Dennis Ashbaugh
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Dennis John Ashbaugh (born 1946 in
Red Oak, Iowa Red Oak is a city in, and the county seat of, Montgomery County, Iowa, United States, located along the East Nishnabotna River. The population was 5,596 in the 2020 census, a decline from the 6,197 population in 2000. History Red Oak derives ...
) is an American painter and artist who resides in River House in New York City, and also lives and works in Millbrook and Pawling, New York.


Themes and influences

As much as possible, Ashbaugh has avoided being labeled or categorized by various contemporary "isms":
Minimalism In visual arts, music, and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in the post-war era in western art. The movement is often interpreted as a reaction to abstract expressionism and modernism; it anticipated contemporary post-mi ...
,
Abstract Expressionism Abstract expressionism in the United States emerged as a distinct art movement in the aftermath of World War II and gained mainstream acceptance in the 1950s, a shift from the American social realism of the 1930s influenced by the Great Depressi ...
, Popism,
op art Op art, short for optical art, is a style of visual art that uses distorted or manipulated geometrical patterns, often to create optical illusions. It began in the early 20th century, and was especially popular from the 1960s on, the term "Op ...
or Color Field Painting. The constant through-line of Ashbaugh's abstract work is a focus on specific current events as seen through the prism of art history, such as the future, politics, computers, clones,
DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...
, networks and viruses (computer and biological), though he does not use computers to create these works. In 1992, Ashbaugh collaborated with science fiction and
cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting said to focus on a combination of "low-life and high tech". It features futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and cyberwa ...
novelist
William Gibson William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as cyberpunk. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, his ear ...
on the electronic poem ''
Agrippa (A Book of the Dead) ''Agrippa (A Book of the Dead)'' is a work of art created by science fiction novelist William Gibson, artist Dennis Ashbaugh and publisher Kevin Begos Jr. in 1992. The work consists of a 300-line semi-autobiographical Electronic literature, el ...
''. Ashbaugh cites Gibson and fellow cyberpunk novelist
Bruce Sterling Michael Bruce Sterling (born April 14, 1954) is an American science fiction author known for his novels and short fiction and editorship of the ''Mirrorshades'' anthology. In particular, he is linked to the cyberpunk subgenre. Sterling's first ...
as key influences, as well as
Barnett Newman Barnett Newman (January 29, 1905 – July 4, 1970) was an American painter. He has been critically regarded as one of the major figures of abstract expressionism, and one of the foremost color field painters. His paintings explore the sense ...
,
Jackson Pollock Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter. A major figure in the abstract expressionist movement, Pollock was widely noticed for his "Drip painting, drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household ...
, and
Mark Rothko Mark Rothko ( ; Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz until 1940; September 25, 1903February 25, 1970) was an American abstract art, abstract painter. He is best known for his color field paintings that depicted irregular and painterly rectangular reg ...
.


Early life

Ashbaugh's grandfathers were a blacksmith and a large landowner and farmer, his father, an electrical planner, and mother, a beautician. The Ashbaugh family moved to
Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, part of the Greater Los Angeles area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orang ...
, where as a child he intently watched the construction of
Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It was the first theme park opened by the Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney, ...
. A major influence in Ashbaugh's life was the newly born California surfing scene of the 1950s and 1960s—the era of surfing greats Phil Edwards, Hobart "Hobie" Alter, Gordon "Grubby" Clark, Carter Pyle, and Bruce Brown with whom he surfed. In 1961, his parents bought a trailer on the ocean in
San Clemente San Clemente (; Spanish for " St. Clement" ) is a coastal city in southern Orange County, California, United States. It was named in 1925 after the Spanish colonial island (which was named after a Pope from the first century). Located in the O ...
, down from where most of the Dana Point Mafia resided. The freedom and independence of surfing shaped his worldview both aesthetically and intellectually. Throughout his college years, Ashbaugh painted with oil or any paint he could get his hands on, often working on oversize canvases. He received a master's degree in 1969 from
California State University, Fullerton California State University, Fullerton (CSUF or Cal State Fullerton) is a public research university in Fullerton, California, United States. With a total enrollment of more than 41,000, it has the largest student body of the California State ...
. At the age of 19, he met
Frank Stella Frank Philip Stella (May 12, 1936 – May 4, 2024) was an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker, noted for his work in the areas of minimalism and post-painterly abstraction. He lived and worked in New York City for much of his career befor ...
, Barbara Rose
Alan Solomon
and
Leo Castelli Leo Castelli ( Krausz; September 4, 1907 – August 21, 1999) was an Italian-American art dealer who originated the contemporary art gallery system. His gallery showcased contemporary art for five decades. Among the movements which Castelli s ...
. Stella offered him the use of his studio in
Costa Mesa, California Costa Mesa (; Spanish language, Spanish for "coastal tableland") is a city in Orange County, California, United States. Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to an urban area including ...
, and later encouraged Ashbaugh to move to and paint in New York City.


