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"EVERY MAN A REMBRANDT"
THE NEW LEISURE
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THE UNFINISHED WORK OF PAINT BY NUMBER, 1960-2001
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Warhol Andy Warhol. Do It Yourself Flowers). 1962. Crayon on paper. Lent by the Sonnabend Gallery.


The Unfinished Work of Paint by Number, 1960-2001

By the end of the 1950s, paint by number was taking on a new life as a metaphor. It became a symbol of mechanical performance and mass culture. It was invoked to describe the kind of politics and merchandising ruled by opinion polls and market surveys. Pop art adopted paint by number in the early 1960s as part of its commentary on popular culture. By the early 1990s the paint-by-number phenomenon had come full circle, as the paintings themselves again became collectible. Today, paint by number continues to be decorative, ironic-and even artistic.

Richard Hess's portrait of President Lyndon Johnson as an incomplete paint-by-number work was created for the June 1967 issue of Esquire magazine. Although it was bumped from the cover at the last minute, the layout later won numerous graphics awards for Hess and Esquire art director Samuel N. Antupit, and was even exhibited at the Louvre in Paris.

Bridgewaters In 1978 artist Paul Bridgewater created five abstract paint-by-number kits, which could be displayed in their unfinished form as sculptures or completed for display as paintings. Each kit came rolled in a plastic tube with an instruction sheet, premixed paints, and two brushes made from the artist's own hair. Bridgewater's kits evoked the do-it-yourself appeal of their predecessors. This kit was purchased by Andy Warhol.

The idea came to Bridgewater during a tour of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, during which a docent dismissed the museum's contemporary art collection as "simplistic." Drawing on childhood memory, Bridgewater set out to make "a great work of art that even a seven-year-old could do. "He had been given paint-by-number kits by his mother, who favored landscapes, especially covered bridges.

40 Years In 1992 Paul Bridgewater's Bridgewater/Lustberg Gallery in New York City exhibited the paint-by-number collection of screenwriter Michael O'Donoghue, whose enthusiasm for the hobby inspired a new interest in collecting and exhibiting the paintings.

Most Wanted Paint by number has been used as a metaphor for decision-making based on opinion polls. Russian émigré artists Vitaly Komar and Alex Melamid adapted that idea to devise a new way of painting "by numbers." Beginning in 1993 they conducted telephone surveys to discover Americans' taste in art. They then used the survey data as the basis for two paintings: America's Most Wanted and America's Most Unwanted. These embodiments of popular taste have a standardized look familiar to anyone who has contemplated paint by number.

Most Unwanted According to Komar and Melamid's survey, Americans prefer representational art, landscapes with lakes, portraits of historical figures, wild animals, children, and the color blue. The artists obligingly packed all of that into one canvas. The companion piece, America's Most Unwanted, is a small geometric abstract composition.

NMAH
Introduction | Every Man A Rembrandt | The New Leisure | The Picture's Place
The Unfinished Work | Post-a-Reminiscence | Bibliography, Links & Credits