viola Frey, an exhibition supported by the Foundation and organized by the Racine Art Museum, is in Toronto at the Gardiner Museum and will open in late January at the Museum of Art and Design in New York. Educational programs sponsored by the Foundation help inform artists about estate planning and encourage record keeping and documentation by artists of all ages. A collaborative project with the Joan Mitchell Foundation entitled “Creating a Lasting Legacy” extends the work of the Artists’ Legacy Foundation, enabling four older artists to document their artwork, creating databases for a future catalogues raisonne.

The Awakening, 1994-2009, mixed media on wood, 40 ¼ x 44 x 7 in.

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Peter Saul receives second Artist Award

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA (September 30, 2008)

The Artists' Legacy Foundation announced today that its second annual award of $25,000 will be given to artist Peter Saul. The Foundation created the Artist Award to recognize and honor accomplishments of an outstanding visual artist whose primary medium is painting and/or sculpture.

Peter Saul is a painter. His nominator wrote: "I have admired Peter Saul's work for twenty years because his paintings challenge our aesthetic values as well as light a fire under our social, political and sexual conscience. His art is not meant to please but to engage, much like its historical precedents: Gericault's Raft of the Medusa and Picasso's Guernica. In the 1960's Peter Saul began to mix acrylic paint with his oil paint and commit more absolutely to the imaging techniques of popular cartoons. What Saul achieves in color and texture, raises the bar for un-likeable painting, painting we approach not to feel good but to really see. Peter Saul is definitely one of a kind and is deeply admired by young artists."

Peter Saul has been a practicing artist for the past 50 years. Mr. Saul was born in San Francisco in 1934. He attended the California School of Fine Arts (today the San Francisco Art Institute) and Washington University School of Fine Arts in St. Louis. He has worked and lived in many places: Holland, France, and Italy during eight years after college; Mill Valley, CA, Chappaqua, NY, and Austin, TX during the next 36 years. Mr. Saul taught at the University of Texas at Austin from 1981 until 2000, when he retired and moved to New York. Since 2001 he has lived in New York City and Germantown, NY. He is currently represented by the David Nolan Gallery in New York (www.davidnolangallery.com).

Peter Saul: A Retrospective, a major survey of the artist's paintings and drawings, was organized by guest curator Dan Cameron and the Orange County Museum of Art. It is on view in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from Oct. 18 to Jan. 4 and it will travel to the Contemporary Art Center in New Orleans. The catalogue published in conjunction with the exhibition provides the following observations: "Inspired to a creative breakthrough after glancing at a copy of Mad magazine, promoted by the Surrealist Matta, and discovered in Paris, American artist Peter Saul (b. 1934) has created often difficult, funny, and trenchant works-'sick jokes,' according to Robert Storr. His paintings have taken on subjects ranging from embarrassing personal foibles to important events in American history such at the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, and the atrocities at Abu Ghraib. Given the ongoing lack of recognition for the work of this controversial, influential, and pioneering artist, a deeper examination of Saul's career is long overdue." The 160 page catalogue includes essays by Dan Cameron and Michael Duncan and an interview by Robert Storr.

Mr. Saul was informed of the award by telephone and said: "Receiving the Artists' Legacy Foundation Award is a total surprise, and I am thrilled and delighted to accept it." A ceremony honoring the artist will take place in the San Francisco Bay Area this fall.

Each year, ten artists, either painters or sculptors, are nominated anonymously by five nominators for the Artist Award. This year the Foundation's panel of jurors included Polly Apfelbaum, painter; Richard Kalina , art critic, professor, painter, and art historian; and Gay Outlaw, sculptor. The nominators and the jurors are art world peers who are chosen for their expertise. The 2008 jurors agreed: "It was very challenging to select the award recipient because all ten nominees were extremely worthy."

The Artists' Legacy Foundation was established by artists Squeak Carnwath and Viola Frey and incorporated in Oakland, California in 2000. With the death of Viola Frey in 2004, her estate became the first to be transferred to the Artists' Legacy Foundation. Over time, the Foundation anticipates adding additional artists' estates.

The mission of the Artists' Legacy Foundation is to promote the art and legacy of Foundation artists after their deaths and to support and advance painters and sculptors of the highest quality through award and grant programs. The Artist Award program is designed to encourage recipients to spend more creative time in their studios and allow ongoing professional enrichment. As an award program there are no restrictions on the use of funds by the recipient.