Murray Street: "The Ovals" (1970)

Through Stella, Rose and others, Ashbaugh was introduced to many of the well-known working artists, performers, collectors, and gallery owners in New York City, many of whom frequented
Max's Kansas City Max's Kansas City was a nightclub and restaurant at 213 Park Avenue South in New York City, which became a gathering spot for musicians, poets, artists, and politicians in the 1960s and 1970s. It was opened by Mickey Ruskin (1933–1983) in Dece ...
, such as John Chamberlain,
Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...
,
Larry Poons Lawrence M. "Larry" Poons (born October 1, 1937) is an American abstract painter. Poons was born in Tokyo; he studied from 1955 to 1957 at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, with the intent of becoming a professional musician. Afte ...
,
Nancy Graves Nancy Graves (December 23, 1939 – October 21, 1995) was an American sculptor, painter, printmaker, and sometime filmmaker known for her focus on natural phenomena like camels or maps of the Moon. Her works are included in many public collection ...
, Carl André,
Brice Marden Nicholas Brice Marden Jr. (October 15, 1938 – August 9, 2023) was an American artist generally described as minimalist, although his work has roots in abstract expressionism, color field painting. and lyrical abstraction. He lived and worked i ...
,
Robert Rauschenberg Milton Ernest "Robert" or "Bob" Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008) was an American painter and graphic artist whose early works anticipated the Pop art movement. Rauschenberg is well known for his Combine painting, Combines (1954 ...
. Ashbaugh leased a studio on Murray Street in
Tribeca Tribeca ( ), originally written as TriBeCa, is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. Its name is a syllabic abbreviation of "Triangle Below Canal Street". The "triangle" (more accurately a quadrilateral) is bounded by Canal Str ...
. He began working on a series entitled "The Ovals" (a reference to Larry Poons): Large fiberglass paintings using an elliptical format and drums of
polyester resin Polyester resins are synthetic resins formed by the reaction of dibasic organic acids and polyhydric alcohols. Maleic anhydride is a commonly used raw material with diacid functionality in unsaturated polyester resins. Unsaturated polyester r ...
. The unyielding, flat surfaces and intentionally ragged edges, obliquely allude to the matte encaustic surfaces that Brice Marden and
Jasper Johns Jasper Johns (born May 15, 1930) is an American painter, sculptor, draftsman, and printmaker. Considered a central figure in the development of American postwar art, he has been variously associated with abstract expressionism, Neo-Dada, and ...
were using at the time, albeit with a California twist. These paintings and drawings evolved directly from the artwork last painted in Costa Mesa, California, and were exhibited at the Orange County Museum of Art (formerly the Newport Harbor Art Museum), the
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) is an art museum in La Jolla La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood in San Diego, California, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the ...
(formerly La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art).


Greene Street: "The Shineys" (1971–1972)

In 1971, the art dealer
Ileana Sonnabend Ileana Sonnabend (née Schapira, October 29, 1914 – October 21, 2007) was a Romanian-American art dealer of 20th-century art. The Sonnabend Gallery opened in Paris in 1962 and was instrumental in making American art of the 1960s known in Europe, ...
and Henry Geldzahler, Director of Contemporary Art at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
, connected Ashbaugh to a space in the center of
SoHo SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...
. Ashbaugh then sold his Murray Street loft to performance artist
Laurie Anderson Laura Phillips "Laurie" Anderson (born June 5, 1947) is an American avant-garde artist, musician and filmmaker whose work encompasses performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and sculpting,Amirkhanian, Cha ...
and moved to 67 Greene Street, a space capable of accommodating his large paintings. Here, Ashbaugh began "The Shineys"—a series of fiberglass paintings, many as large as 120" by 240". The surfaces were glass-like, using
polyester resin Polyester resins are synthetic resins formed by the reaction of dibasic organic acids and polyhydric alcohols. Maleic anhydride is a commonly used raw material with diacid functionality in unsaturated polyester resins. Unsaturated polyester r ...
, industrial dyes and pigments. The Shineys were exhibited in solo exhibitions in Sweden alleri Ostegren, Malmö, Sweden and California (Jack Glenn Gallery, Corona del Mar, California), and acquired by the Orange County Museum of Art (formerly the Newport Harbor Art Museum), the
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) is an art museum in La Jolla La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood in San Diego, California, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the ...
(formerly La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art), and the owners of Artforum Magazine.


