John Torreano (born 1941) is an American artist from

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. He is currently clinical professor of studio art at the

Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development The New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development (commonly referred to as NYU Steinhardt) is the education school of New York University. The school was founded as the School of Pedagogy in 1890. Prior to ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

. Torreano is known for utilizing faceted gems in a variety of mediums in order to create "movement oriented perception" in his works. Artist

Richard Artschwager Richard Ernst Artschwager (December 26, 1923 – February 9, 2013) was an American painter, illustrator and sculptor. His work has associations with Pop Art, Conceptual art and Minimalism. Early life and art Artschwager was born in Washington, D. ...

described Torreano's works as "paintings that stand still and make ''you'' move."

Career

John Francis Torreano was born in

Flint, Michigan Flint is the largest city in Genesee County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. Located along the Flint River (Michigan), Flint River northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the Central Michigan, Mid Michigan region. Flin ...

, United States in 1941. He earned his BFA from the

Cranbrook Academy of Art The Cranbrook Academy of Art, a graduate school for architecture, art, and design, was founded by George Gough Booth and Ellen Scripps Booth in 1932. It is the art school of the Cranbrook Educational Community. Located in Bloomfield Hills, Mi ...

in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan in 1963. He received his MFA from

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

in 1967. In his career Torreano has visited nearly every major art school in the United States and Canada as an "artist in residence." Since 1992, he has been a clinical professor of studio art at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University. He is currently director of the MFA in Studio Art Program. Torreano has worked in a variety of mediums and methods including

paint Paint is a material or mixture that, when applied to a solid material and allowed to dry, adds a film-like layer. As art, this is used to create an image or images known as a painting. Paint can be made in many colors and types. Most paints are ...

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...

furniture Furniture refers to objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., Stool (seat), stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (table (furniture), tables), storing items, working, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Furnitur ...

and hand-blown

glass Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline solid, non-crystalline) solid. Because it is often transparency and translucency, transparent and chemically inert, glass has found widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in window pane ...

. His works have been exhibited at the

Whitney Museum of Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a modern and contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. The institution was foun ...

and 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 ...

, New York, the

Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago is a contemporary art art gallery, museum near Water Tower Place in the Near North Side, Chicago, Near North Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is on ...

, the

Corcoran Gallery of Art The Corcoran Gallery of Art is a former art museum in Washington, D.C., that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Founded in 1869 by philanthropist William Wilson Corco ...

, Washington, DC, the

Indianapolis Museum of Art The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) is an encyclopedic art museum located at Newfields, a campus that also houses Lilly House, The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park, the Garden at Newfields and more. It is located at the corner of No ...

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

, and many others. His series of paintings titled "TV Bulge" were featured in the 1969

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932; the first biennial was held in 1973. It is considered ...

Major themes

Torreano grew up in a large

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

family and spent much of his youth as an altar boy. Torreano states that the environment of the Catholic church influenced his art, with his use of jewels serving as a metaphor for vigil lights. Other religious influences appear in his pieces as well: his work in the 1980s included bejeweled crosses, and in recent years his paintings have used gems to create space-like constellations such as ''Exploding Galaxy'' (1981) and ''Star Field in Saggitarius'' (2003). Throughout his career Torreano has investigated the properties of real and fake gemstones in the differing contexts of lighting, placement and materials. In 1972, as an artist in residence at the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

, Torreano first began integrating gems into his paintings. Torreano then experimented with jewel-encrusted columns in 1974-5 and later, intricate furniture pieces, such as a bejeweled mahogany table in 1983. Torreano theorizes that all art "exists somewhere between a totally abstract creation and a total reproduction of physical things in the world." He believes that artists are similar to

physicists A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

in their use of theoretical models to gain insight into the physical world. Torreano uses the gem to bring together the world of theory and the world of things. Because gems are a

geometric Geometry (; ) is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. Geometry is, along with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician w ...

form as well as an object of

popular culture Popular culture (also called pop culture or mass culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of cultural practice, practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as popular art

f. pop art F is the sixth letter of the Latin alphabet. F may also refer to: Science and technology Mathematics * F or f, the number 15 (number), 15 in hexadecimal and higher positional systems * ''p'F'q'', the hypergeometric function * F-distributi ...

or mass art, sometimes contraste ...

, his use of fake gems can become real art by standing in the gap between the two. Because of this, Torreano describes his work as "real fake art." Torreano argues that humans have a role in fabricating and refining gems, just as the artist fabricates a sculpture. Because of this, Torreano's works can be considered more valuable than real gems because there are fewer of them and they are created by an individual artist, "making art value the highest value."

Solo exhibitions

* 2017: ''Color and Material, Reflection and Apparition.'' NYUAD, NY, NY * 2017: ''Dark Matters Without Time.'' NYU Department of Art and Art Professions, Barney Building, NY, NY * 2016: ''Above Below and Below Below.'' Projects Space, NYUAD Saadiyat Island Abu Dhabi, UAE * 2015: ''John Torreano.'' Susanne Hilberry Gallery, Ferndale, MI * 2014: ''Ghost Gems.'' Parrish Museum, Southampton, NY * 2011: ''John Torreano Wall Constructions and Gems.'' Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL * 2009: ''Remembering: Neighborhoods and Factories, Flint, Michigan''. Gallery Space at NYU Wagner School of Social Service, NY, NY * 2008: ''Looking Close, Looking Far: A Survey of Artworks by John Torreano''. Elaine L. Jacob Gallery, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI * 2007: ''Scapes.'' Feature Inc., New York, NY * 2005: ''John Torreano.'' Armory Art Center, West Palm Beach, FL * 2003: Center for Creative Studies, Detroit MI * 1999: ''John Torreano: Material World''. JCCC Gallery of Art, Overland Park KS * 1999: ''The Columns: Choreography of Perceptions''. The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown OH * 1997: ''John Torreano''. Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis IN * 1993: ''Every Gem is a Hand Held Star''. Norton Gallery of Art, Palm Beach * 1989: ''John Torreano: Natural Models and Material Illusions''. The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC * 1988: ''Diamond Vases, An Installation''. Museum of Modern Art, NY, NY * 1988: ''John Torreano: Gems, Stars and Perpetual Thinking''. Grand Rapids Art Museum, Grand Rapids MI * 1987: ''100 Diamonds''. Jamie Wolf Gallery, New York NY * 1968: The Whitney Museum School, New York NY

Grants and awards

* 2014: New York Abu Dhabi University Grant, NYUAD, UAE * 2013: New York Abu Dhabi University Grant, NYUAD, UAE * 2009: University Council Visual Arts Initiative Award, NYU * 2003: The Nancy Graves Foundation Grant for Visual Artists * 1991:

John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation is a private foundation formed in 1925 by Olga and Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died on April 26, 1922. The organization awards Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Gr ...

, Fellowship * 1989: National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, Washington DC * 1982: National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, Washington DC * 1979: Creative Arts for Public Service Program, New York NY

Publications

* 2007: ''Drawing by Seeing'' (Abrams Studio) * 2006: ''American Art Since 1900'' (Blanton Museum of Art) * 1992: ''John Torreano: Metaphors and Oxymorons'' (The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC)

References

External links

John Torreano's personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Torreano, John Artists from New York (state) 20th-century American painters American male painters 21st-century American painters 21st-century American male artists Cranbrook Academy of Art alumni New York University faculty Ohio State University alumni 1941 births Living people 20th-century American male artists