No Hesitation opens May 11, 2022 at TAG Gallery, 5458 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036. TAG is open 1pm-7pm, Wed-Sun
“No Hesitation: the Art of Joe Blaustein” celebrates the eponymous 98-year-old artist’s phenomenal creative achievements as well as his dynamic influence as a beloved teacher of art for over sixty-five years, including 63 years with UCLA and UCLA Extension. His work has been exhibited nationwide in traveling shows and awarded top honors by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Blaustein was also among a select group of artists included at the founding of the prestigious FIG gallery in Santa Monica, CA, where he successfully exhibited for over 20 years. TAG gallery is delighted to have Blaustein’s drawings, paintings, and etchings on view in its show in May 2022.
“His work is fearless,” says artist Elyse Wyman, co-curator of the show. “Looking at his paintings you are transported to a visceral world where mark making is immediate, passionate, and emotional.”
Of his own accomplishments, Blaustein says simply, “Both producing art and teaching art have given my life richness, meaning, and joy beyond measure.”
Additionally, the curated artwork of his students--who run the gamut from Gen Z to “the greatest generation”--will be on view in the auxiliary exhibit “Hangin’ With Joe.” Artist and co-curator of the show Shirley Asano Guldimann says that Blaustein taught her “the rhetoric of art and inspired me to make of each drawing and painting an existential journey,” while Susan Price, artist and co-curator, says, Blaustein “helped me become an artist…. I don’t know how the ‘magic’ works, though I have seen him work it with others.”
Finally, but not least, TAG is honoring Blaustein’s achievement as the only onsite photographer of color photographs of the legendary 1966 flood of Florence when the River Arno overflowed its banks. The gallery offered a free screening on May 21, 7-9 PM of filmmaker Alan Griswold’s award-winning short documentary titled “Joe Blaustein and the Flood of Florence.” The video is available for those who could not make it below.
TAG is happy and proud to curate and celebrate Joe Blaustein, who will be 99 years old this summer, with a multi-faceted exhibition of his achievements as iconic artist and teacher.
About the Gallery: TAG is a fine art gallery located on Museum Row in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1993, the gallery represents award-winning contemporary Southern California artists working in all mediums and styles.