Whitney Museum Solo Exhibition: Russian Agitprop Series (1975)

Due to the
1973 Oil Crisis In October 1973, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) announced that it was implementing a total oil embargo against countries that had supported Israel at any point during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which began after Eg ...
, the use of 50-gallon drums of polyester resins became untenable as prices soared beyond Ashbaugh's means. For inspiration, Ashbaugh turned to the
Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...
of 1917, the beginning of abstract, non-objective painting with Malevich, Tatlin, and Lissitzky who themselves were abandoned by the state. Ashbaugh's paintings were extremely large (approximately 120 x 240 inches) and came away six inches from the wall. The hues were limited to
primary color Primary colors are colorants or colored lights that can be mixed in varying amounts to produce a gamut of colors. This is the essential method used to create the perception of a broad range of colors in, e.g., electronic displays, color prin ...
s with an unsettling inclusion of a tertiary palette. They were made with oil, and beeswax using an encaustic process, and titled in Russian. In 1975, the entire series, curated by Marcia Tucker, became a solo exhibition at the
Whitney Museum The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...
, as well as in Belgium (Galerie Alexandria Monett, Brussels) and France (Galerie Farideh Cadot, Paris).


Laguna Canyon: The Tijuana to Canada Series (1975–1976)

Ashbaugh decided to make work in the warmer months in
Laguna Beach, California Laguna Beach (; ''Laguna'', Spanish language, Spanish for "Lagoon") is a city in Orange County, California, United States. Located in Southern California along the Pacific Ocean, this seaside resort city has a mild year-round climate, scenic c ...
, where he leased an unfinished indoor-outdoor building with 50-foot ceilings, without doors or windows. He lived in a scaffolding to avoid scorpions and rattlesnakes. While moving studio equipment from New York to the Canyon Studio, Ashbaugh heard loud noises and sonic booms. Flying at
Mach speed The Mach number (M or Ma), often only Mach, (; ) is a dimensionless quantity in fluid dynamics representing the ratio of flow velocity past a boundary to the local speed of sound. It is named after the Austrian physicist and philosopher Erns ...
, stealth bombers from
Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton is the major West Coast base of the United States Marine Corps and is one of the largest Marine Corps bases in the United States. It is on the Southern California coast in San Diego County and is bordered by ...
and El Toro Marine Base were practice-flying up and down the canyon corridor. Their twisting, foreshortened configurations were reminiscent to Ashbaugh of the
Suprematism Suprematism () is an early 20th-century art movement focused on the fundamentals of geometry (circles, squares, rectangles), painted in a limited range of colors. The term ''suprematism'' refers to an abstract art based upon "the supremacy of p ...
work of Malevich and Lissitzky. Further, the planes were constructed with a precursor to
Vantablack Vantablack is a class of super-black coatings with total hemispherical reflectances (THR) below 1% in the visible spectrum. The name is a portmanteau of the acronym ''VANTA'' ( vertically aligned nanotube arrays) and ''black''. The original Van ...
which disguises all contours. Ashbaugh created large, unwieldy-shaped canvases with the flattest matte paint then available. The paintings were titled for the test flight corridor being used from Tijuana to Canada. Ashbaugh was awarded the
John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated dis ...
in 1976.


Greene Street Studio: The Nazca Series (1976–1977)

In 1976, Thomas M. Messer, Director of the Guggenheim Museum of Art in New York, recruited Ashbaugh to help organize and install Alfred Jensen's exhibition for the
São Paulo Art Biennial The São Paulo Art Biennial ( Portuguese: ''Bienal de São Paulo'') was founded in 1951 and has been held every two years since. It is the second oldest art biennial in the world after the Venice Biennale (in existence since 1895), which serves as ...
representing the United States. While completing the installation, Ashbaugh became aware of the earthworks that were championed by Virginia Dwan,
Michael Heizer Michael Heizer (born 1944) is an American land artist specializing in large-scale and site-specific sculptures. Working largely outside the confines of the traditional art spaces of galleries and museums, Heizer has redefined sculpture in term ...
,
Robert Smithson Robert Smithson (January 2, 1938 – July 20, 1973) was an American artist known for sculpture and land art who often used drawing and photography in relation to the spatial arts. His work has been internationally exhibited in galleries and mu ...
, and
Walter De Maria Walter Joseph De MariaRoberta Smith (July 26, 2013)Walter De Maria, Artist on Grand Scale, Dies at 77 ''New York Times''. (October 1, 1935July 25, 2013) was an American artist, sculptor, illustrator and composer, who lived and worked in New Yor ...
and that were being created in the Nevada desert. Ashbaugh traveled to
Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
, flew over the Nazca Lines, and contacted Maria Reiche, the German scholar and mathematician who had been studying cataloging and protecting the drawings in Nazca since 1946. When Ashbaugh returned to New York City, he began construction of the heavily contorted and large 10'x20' shaped Nazca canvas paintings. Ashbaugh thought of them as anthropomorphized planar geometry or as alien landing strips and imagined them placed on a wall vertically, not flat on the ground as in the earthworks in Nazca and Nevada. Founder
Alanna Heiss Alanna Heiss (born May 13, 1943, in Louisville, Kentucky) is the Founder and Director of Clocktower Productions, a non profit arts organization, online radio station, and program partnership with six cultural institutions in three boroughs in N ...
at PS1 Project Room in Brooklyn, now 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 ...
, curated the construction and installation of the work influenced by the Peru trip.


