EN
Portrait of the artist, Paris 2007 © Didier Gicquel
Portrait of the artist, Paris 2007 © Didier Gicquel

Almost all of John Chamberlain’s (1927-2011) sculptures are made out of steel used in the automobile industry. His primary interest was in the interaction between volume, form and colour. By wrinkling, rolling, crushing, compressing and stretching the steel parts he diversified the material’s surface and at the same time deconstructed it into its varied components. The gestural character of his works and rich variety of bright colours on the one hand and his use of everyday materials on the other mean that Chamberlain’s sculptures oscillate between Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art. His studies in the mid 1950s at Black Mountain College introduced him to Abstract Expressionism. He preferred experimenting with used items from everyday life before finding his ideal material in steel, which he discovered in the form of a bent fender from an old Ford in 1957.

In 1977 he began to experiment with photography. John Chamberlain used a wide-lense camera to capture an extreme wide angle of 150 to 360 degrees. During the exposure, Chamberlain moved and turned the camera without even looking through the viewfinder. His sculptures and photographs are the result of self-controlled and instinctive improvisation. Since the very beginning of the 1960s John Chamberlain’s works have been included in numerous important collections. In 1961 he took part in the São Paolo Biennale and 1964 he was represented at the Venice Biennale. Several retrospectives followed: especially significant are those at the Guggenheim Museum in New York (1976) and at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles (1986), followed by important exhibitions at the Kunsthalle, Baden-Baden (1991) and at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1996). John Chamberlain passed away in New York in 2011.

Exhibitions

Publications

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions
2023
Sculpture

Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne, Germany

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2022-23
Sculpture

Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris, France

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2020
Chamberlain in Paris

Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris, France

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2019
John Chamberlain. Baby Tycoons

Hauser & Wirth, New York, NY, USA

2018
John Chamberlain. ENTIRELYFEARLESS

Gagosian Gallery, London, UK

2017-18
John Chamberlain

Long House Reserve, East Hampton, NY, USA

2017

Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY, USA

2017
John Chamberlain. Photographs

Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris, France

2016
John Chamberlain. Poetic Form

Gagosian Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland

2016
John Chamberlain. Sculpture & Photography

Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne, Germany

2016
John Chamberlain. Photographs

Mana Contemporary, Jersey City, NJ, USA

2015
John Chamberlain

Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, Scotland

2014
John Chamberlain. Skulpturen 1962 - 1982. Ein Saal für die Sammlung

Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland

2013
John Chamberlain

Artzuid, Amsterdam Sculptuur Biennale, Amsterdam, Netherlands

2012
John Chamberlain. Photographs

Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris, France

2012
John Chamberlain: Choices

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY, USA

2011
Chamberlain at Pace

Pace Gallery, New York, NY, USA

2011
John Chamberlain. Curvatureromance

Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany

2011
John Chamberlain: Pictures

Steven Kasher Gallery, New York, NY, USA

2011-12
John Chamberlain. Photographs

Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne, Germany

Group exhibitions
2022
Test

Test

2022
Future Bodies from a Recent Past - Sculpture, Technology, and the Body since the 1950s

Museum Brandhorst, Munich, Germany

2021-22
Grand Masters

Galerie Karsten Greve AG, St. Moritz, Switzerland

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2019
Königsklasse IV

Pinakothek der Moderne/ Schloss Herrenchiemsee, Munich, Germany

2017-18
Winter Accrochage

Galerie Karsten Greve AG, St. Moritz, Switzerland

2017-18
A Tale of Two Worlds. Experimental Latin American Art in Dialogue with the MMK Collection 1940s-1980s

Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt a. M., Germany

2017
Autumn Show

Galerie Karsten Greve AG, St. Moritz, Switzerland

2016-17
Postwar. Art between the Pacific and the Atlantic 1945 – 1965

Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany

2015
America Is Hard to See

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA
 

2015
Chamberlain. Prouvé

Gagosian Gallery & Galerie Patrick Seguin, New York, NY, USA

2015
Accrochage

Galerie Karsten Greve AG, St. Moritz, Switzerland

2014-15
40 ǀ 10 Bilderwechsel

Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, Germany

2014
Accrochage

Galerie Karsten Greve AG, St. Moritz, Switzerland

2013
Wood, Metal, Paint: Sculpture from the Fisher Collection

Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

2013
Chamberlain | Mitchell

Gagosian Gallery, Rome, Italy

2013
Revolution: John Chamberlain, Ida Ekblad, Christine Streuli

Kunstmuseum Luzern, Luzern, Switzerland

2012-13
Something Turned into a Thing

Magasin III. Museum for Contemporary Art, Stockholm, Sweden

2012
Riot Selections From The Ann And Mel Schaffer Family Collection

The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, USA

2012
À Rebours

Venus Over Manhattan Art, New York, NY, USA

2012
Sculpture

Gagosian Gallery, Hong Kong, China

2012
Unspecified Urban Site

RH Gallery, New York, NY, USA

2012
Painting in Photography. Strategies of Appropriation

Städel Museum, Frankfurt a.M., Germany

2012
Works. 2012. Chamberlain. Stella. Weiwe

More Gallery, Giswil, Switzerland

2011
Stock Exhibition

Waddington Custot Galleries, London, UK

2011
Anti / Form - Skulpturen aus der Sammlung des MUMOK

Kunsthaus Graz, Graz, Austria

2011
20 Years of Presence. MMK 1991-2011

Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt a.M., Germany

2011-12
September 11

MoMA PS1, New York, NY, USA

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