Julius Wasserstein

Art Forum, July 1962 review:
Abstraction or action painting as a technique in itself no longer necessarily equals “art”. IN Pollock or de Kooning, artists that cannot be pinned down to either the figurative or abstract camp, we have two giant minds whose separate daring explorations have added new dimensions to our existence. It is this then, that is both the meaning and the context of their work. The division of art into figurative and non-figurative is a trap which conceals the essential …the means becomes more important than the content.

Julius Wasserstein falls into a similar trap. He is an action painter “par excellence,” who demonstrates his enormous control over his technique like a superb athlete. Beautiful velvet black brush strokes, luscious clots of paints spontaneous scribbles dug inot the paint surface, elegant flourishes, deadly slashes: all demonstrate that he has learned his lessons well. What originally, some twenty years ago, arose out of an agony of double he does with ease and assurance. J.C.

untitled 1972 acrylic on canvas 37.5 x 57"
Julius Wasserstein Art Forum, July 1962 review: Abstraction or action painting as a technique in itself no longer necessarily equals “art”. IN Pollock or de Kooning, artists that cannot be pinned down to either the figurative or abstract camp, we have two giant minds whose separate daring explorations have added new dimensions to our existence. It is this then, that is both the meaning and the context of their work. The division of art into figurative and non-figurative is a trap which conceals the essential …the means becomes more important than the content. Julius Wasserstein falls into a similar trap. He is an action painter “par excellence,” who demonstrates his enormous control over his technique like a superb athlete. Beautiful velvet black brush strokes, luscious clots of paints spontaneous scribbles dug inot the paint surface, elegant flourishes, deadly slashes: all demonstrate that he has learned his lessons well. What originally, some twenty years ago, arose out of an agony of double he does with ease and assurance. J.C.	untitled circa 1972 acrylic on canvas 31x39"