San Onofre Woofers Series: Double and Triple Shadows (1979–1984)

At the
Dia Art Foundation Dia Art Foundation is a nonprofit organization that initiates, supports, presents, and preserves art projects. It was established in 1974 by Philippa de Menil, the daughter of Houston arts patron Dominique de Menil and an heiress to the Schlumbe ...
, Ashbaugh saw from Andy Warhol's Hammer and Sickle work, that two shapes, even three distinct shapes, would cast only one combined shadow. He began a series paintings with multiple images but only one combined shadow. These works are loosely painted in fluorescents with swaths of glow-in-the-dark pigments. Seen with the lights off, they eerily resemble the frenetic brushwork of
Willem de Kooning Willem de Kooning ( , ; April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) was a Dutch-American abstract expressionist artist. Born in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, he moved to the United States in 1926, becoming a US citizen in 1962. In 1943, he married pa ...
or
Franz Kline Franz Kline (May 23, 1910 – May 13, 1962) was an American painter. He is associated with the Abstract Expressionist movement of the 1940s and 1950s. Kline, along with other action painters like Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Robert Mo ...
. Ashbaugh became fascinated by the new technology of paint chemistry and also applied flocking to the surfaces. Since 1974, Ashbaugh has focused on
First Amendment First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...
rights with concern for the degradation of journalistic news into a propaganda tool or a pop culture sales hook. In 1979, The
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
in New York City acquired a 108”x108" inch painting from the series titled "New Yorker Faces Iran Spy Trial". The title came from a headline of the sensationalist tabloid the ''
New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...
'', as was each painting in the entire Woofer Series. Ashbaugh's San Onofre Series (1980) had solo exhibitions at Knoedler Kasmin Gallery in London, the Richard Gray Gallery in Chicago, the Janie C. Lee Gallery, Houston, as well as acquisitions by the Hirshhorn Museum of Art in Washington, D.C. and at
Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
, the Orange County Museum of Art, and the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. These paintings were exhibited globally, traveling to England, Portugal, Australia, and South Africa. Natalie Knight Gallery (Johannesburg, South Africa), the Gulbenkian Foundation (Lisbon, Portugal), and the Swiss Art Foundation (Switzerland).


The Fashion World Exploits (1983–1984)

In 1983,
Anna Wintour Dame Anna Wintour ( ; born 3 November 1949) is a British-American media executive, who has been serving as editor-in-chief of '' Vogue'' since 1988. Wintour has also served as global chief content officer of Condé Nast since 2020, where she o ...
, the newly appointed editor of ''New York Magazine'', asked a group of artists, including Dennis Ashbaugh,
Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat (; December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the neo-expressionism movement. Basquiat first achieved notoriety in the late 1970s as part of the graffiti ...
,
David Salle David Salle (born September 28, 1952; last name pronounced "Sally") is an American Postmodern painter, printmaker, photographer, and stage designer. Salle was born in Norman, Oklahoma, and lives and works in East Hampton, New York. He earned a B ...
, for permission to include their work in a fashion shoot for publication. The issue was called "The Art Beat". Wintour was taken by way that Ashbaugh had incorporated the models into the staged artwork and made the decision to use this image as the magazine's centerfold. When told of the image's placement Ashbaugh requested that the centerfold become a
scratch and sniff Scratch and sniff technology is the application of a fragrant coating to items such as stickers or paperboard, so that when the coating is scratched it releases an odor that is normally related to the image displayed under the coating. The techn ...
that smelled of the models' perfume, a tribute to old porn magazines, a proposal that was of course rejected. The popular issue elevated Ms. Wintour to the position of editor in chief of ''Vogue.'' Ms. Wintour and
Alexander Liberman Alexander Semeonovitch Liberman (September 4, 1912 – November 19, 1999) was a Ukrainian-American magazine editor, publisher, painter, photographer, and sculptor. He held senior artistic positions during his 32 years at Condé Nast Publicatio ...
commissioned Ashbaugh to do an eight-page spread for
Condé Nast Condé Nast () is a global mass media company founded in 1909 by Condé Nast (businessman), Condé Montrose Nast (1873–1942) and owned by Advance Publications. Its headquarters are located at One World Trade Center in the FiDi, Financial Dis ...
using his brightly colored images.


