Design Attitude
Ever since his high school days with his friend Walter Hopps, Kauffman was interested in jazz, often attending live concerts in the San Francisco Bay Area, including venues like the Burma Lounge. By 1952 Kauffman reunited with Walter Hopps at UCLA, and they joined up with another jazz enthusiast, Jim Newman, who was then attending Oberlin college. They joined others in forming a venture called Concert Hall Workshop. Their stated purpose was to promote jazz at public venues. With his architecture skills, Kauffman drew the plans for a future concert hall, and served as the graphic designer. Kauffman’s lively, bold designs for the programs are shown here. At this time, Kauffman said, “It was more of a Moholy-Nagy attitude, somewhere between design and architecture.”
Craig Kauffman also was a co-founder of Syndell Studios, along with Hopps, Newman, Ben and Betty Bartosh, Michael Scoles and Shirley Nielsen. Syndell Studios produced the legendary “Action 1: Concert Hall Workshop presents Action Painting of the West Coast.” Craig Kauffman designed the announcement for this, with graphics that showed Constructivist influences, and Kauffman and others show mounted the Action I show on the Santa Monica pier, while Hopps was in the Army.
A Minimal Future at MoCA, 2004
Craig Kauffman was included in several exhibits with seminal Minimalist sculptors, during the 1960s and more recently. In 2004, The Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles presented “A Minimal Future? Art as Object 1958–1968,” including the work of forty American artists in an historical and scholarly examination of Minimal art, organized Curator Ann Goldstein. The catalogue essay (by Susan L. Jenkins) states “Like Judd’s “specific objects,” Kauffman’s vacuum formed plastic works exist in a space between painting and sculpture, although Kauffman has always considered himself a painter. The three-dimensionality of the earlier illusionistic paintings was now thoroughly replaced by the literal presence and three-dimensionality of works that increasingly projected from the surface of the wall.” These photos of the MOCA installation show Kauffman’s work in the company of his colleague John McCracken’s sculpture.
Installation view of “A Minimal Future? Art as Object 1958–1968” exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles in 2004. Courtesy the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Photography by Brian Forrest.
Using Walls (Indoors), and Transparency, Reflection, Light and Space
Craig Kauffman remained a painter throughout his career. Still, Kauffman experimented with various painting media, as well as doing two very significant installations–one in New York and one in Los Angeles. In 1970, following Kauffman’s involvement with colored reflections on the wall—the “Loops”—he worked in collaboration with Robert Morris during the Spring 1970 show at the Jewish Museum, “Using Walls (Indoors).” The Curator Susan Tumarkin Goodwin stated, “For many artists, working directly on the wall seems to be a natural extension of their previous use of canvas.” This process-oriented piece marks the beginning of a brief period when the artist conceived of, and produced, work related to installations or environments.
By 1971, Kauffman was included in an exhibit at the UCLA Art Galleries, titled “Transparency, Reflection, Light and Space.” In an interview with Frederick S. Wight for the UCLA catalog, the artist speculated about his work at that time, saying “…now I’m thinking of doing things on a wall that run from corner to corner which really make the whole wall the piece…the emphasis isn’t on a unified form where it is more spread out if you want to call it that. The piece is less important than what it is doing to the wall.” Henry J. Seldis of the L. A. Times described an “…exhilarating set of sensate experiences…” on the walls of the gallery space.
MoMA Installation
In 2011, the New York Times published a Roberta Smith piece on the Museum of Modern Art’s re-installation of its permanent galleries. Ms. Smith wrote, “Over the past few months changes of this kind have been unfolding in some of the most hallowed and closely watched galleries in the world: those that the Museum of Modern Art devotes to its unparalleled collection of painting and sculpture.” The lengthy review notes the changing curatorial vision, and the fourth floor was singled out: “An especially bold-looking gallery juxtaposes the Minimalist efforts of the New Yorkers Donald Judd, Dan Flavin and Jo Baer and the Angelenos Craig Kauffman, John McCracken and DeWain Valentine…” Kauffman’s Untitled work, which was given an entire wall by the curators, was acquired in 1969 by legendary MOMA curator Kynaston McShine.
Untitled, 1968, acrylic lacquer on vacuum formed plastic, collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
Image courtesy The Museum of Modern Art, © 2018 Estate of Craig Kauffman/Artist’s Rights Society (ARS) New York
Kauffman at MoMA
Craig Kauffman has a long history with The MoMA. Kauffman’s work was first acquired by The Museum of Modern Art in 1965, through the Larry Aldrich Foundation Fund. This large-scale vacuum formed plastic work was shown at the MoMA in 1966 in “Recent Acquisitions: Painting and Sculpture,” as Red-Blue, and again in 1967 during a show titled, ” The 1960’s: Painting & Sculpture from the Museum Collection.”
Kauffman’s second major work in the MoMA collection was acquired in 1969, when legendary curator Kynaston McShine organized the show “Five Recent Acquisitions,” which included works by Larry Bell, Ron Davis, Robert Irwin, Craig Kauffman, and John McCracken. This 1968 wall relief painting has been exhibited at the MoMA six times, and loaned to important surveys from the collection such as “American Art since 1945: A Loan Exhibition from The Museum of Modern Art,” a 1972 exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Red-Blue, 1964, Synthetic polymer on vacuum formed plastic, 89 5/8 x 45 1/2 x 5 inches, Museum of Modern Art, New York. Courtesy Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Installation view of American Art since 1945: A Loan Exhibition from The Museum of Modern Art, September 15–October 22, 1972 at the Philadelphia Museum of Modern Art. Courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Modern Art.
