Michael Zwack (1949 – May 5, 2017) was an American artist most often associated with

The Pictures Generation ''The Pictures Generation, 1974–1984'' was an exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) in New York City that ran from April 29 – August 2, 2009. The exhibition took its name from ''Pictures'', a 1977 five person group show organ ...

. He studied sculpture at

Buffalo State College The State University of New York Buffalo State University (colloquially referred to as Buffalo State University, SUNY Buffalo State, Buffalo State, or simply Buff State) is a public college, public university in Buffalo, New York. It is part of ...

and later, with artists such as

Robert Longo Robert Longo (born January 7, 1953) is an American artist, filmmaker, photographer and musician. Longo became first well known in the 1980s for his ''Men in the Cities'' drawing and print series, which depict sharply dressed men and women writ ...

and

Cindy Sherman Cynthia Morris Sherman (born January 19, 1954) is an American artist whose work consists primarily of photographic self-portraits, depicting herself in many different contexts and as various imagined characters. Her breakthrough work is often co ...

, he co-founded the

Hallwalls Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center (aka Hallwalls) is a non-profit art organization located in Buffalo, New York. Since 1974, Hallwalls has shown and shows the work of contemporary artists of diverse backgrounds who work in film, video, literatu ...

Gallery, a space run by a non-profit organization of the same name (still open today) in his hometown. Then as did many of his immediate contemporaries he relocated to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in the midst of its burgeoning art scene. His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at such galleries as

Metro Pictures Metro Pictures Corporation was a Film, motion picture production company founded in early 1915 in Jacksonville, Florida. It was a forerunner of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The company produced its films in New York, Los Angeles, and sometimes at le ...

and

Paul Kasmin Gallery The Kasmin Gallery, formerly known as the Paul Kasmin Gallery, is a New York City fine art gallery, founded in SoHo in 1989. History The gallery was founded by its namesake as the Paul Kasmin Gallery in 1989 and was initially housed at 74 Grand ...

in New York and

Thaddaeus Ropac Thaddaeus Ropac (born 16 January 1960) is an Austrian gallerist specializing in international contemporary art. He founded the Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in 1981, and represents today more than 60 artists with his galleries in Salzburg (Austria), Pari ...

Salzburg, Austria Salzburg is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Alps mountains. The town occupies the site of the Roman settlement ...

, and was included in

exhibition in 2009 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 ...

curated by Douglas Eklund. Writing in the February 1996 edition of

Artforum ''Artforum'' is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art. The magazine is distinguished from other magazines by its unique 10½ × 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist. Notably ...

, Rosetta Brooks said of his exhibition at Thomas Soloman's Garage:

"Part of a generation of artists in the early '80s who appropriated
mass media Mass media include the diverse arrays of media that reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit information electronically via media such as films, radio, recorded music, or television. Digital media comprises b ...
imagery, Zwack reconsiders the impact of the photographic on our way of seeing. He mines the photograph's ability to capture the fugitive, to reveal the unexpected, and to create a reverberative depth, celebrating the slow metamorphic quality of the natural world and our apprehension of it. For him, the image is a cipher of the archetypal, a vessel that has the power to hold echoes of an ancestral voice. Echoing the floating, phenomenal worlds that characterize the Japanese painting tradition, Zwack's work encourages a contemplative, almost trancelike relationship to the phenomenal world"...

Zwack died in New York City on May 5, 2017, due to

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...

. He was 67.

References

External links

Audio tour transcript for ''The Pictures Generation'' at the Met

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zwack, Michael 1949 births 2017 deaths American contemporary artists Artists from Buffalo, New York Deaths from lung cancer in New York (state)