Interactive Paintings: The Clone Series (1987)

With the many advancements in DNA and computer technologies, Ashbaugh believed there must be a viable path forward for abstract painting. As Barbara Rose stated, "Like Pollock, Ashbaugh is keenly aware that innovations in technology require a thoughtful response from artists who are awake to their own time". He began working on the large-scale, colorful Clone Series, conceptually based on the idea that entirety of art history could be placed on a single
floppy disk A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, a diskette, or a disk) is a type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined with a ...
. These paintings were shown in a retrospective at IVAM in Valencia, Spain, 2007.


Computer Viruses (1988–1990)

In 1988 the first computer virus was created by
Robert Tappan Morris Robert Tappan Morris (born November 8, 1965) is an American computer scientist and entrepreneur. He is best known for creating the Morris worm in 1988, considered the first computer worm on the Internet. Morris was prosecuted for releasing th ...
, a
Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
student. Ashbaugh recognized it as a major technological and cultural event where computer information could be created then co-opted and deleted. He perceived this as a
paradigm shift A paradigm shift is a fundamental change in the basic concepts and experimental practices of a scientific discipline. It is a concept in the philosophy of science that was introduced and brought into the common lexicon by the American physicist a ...
—that information would never again be the same. Reminded of Robert Rauschenberg's erasure of the Willem de Kooning drawing, Ashbaugh embarked on painting a series of large black and fluorescent works using the visual images located in the aftermath of a virus attack, or in his words, "a new beginning". The works were painted with glossy industrial floor enamel and
epoxy Epoxy is the family of basic components or Curing (chemistry), cured end products of epoxy Resin, resins. Epoxy resins, also known as polyepoxides, are a class of reactive prepolymers and polymers which contain epoxide groups. The epoxide fun ...
, appearing as blank television screens with color charts, inserted on either the upper or lower framing edge. Solo exhibitions followed at the Marisa del Re Gallery, Paul Kasmin Gallery, and IVAM (Valencia, Spain).


DNA Gene Stain Paintings (1989–1990)

The
Human Genome Project The Human Genome Project (HGP) was an international scientific research project with the goal of determining the base pairs that make up human DNA, and of identifying, mapping and sequencing all of the genes of the human genome from both a ...
, launched in 1990 by
James Watson James Dewey Watson (born April 6, 1928) is an American molecular biology, molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist. In 1953, he co-authored with Francis Crick the academic paper in ''Nature (journal), Nature'' proposing the Nucleic acid ...
and
Craig Venter John Craig Venter (born October 14, 1946) is an American scientist. He is known for leading one of the first draft sequences of the human genome and led the first team to transfect a cell with a synthetic chromosome. Venter founded Celera Geno ...
gave Ashbaugh the idea of the Gene Stain Paintings. He used washes of color, alluding to Morris Louis's stain paintings and subtle markings on large-scale canvases. When art history scholar and critic
Robert Rosenblum Robert Rosenblum (July 24, 1927 – December 6, 2006) was an American art historian and curator known for his influential and often irreverent scholarship on European and American art of the mid-eighteenth to 20th centuries. Biography Rosenblum wa ...
first saw this work in 1990, he remarked "Why would anyone want to make stain paintings now"? Ashbaugh reminded the critic that as early as 1946, Barnett Newman had painted a work title
“The Genetic Moment.”
Ashbaugh executed these paintings at various makeshift outdoor studios due to the extreme toxicity of the paints used. The Gene Stain Paintings were exhibited at the
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...
, the Marisa del Re Gallery, the Paul Kasmin Gallery and IVAM. Print editions were acquired by
Microsoft Corporation Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
,
Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5  ...
, an
State Department Art Collections in Embassies.
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Agrippa (A Book of the Dead) (1992)

A collaborative book by the founder of cyberpunk,
William Gibson William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as cyberpunk. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, his ear ...
and Dennis Ashbaugh was published in 1992 in two limited editions (Deluxe and Small) and entitled ''
Agrippa (A Book of the Dead) ''Agrippa (A Book of the Dead)'' is a work of art created by science fiction novelist William Gibson, artist Dennis Ashbaugh and publisher Kevin Begos Jr. in 1992. The work consists of a 300-line semi-autobiographical Electronic literature, el ...
.'' The book included copperplate
aquatint Aquatint is an intaglio printmaking technique, a variant of etching that produces areas of tone rather than lines. For this reason it has mostly been used in conjunction with etching, to give both lines and shaded tone. It has also been used ...
etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other type ...
s (Ashbaugh) and a poem (Gibson). See separate Wikipedia entry: ''
Agrippa (A Book of the Dead) ''Agrippa (A Book of the Dead)'' is a work of art created by science fiction novelist William Gibson, artist Dennis Ashbaugh and publisher Kevin Begos Jr. in 1992. The work consists of a 300-line semi-autobiographical Electronic literature, el ...
''