Through publications and exhibitions, the Foundation serves as a resource to scholars, curators and the general public by deepening their understanding of the work of Foundation artists. Educational programs sponsored by the Foundation help inform artists about estate planning and choices they need to make about their work throughout their careers. In October 2008 a four week program on estate planning will be offered for working artists in conjunction with the San Francisco Art Institute. A collaborative project with the Joan Mitchell Foundation entitled, Creating a Lasting Record, extends the work of the Artists' Legacy Foundation. This project is enabling four older artists to document their artwork, creating data bases for future catalogues raisonne.

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THE ARTISTS’ LEGACY FOUNDATION AWARDS
FIRST $25,000 TO ARTIST

Kathy Butterly receives first Artists' Award

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA (September 12, 2007)

The Artists’ Legacy Foundation announced today its first award of $25,000, which will be given to New York artist Kathy Butterly. The Artist Award was created to recognize and honor the accomplishments of an outstanding visual artist whose primary medium is painting and/or sculpture.

The Artists’ Legacy Foundation was established by artists Squeak Carnwath and Viola Frey and was incorporated in California in 2000. With the death of Viola Frey in 2004, her estate became the first to be transferred to the Artists’ Legacy Foundation. Over time, the Foundation anticipates receiving additional artists’ estates.

The mission of the Artists’ Legacy Foundation is to promote the art and legacy of Foundation artists after their death and to support and advance established artists of the highest quality through award and grant programs, which are designed to encourage recipients to spend more creative time in their studios and for ongoing professional enrichment. As an award program there are no restrictions on the use of the funds by the recipient.

Through publications and exhibitions, the Foundation will serve as a resource to scholars, curators and the general public by deepening their understanding of the work of Foundation artists. Educational programs will help inform artists about estate planning and choices they need to make about their work throughout their careers. This October a four week program on estate planning will be offered for working artists in conjunction with the San Francisco Art Institute. A collaborative project with the Joan Mitchell Foundation entitled, Creating a Lasting Record, will extend the work of the Artists’ Legacy Foundation. This project will enable four artists to document thirty years of their artwork, creating a data base for a future catalogue raisonne.

The recipient of the first Artists’ Legacy Foundation Award, Kathy Butterly was selected solely by members of the Foundation’s panel of jurors. Ms. Butterly’s medium is ceramics. The artist was nominated anonymously and as her nominator said in the nomination letter: “I am particularly interested in her work because she crosses boundaries between craft and high art, and between sculpture, ceramic and painting. Abstract in form, often figurative in allusion, her pocket-sized porcelains are characterized by quirky, pop-surreal images with attitude, their discontent and subversion disguised by her remarkable, ingratiating range of luminous color and her breathtaking delicacy.”

Kathy Butterly has been a practicing artist for the past 17 years and is represented by the Tibor de Nagy Gallery in New York www.tibordenagy.com. She is a graduate of the Moore College of Art in Philadelphia and received her MFA from the University of California, Davis. Ms. Butterly was surprised and delighted by the award and said: “It was Viola Frey who first got me excited about clay and enabled me to see it as a powerful, expressive sculptural medium. Receiving the first Artists’ Legacy Foundation Award is a total surprise, and I am thrilled and humbled to accept it.” A ceremony honoring the artist will take place in the Bay Area this fall.

Ten artists, either painters or sculptors, were nominated anonymously by five nominators from across the country. This year’s panel of jurors included John Yau, art critic, essayist and poet; Judith Shea, sculptor and Mike Henderson, painter. The nominators and jurors are chosen for their expertise. As all of the jurors said: “It was very challenging to select the award recipient because the ten nominees were all extremely worthy.”

An exhibition of Kathy Butterly’s work will be presented in San Francisco at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission Street @ 3rd, from November 3 through November 18, 2007. For information and directions to YBCA, please visit www.ybca.org.

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Trustees of the Artists' Legacy Foundation include Squeak Carnwath, President; Steven H. Oliver, Vice President; Gary Knecht, Secretary/Treasurer; Sanford Hirsch; Leah Levy; Russell Panczenko; and Sandra Shannonhouse. To learn more about the Foundation, visit the web site at www.artistslegacyfoundation.org or call (510) 834-2787.