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Rodeo

Two rectangular canvases, one in yellow the other in grey, joined horizontally.
© 2018 Brice Marden / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

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  • Two rectangular canvases, one in yellow the other in grey, joined horizontally.

Date:

1971

Artist:

Brice Marden
American, 1938-2023

About this artwork

During the past four decades, Brice Marden has played a key role in maintaining the vitality of abstract painting. Rodeo, a work of imposing scale and stark presence, represents a high point of his early career. Two rectangular canvas panels—one yellow, the other gray—are joined to form an eight-foot square. Each canvas is pulled across a deep (two and one-eighth-inch) stretcher and painted with a combination of oil and beeswax. The stretchers and thick, opaque pigment give Rodeo a sense of weight and a sculptural presence. Like all of Marden’s paintings, Rodeo is insistently handmade. The artist laid multiple layers of the medium over his canvas panels, adding an extraordinary sense of tactility to this relatively simple composition. The line joining the two panels may suggest a horizon line, and thus a landscape. The juxtaposition of two rectangular fields also recalls the work of Mark Rothko. In contrast to Rothko’s luminous, floating fields of color, Marden’s twin panels seem determinedly earthbound, presented as physical facts rather than as expressions of spiritual aspiration.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Contemporary Art

Artist

Brice Marden

Title

Rodeo

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1971

Medium

Oil and wax on two joined canvases

Dimensions

243.8 × 243.8 cm (96 × 96 in.)

Credit Line

Ada S. Garrett Prize Fund; estate of Katharine Kuh; through prior gift of Mrs. Henry C. Woods; gift of Lannan Foundation

Reference Number

1997.160

Copyright

© 2018 Brice Marden / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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