Julian Schnabel's works to appear at the Art Gallery of Ontario Special

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By KJ Mullins

Aug 26, 2010 in Arts

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By KJ Mullins.

Toronto - The Art Gallery of Ontario will be opening the Julian Schnabel Art and Film exhibit next week featuring massive art pieces by the filmmaker and painter.

“It has become abundantly clear, as Julian Schnabel’s painterly vision has evolved, that cinema has served to germinate his pictorial imagination, inspiring his paintings in diverse and dynamic ways,” said AGO curator of modern and contemporary art David Moos Thursday morning. “Julian Schnabel: Art and Film poses cinema as a connective force, coiling through his entire oeuvre and serving to link together formally disparate work via this shared theme.”

Schnabel appeared this morning at AGO to speak about his work. It was a rare chance for the media to look behind the scenes as an exhibit was being put together.

KJ Mullins

Julian Schnabel spoke to the media at AGO about his collection that will be on exhibit starting next week.

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Two of the sections in the exhibit area were indeed being worked on this morning. While workers installed works of art on the walls in a smaller room others were tackling a passway with movie posters. While passing the room as he talked with the media Schnabel was unhappy with what he saw. Stopping his conversation he quickly climbed up to get the posters into the order that told the story he wanted to be told.

KJ Mullins

Julian Schnabel spoke to the media at AGO about his collection that will be on exhibit starting next week.

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The pieces that will be on display for the public include works from the mid-1970s to a piece that is still in New York that was completed 2 weeks ago.

Paintings have often been merged into the world of the cinema using greats like Italian filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci, Marlon Brando, Mickey Rourke and Gary Oldman as subjects and inspiration.

"The show traces a personal connection to these people who worked in another practice than painting, often on both sides of the camera," says Schnabel. "Film is like a world outside of this world. Painting is like that too. When we are attracted to the imagination of a work, we pick a world that we prefer to live in."

In his initial speech this morning Schnabel told the audience that his art has allowed him to do the work in cinema that he wants to. He has been able to live off of his paintings to a degree that he has not had to compromise himself in order to survive.

KJ Mullins

Julian Schnabel spoke to the media at AGO about his collection that will be on exhibit starting next week.

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The New Yorker spoke about his time in Toronto comparing it to the United States about 50 years ago. He was impressed by the people and the culture.

He began his career as an artist with a first showing at Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston in 1976. Within three years he was considered a figurehead of new painting after a showing at Mary Boone Gallery in New York.

In 1996 he made his debut in the movie world with an account of the life of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was filmed in 2007 earning him Best Director at both the Cannes Film Festival and the Golden Globes.

KJ Mullins

Julian Schnabel spoke to the media at AGO about his collection that will be on exhibit starting next week.

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Schnabel is not a conventional man. His attire, mismatched shirt and baggy shorts, was enough to scream out "I don't march to the usual drummer." His work is no different, each piece screams to the viewer to be examined closely. New elements are found from each angle. Using paint, photos, material and the odd rug Schnabel has a truly unique approach to painting.

The exhibit will be on view for the public from September 1, 2010 through January 2, 2011. Julian Schnabel will be at the opening as well as appearing in conversation with Moos at a public talk on September 15.

The exhibit will include 50 of his paintings and four of his films Basquiat (1996), Before Night Falls (2001), Lou Reed: Berlin (2007) and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007).