Jon Hendricks (born 1939) is an American artist,

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

and political activist. Since 2008, he has served as the

Fluxus Fluxus was an international, interdisciplinary community of artists, composers, designers, and poets during the 1960s and 1970s who engaged in experimental performance art, art performances which emphasized the artistic process over the finishe ...

Consulting

Curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

of the Gilbert and Lila Silverman Collection at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

(MoMA).

Art and activism

Hendricks' art career began in the late 1950s. He moved to Paris in 1959 and studied at

Atelier 17 Atelier 17 was an art school and studio that was influential in the teaching and promotion of printmaking in the 20th century. Originally located in Paris, the studio relocated to New York City during the years surrounding World War II. It moved ...

with

Stanley William Hayter Stanley William Hayter (27 December 1901 – 4 May 1988) was an English painter and master printmaker associated in the 1930s with surrealism and from 1940 onward with abstract expressionism. Regarded as one of the most significant printmakers ...

. In the mid-1960s, he was the director of the basement gallery at

Judson Memorial Church The Judson Memorial Church is located on Washington Square South between Thompson Street and Sullivan Street, near Gould Plaza, opposite Washington Square Park, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhatt ...

in Greenwich Village, where he also performed and took part in

happenings A happening is a performance, event, or situation art, usually as performance art. The term was first used by Allan Kaprow in 1959 to describe a range of art-related events. History Origins Allan Kaprow first coined the term "happening" in t ...

. Hendricks founded the Guerrilla Art Action Group with

Jean Toche Jean Toche (1932-2018) was a Belgian-American abstract artist and poet involved in New York's radical political art scene. Career Jean Toche was born in Bruges, Belgium, on 15 August 1932. He moved to New York City in 1965, where he became heav ...

in 1969, and is credited as a member of the

Art Workers' Coalition The Art Workers' Coalition (AWC) was an open coalition of artists, filmmakers, writers, critics, and museum staff that formed in New York City in January 1969. Its principal aim was to pressure the city's museums – notably the Museum of Modern Art ...

. In November 1970, he joined Toche and fellow artist

Faith Ringgold Faith Ringgold (born Faith Willi Jones; October 8, 1930 – April 13, 2024) was an American painter, author, Sculpture, mixed media sculptor, performance artist, and Intersectionality, intersectional activist, perhaps best known for her Narrativ ...

in an exhibition at the Judson Church called the People's Flag Show, which resulted in a police raid and the artists' arrest for

flag desecration Flag desecration is the desecration of a flag, violation of flag protocol, or various acts that intentionally destroy, damage, or mutilate a flag in public. In the case of a national flag, such action is often intended to make a political point ...

Curatorial and archival work

In 1981, Hendricks was enlisted by Gilbert and Lila Silverman to curate their collection of Fluxus documentation. He organized an exhibition of items from the Silverman collection at MoMA in 1988, which were on view in the Museum Library, two decades before the collection itself was donated to MoMA in 2008. In addition, he is a friend and artistic collaborator of

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono (, usually spelled in katakana as ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up in Tokyo and moved to New York ...

, serving as her curator and

archivist An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist can cons ...

since the late 1980s.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hendricks, Jon American_archivists American_performance_artists American activists 1939 births Living people American curators