Degraded DNA Paintings (1995–1996)

In the early 1990s, there was much discussion in the forensic and scientific communities, as well as in the culture at large, as to what fraction of DNA was required to make an accurate analysis of ancestry, race and origin. Working outdoors, Ashbaugh became aware of rust as well as the elements of sun, acid rain, and snow to cause entropic decay. He used
Corten steel Weathering steel, often referred to by the genericised trademark COR-TEN steel and sometimes written without the hyphen as corten steel, is a group of steel alloys that form a stable external layer of rust that eliminates the need for painti ...
dust, and fugitive fluorescent pigments, which degrade with ultraviolet rays, on large canvases and placed them outside for a year. The components turned into a rich rusted patina on 108”x108" canvases. They resembled used paintings and made allusions to the paintings of Anselm Kieffer and
Julian Schnabel Julian Schnabel (born October 26, 1951) is an American painter and filmmaker. In the 1980s, he received international attention for his "plate paintings"—with broken ceramic plates set onto large-scale paintings. Since the 1990s, he has been a ...
and were exhibited at Marisa del Re Gallery and IVAM.


Hiding in Plain Sight (2004–2007)

The issues of
privacy Privacy (, ) is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively. The domain of privacy partially overlaps with security, which can include the concepts of a ...
and
identity Identity may refer to: * Identity document * Identity (philosophy) * Identity (social science) * Identity (mathematics) Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Identity'' (1987 film), an Iranian film * ''Identity'' (2003 film), an ...
became a deep concern for Ashbaugh. In 2006, the company
23andMe 23andMe Holding Co. is an American personal genomics and biotechnology company based in South San Francisco, California. It is best known for providing a direct-to-consumer genetic testing service in which customers provide a saliva testing, sali ...
, began selling DNA kits for purposes of genealogical inquiry—individual heritage studies for home use—accumulating vast quantities of data. Later at the
Whitehead Institute Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research is a non-profit research institute located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States that is dedicated to improving human health through basic biomedical research. It was founded as a fiscally indep ...
in Cambridge Massachusetts, Ashbaugh met Yaniv Erlich an Israeli scientist whose laboratory had just determined that no genetic information is private and can be accessed by anyone. Ashbaugh had been painting large DNA works with saturated colors like the washes of his earlier series. Each of the brightly colored paintings of a typical human genetic sequence were now covered with camouflage so that any adequate reading of the sequence could not be accurately determined. This series was shown at IVAM in Valencia, Spain, as a part of the major 2007 Ashbaugh retrospective organized by critic Barbara Rose, and at the National Academy of Sciences.


Personal life

He is the longtime companion of author
Alexandra Penney Alexandra Penney is an American artist, journalist, and author. Biography Penney was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Greek-American parents. She graduated from Smith College with a BA in Philosophy. As a single mother, she entered the field of ...
. He has been characterized by ''The New York Times'' as a "charismatic ex‐surfer whose address book can probably hold its own against that of the most aggressive jet set type".


Awards

* First Place, United States Olympic Architecture Design Competition (1996) * John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship (1976) * C.A.P.S., New York State Council on the Arts (1975)


Selected solo exhibitions

Source: * Institut Valencia d’Art Modern IVAM (a retrospective of works), Valencia, Spain (2007) * National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC (2006) * Margulies-Taplan Gallery, Miami, FL (1994) * Marisa, del Re Gallery, New York, NY (1993) * Goode Crowley Editions, Houston, TX (1993) * The Americas Society, New York, NY (1992) * The Metropolitan Museum of Art Mezzanine Gallery, New York, NY (1992) * The Kitchen, New York, NY (1992) * Margulies-Taplan Gallery, Miami, FL (1990) * Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, NY (1990) * Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, NY (1989) * Charles Cowles Gallery, New York, NY (1982) * Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago, IL (1982) * Charles Cowles Gallery, New York, NY (1982) * Kasmin-Knoedler Gallery, London, England (1981) * Charles Cowles Gallery, New York, NY (1980) * Janie C. Lee Gallery, Houston, TX (1980) * Galerie Farideh Cadot, Paris, France (1979) * PS I, Long Island City Project Rooms, NY (1977) * Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA (1976) * Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (1975) * Galleri Ostergren, Malmö, Sweden (1972) * Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, CA (1971) * Gallery Farideh Cadot, Paris, France (1970) * La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, CA (1970)