Installation view of The 1960’s: Painting & Sculpture from the Museum Collection, June 28–September 24, 1967 at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Courtesy Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Craig Kauffman and Chicago Architects
I’ve written before about Craig Kauffman’s early interest in architecture, including his success as a high school senior, when he won an award for his submission to a student architectural contest, juried by Richard Neutra. Craig was then admitted to the University of Southern California School of Art and Architecture at age 18, primarily on the basis of this prize. Though he stayed at the school for just one year, his essential abilities and interest in architecture remained with him for a lifetime.
Years ago, Craig gave me a well-worn copy of Chicago architect Louis H. Sullivan’s Kindergarten Chats and Other Writings, a 1947 classic Documents of Modern Art publication, edited by Robert Motherwell, and designed by Paul Rand. Craig had kept this book in his personal library since his teenage years (it is the original edition). Craig’s interest in architecture underlined his paintings throughout his life, and is especially evident in his drawings, where his spare use of line defines form and indicates scale and perspective.
Craig’s notebooks filled with drawings for his work during the period 1966–1971 are especially rich in architectural references, as well as notations for the radical forms of these works, fabricated from the industrial material of plastic. Their relationship to developments in modern architecture seems clearly related to the inventive use of industrial materials, such as steel and glass, in defining unorthodox form. It’s fascinating to know that both the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago hold major works by Kauffman, as the city’s architectural heritage dovetails with Kauffman’s interests. The two Kauffmans in AIC’s collection were acquired during the tenure of A. James Speyer, a legendary chief curator and director. The MCA Chicago collection’s three were acquired in 2013, as gift of the estate of architect Walter A. Netsch and Dawn Clark Netsch.
Chicago’s architects must have felt some 
kinship with the inventive forms of Kauffman’s art and his use of new materials. James Speyer of the AIC was the architect for his sister Darthea Speyer’s art gallery in the Left Bank of Paris, where Kauffman had two solo shows. And Walter Netsch was a very prominent architect based in Chicago, who was most famous for his “sleek, functional structures” such as the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Completed in 1963, the soaring Air Force chapel captured great, and controversial, attention from critics and the public.
Walter Netsch “designed and built his famously fantastic and unusual Chicago home and filled it with unique objects and artwork,” according to one article. Photos show that Kauffman’s works were hung along with paintings by Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Indiana, Claes Oldenburg, and Kenneth Noland, as well as Larry Bell. The Netsch couple collected in depth and took pride in “living with art.” Walter Netsch passed away in 2008, and his wife Dawn Clark Netsch passed away in 2013.
What is it that attracted architects to Kauffman’s work? In addition to these Chicago professionals, Craig’s work is in the collection of famed Los Angeles architect Frank Gehry, who knew Kauffman since 1950, at the architecture school of University of Southern California. Was Kauffman’s early education so formative that he understood the modern language of architectural form? Or were his innate abilities similar to the spatial recognition that is a requirement of architectural practice? Did Kauffman speak their language?
Whatever the reason, Chicago—the city of great 20th Century architecture—is now home to five of the finest Kauffman works from the late 1960s. From his early reading of Louis Sullivan’s Kindergarten Chats and Other Writings, to his later association with James Speyer and Walter Netsch, the artist entered the permanent collections of the two largest Chicago art museums.
John Mason: Sculpture, 1958-1969
I have known John Mason for over twenty years, beginning in 1993. Among the artists I’ve worked with, Mason stands out as a quiet, thoughtful mentor. His pensive manner, and his encouragement over the years were consistent, understanding and supportive of me as I gained my footing as an art dealer. I’ve always said that my advantage in this business was to have the respect and encouragement of some of the first generation of major West Coast artists.
So, it’s with pride and a sense of history that I curated a survey of Mason’s work for Kayne Griffin Corcoran gallery, which opened just two weeks ago and runs through the end of August. Mason is an artist who helped me in the beginning, not only by respecting my vision of the formation of a gallery, but by providing introductions to his peers—and this presentation signifies that long history. It was an honor to present such a monumental group of John’s work.
This show was intended to fill a gap for a new audience, as well as provide a view of works that haven’t been seen for decades in Los Angeles. One piece hasn’t been seen since the 1960s, and two others haven’t been publicly exhibited since the 1970s. In the end, works were sourced from seven different collections. As Hunter Drohojowska Philp said in her review on KCRW, it’s a “pocket museum survey.”
I would like to thank the partners at Kayne Griffin Corcoran Gallery—Maggie Kayne, William Griffin, and James Corcoran—for their steadfast support of this exhibition. They, along with their committed staff, made this possible. Colleen Brennan, Paige Huntley and Alexandra Lippman worked directly with me during the organization and assembly of the show, as well as the many contacts with lenders and the artist. Finally, I’d like to thank my staff, Kelly Boyd and Gabriel Seri, for their efforts to bring this exhibition to fruition. They worked behind the scenes for a year and half to coordinate the many moving parts involved in a show of this magnitude. Kelly and Gabriel have also produced an online publication, which can be viewed and downloaded here.