Selected Collections

Source: * Boca Raton Museum of Art, FL * Brooklyn Museum, NY * Crocker National Bank, San Francisco, CA * Drew University, Madison, NJ * First City Bank, Houston, TX * First National Bank of Minnesota, MN * First National City Bank, New York, NY * Florida International University Museum, FL * General Electric Co., New York, NY * London Getty Museum of Art, Malibu, CA * Gilman Paper Company, St. Mar's, GA * Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal * Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. * Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX * Illinois State University, Normal, IL * Knight Rider Publications, Miami, FL * Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York, NY * Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA * Lowe Art Museum, Miami, FL * Manufacturers Hanover Trust, New York * Martin Z. Margulies, Grove Island, Coconut Grove, FL * Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York * Museum of Modern Art, Teheran, Iran * National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. * Newport Harbor Art Museum, CA * New York City Public Library, NY * Owens Corning, New York, NY * Queensborough College, Bayside, NY * Rolls Royce, Inc., New York, NY * San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA * Seattle First National Bank, Seattle, WA * Seattle Museum of Contemporary Art, Seattle, WA * Security Pacific Bank, Los Angeles, CA * Stanford University Art Museum, Palo Alto, CA * The Swiss Art Foundation, Switzerland * University of California at Berkeley Art Museum, CA * Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA


Further reading

Source: * "Above and Beyond," ''New Yorker,'' Dec. 14, 1992. * Antequera, P., Exposición Retrospectiva: Dennis Ashbaugh, El Pintor Del A.D.N." Maragall, Sept. 25, 2007, p. 18. * Ashbaugh, Dennis, ''Paintings from 1974 to 1984,'' The Main Art Gallery of California State University, Fullerton, , 1984. * Beers, David, "The Gene Screen," ''Vogue,'' Jun. 1990, ill p. 237. * Blanchard, Joseph, "New York Art," ''Fuji International,'' Tokyo, Japan, Oct. 1987, p. 22. * Blumberg, Roger B., "Agrippa (A Book of the Dead)” in ''The Sciences Magazine,'' September/October 1995, p. 19. * Bofferding, R.L. & Barbara Rose, "Dennis Ashbaugh: Paintings from 1974 to 1984." * Bofferding, R.L., "Dennis Ashbaugh", ''Arts Magazine'', April 1982. * * Braff, Phyllis, "Ideas and Form on the Edge," ''New York Times,'' May 7, 1989. * Brock, Hovey, ''Artnews,'' Oct. 1993, p. 167. * Brooks, Valerie, "Artists Choose Artists," ''Arts Extra WBAI-FM,'' Jun. 24, 1983, Edition #27. * Chollet, Lawrence, "Second Sight," ''Los Angeles Times Magazine,'' Sept. 12, 1993, pp. 55–8. * Chollet, Lawrence, "The Story You Just Can't Forget," ''Sunday Record,'' May 17, 1992, pp. 1–8. * Cooper, Rhonda, ''Suffolk Life,'' Dec. 4, 1985. * Cyphers, Peggy, ''Arts Magazine,'' Oct. 1989, pp. 105–6. * Dawson, Jessica, "Ashbaugh: Art Is in the Genes", ''Washington Post,'' February 17, 2007, p. C2. * Egan, Kip, "The Big Picture," Lannan Foundation, Catalogue essay. * "Exhibit at the Danforth," ''Newswest,'' Volume 1, Number 6. * Flam, Jack D., "Artists Choose Artists," Catalogue essay, Jun. 1983, p. 18. * Frank, Elizabeth, ''Art in America,'' Oct. 1980. * Gehr, Richard, "Here Today," ''Village Voice,'' Dec. 29, 1992, p. 93. * "Genetic Portraits: A Suite of Etchings," ''Print Collector’s Newsletter,'' Vol. XXIII, No. 2, May–June 1992, p. 67-68. * "Headline Art" in: ''The New Standard, Londoner’s Diary,'' June 26, 1981, p. 6. * Hopkins, Bud, "Dennis Ashbaugh" in ''Artforum,'' January 1976, pp. 59–60. * ''Issues in Science and Technology Magazine.'' Spring 2006, , pp. 60–61, 96. * IVAM (Institut Valencià d’Art Modern), ''Dennis Ashbaugh: The Aesthetics of Biology,'' IVAM: Valencia, Spain, 2007, * Jonas, Gerald, "The Disappearing $2,000 Book," ''New York Time Book Review,'' Aug. 29, 1993, p. 12. * Lavell, Steve, Ashbaugh at Kasmin, May 1981. * Lawson, Carol, ''New York Times,'' Apr. 1983. * Lieberman, Rhonda, ''Artforum,'' Jun. 1992. * Lipson, Karin, "Future of Art: Diversity," ''New York Newsday,'' Jun. 1989. * Markoff, John, "The Influence of Cyberpunk," ''New York Times,'' Nov. 25, 1990. * Martin, Guy, "Man at his Best," ''Esquire Japan,'' Aug. 1992. * Martin, Guy, "Read it Once," ''Esquire,'' May 1992, p. 33. * Matthews, Tom, "Say Goodbye to the Past" in: IVAM (Institut Valencià d’Art Modern), ''Dennis Ashbaugh: The Aesthetics of Biology,'' IVAM: Valencia, Spain, 2007, , pp. 40–71. * Murray, Jesse, ''Arts Magazine,'' Nov. 1980, p. 14. * Pearlman, Jill, "Do You Look Good in Genes? Dennis Ashbaugh: New Paintings" in: ''Paris Passion,'' June 1989. * Plagens, Peter, "Last Minute Reprieve," ''Newsweek,'' Jan. 13, 1992, p. 62-3. * Plagens, Peter, "Art in America", Apr. 1985, Volume 3, Issue 4, p. 144. * Princenthal, Nancy, Print Collectors Newsletter, May-Jun. 1992. * Quittner, Josh, "Read Any Good Webs Lately?" ''New York Newsday,'' Jun. 16, 1992. * Rastenberger, Jim, "Book Lark," ''Vanity Fair,'' Apr. 1992, p. 124. * Ratcliff, Carter, "Abstract Painting: The Idea of Modernity," Catalogue essay, Feb. 1985. * Rose, Barbara, "Art and Science Team Up," ''Art and Auction,'' , June 1992, p. 32. * Rose, Barbara, "Ashbaugh Sets Stage," ''Vogue,'' February 1984, pp. 318–25. * Rose, Barbara, "Dennis Ashbaugh," Journal of Art, Jun.-Jul. 1989, p. 15 * Rose, Barbara, ''American Painting: The Eighties,'' Catalogue essay, pp. 10, 12, 18, 104.. * Rose, Barbara, ''American Painting: The Twentieth Century,'' pp. 155–7, ill. p. 175. * Rose, Barbara, "The Aesthetics of Biology" in: IVAM (Institut Valencià d’Art Modern), ''Dennis Ashbaugh: The Aesthetics of Biology,'' IVAM: Valencia, Spain, 2007, , pp. 14–29. * Russell, John, ''New York Times,'' Jun. 10, 1983, p. C6. * Scarpa, Mark, Project X issue #23 ''"Agrippa,: The Transmission,"'' pg. 38. * Schejidahl, Peter, "Second Hand Rose," ''Village Voice,'' Jan. 1992, p. 86. * Smith, Roberta, "Abstraction: A Trend That May Be Coming Back," ''New York Times,'' Jan. 10, 1992, p. C28. * Spector, Buzz, ''New Art Examiner,'' May 1981, p. 18. * Swartz, Evan, "A Computer Book You Cannot Put Down," ''Businessweek,'' Dec. 21, 1992, p. 86. * Talmer, Jerry, "Artist Steals Post Headlines," ''New York Post,'' Jan. 16, 1982, p. 13. * Talasek, J.D., "Genetics, Visual Culture, Tasteless Tomatoes, and Other Mischief" in: IVAM (Institut Valencià d’Art Modern), ''Dennis Ashbaugh: The Aesthetics of Biology,'' IVAM: Valencia, Spain, 2007, , pp. 30–39. * ''The Week Magazine,'' "Where to Buy? Dennis Ashbaugh", October 11, 2002, p. 28. * Wei, Lilly, ''Art in America,'' Nov. 1993. * Wintour, Anna, "Painting the Town," ''New York Magazine,'' Aug. 29, 1983, pp. 53, 70–1.


Selected Network Coverage

Source:See ''Dennis Ashbaugh: The Aesthetics of Biology.''Valencia, Spain: Institut Valencià D’Art Modern (IVAM), 2007. , p. 176. * "Paradise Now": Focus, Regional News Network, NY/CT/NJ, September 12, 2000. * "Art and Mind": Produced by Mimi Tompkins, Bravo Television, December 2000. * "Gene Thoughts": Australia Television, December 2000. * "Agrippa," CBS, December 18, 1992. * "Agrippa," ZDF Television, Germany, December 1992.


References


External links


Dennis Ashbaugh
at Wingate Studio
Website
Website of Dennis Ashbaugh {{DEFAULTSORT:Ashbaugh, Dennis 1946 births Living people 20th-century American painters 21st-century American painters American male painters Artists from New York (state) People from Red Oak, Iowa 20th-century American male artists 21st-century American male artists