John Torreano USA, b. 1941
"The artists I knew at the time—Ron Gorchov, Bob Grosvenor, David Reed, Bill Jensen, Lynda Benglis, and Jennifer Bartlett—were working with different concepts of what art could be. That was what made it so exciting about being here. We were right at the beginning of the fracturing of concepts of a style, and a rejection of the idea that you had to belong to one of the primary religions: figurative, post–Abstract Expressionism, Pop, Minimalism, Color Field, and conceptualism. We were all part of an emerging eclecticism that continues to fracture to this day.”
John Torreano (b. 1941, Michigan) is an American artist, best known for utilizing faceted gems in a variety of mediums and methods to create a "movement-oriented perception" with his works. He developed his recognizable language with other post-minimalist artists such as Lynda Benglis, Ron Gorchov and Elisabeth Murray. With his nontraditional use of materials, such as acrylic gems and wood columns, he has challenged the dogmatic intransigency of Minimalism characterized by straight lines, cubes and monochromatic colors by emphasizing the oxymoronic relationship between material and visual perception.
He grow up in a large Catholic family and he has referenced how his use of gems may have been influenced by early experiences as an altar boy. He found solace in the quiet intimacy of the church while serving early morning Mass. The ritual of lighting candles and monitoring banks of vigil lights may have set him up to respond to the reflective and refractive nature of gems later in his life as an artist. In a more expanded sense, Catholic concepts, the universal, contributed to his interest in outer-space and theoretical concepts like the Big Bang theory. This explains his use of shaped canvases and half-round columns as well as his paintings inspired by images of space objects such as stellar constellations and nebulae. Throughout his career, Torreano has investigated the question of value. How do materials such as acrylic gems, plywood, canvas paint, wood columns etc. transcend to an alternate meaning or value? Is this process of making art a contemporaneous version of transubstantiation? He believes artists are equivalent to scientists in their use of theoretical models to gain insight into the physical world and how it is perceived. For Torreano art works are temporal results of the ongoing research, in the combining of physical material to achieve spiritual/aesthetic ends.
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John TorreanoSapphire Wound, 2019acrylic paint and acrylic gems on wood81 x 13 x 7.5 cm
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John TorreanoSpatial Grit and DM, 2023acrylic gems and acrylic paint on canvas51 x 51 x 10 cm
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John TorreanoWinter Winter, 2024Acrylic paint and acrylic gems on wood column195.5 x 29 x 15 cm
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John TorreanoBlack with Jonquil, 2022acrylic paint and acrylic gems on wood118 x 14 x 7 cm
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John TorreanoSummer Glory, 2024Acrylic paint and acrylic gems on wood column195.5 x 29 x 15 cm
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John TorreanoSummer Spots, 2023Acrylic paint and acrylic gems on wood column195.5 x 29 x 15 cm
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John TorreanoGrit Too (bianco grigiastro), 2023acrylic gems and acrylic paint on canvas182 x 182 x 10 cm
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John TorreanoBejeweled Sky, 2020acrylic paint and acrylic gems on wood107 x 18 x 9 cm
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John TorreanoDeep Rose Violet, 2022acrylic paint and acrylic gems on wood99 x 14 x 7 cm
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John TorreanoPleiades Sky, 2023acrylic gems and acrylic paint on canvas182 x 182 x 10 cm
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John TorreanoGrunewald's Wounds Too, 2023acrylic gems on wood195.5 x 29 x 15 cm
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John TorreanoGlobule Cluster (Far), 2023acrylic gems and acrylic paint on canvas51 x 51 x 10 cm
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John Torreano - 2025 Space: Looking In Looking At
25 Jan - 28 Mar 2025This exhibition showcases Torreano's explorations with recent examples of his wood column and round edged paintings. These works alter the traditional idea of painting by presenting stretched canvases as 3-dimensional...Read more -
John Torreano
Museo Ettore Fico, Turin, Italy | 6 Nov 2020 - 6 Jun 2021 -
John Torreano - Column Paintings
12 Oct - 30 Nov 2019The column painting shape came from Mr. Torreano's need to challenge such modernist dogma as essentialism, that painting must be 'flat' or that paintings were 'containers' of meaning. His use...Read more
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«There are many stars. There are many gods», anche in Puglia. Parola di John Torreano
REVIEW | EXIBART August 20, 2024 Read more -
John Torreano
Dep Art Out - Ceglie Messapica, Brindisi, Italy August 20, 2024The third exhibition of the Dep Art Out season in Ceglie Messapica , the summer venue of the Dep Art Gallery from Milan , is...Read more -
TALK ARTISTS CHOOSE PARRISH NED SMYTH AND JOHN TORREANO
VIDEO TALK | PARRISH ART MUSEUM, WATER MILL, NY, USA November 24, 2023 Read more -
Artists Choose Parrish Part II: John Torreano
VIDEO INTERVIEW | PARRISH ART MUSEUM, WATER MILL, NY, USA November 14, 2023 Read more -
John Torreano "A Journey Throught The Universe 1968 to the Present"
PARRISH ART MUSEUM, WATER MILL, NY, USA November 7, 2021With the universe as his muse, New York and Sag Harbor-based artist John Torreano (American, b. Flint, Michigan, 1941) combines realism infused with abstraction to...Read more -
John Torreano at Fiac Hors Les Murs
Jardin Des Tuileries, Paris, France October 19, 2021John Torreano, Mega Gem, 2021 John Torreano is an American Post-Minimalist artist, best known for utilizing gems in a variety of mediums and methods in...Read more -
John Torreano group show "12 Notes"
Zona Franca Projects, Barcellona, Spain September 15, 2021The title and premise of 12 Notes derives from the quantity of tones in both the visual and musical chromatic scales. Each tone has twelve...Read more -
Klaus Rinke, Ron Gorchov and John Torreano group show "Collezione Ghigi"
Museo Licini, Ascoli Piceno, Italy March 27, 2021Galleria d'Arte Contemporanea 'O. Licini' Corso Giuseppe Mazzini, 90 - Ascoli Piceno March 27 - June 12, 2021Read more -
John Torreano
Museo Ettore Fico, Turin, Italy November 5, 2020The Ettore Fico Museum presents the first anthological exhibition of the American artist John Torreano. MORE INFO HERE !Read more -
John Torreano "The big picture – Painting from the universe"
Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Colorado, USA September 3, 2020Welcome to John Torreano’s abstract paintings and drawings. The paintings are accentuated by plastic gems, wooden balls, paint, and plywood in his effort to capture...Read more -
John Torreano - Artist Stories from the Pandemic
VIDEO INTERVIEW | Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, NY, USA June 9, 2020 Read more -
John Torreano group show "All of them witches"
Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles, USA February 8, 2020John Torreano's work is included in 'All of Them Witches' group show at Jeffrey Deitch gallery in Los Angeles . February 8–April 11, 2020Read more -
John Torreano "Stars on the ground: works by John Torreano"
Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, Las Vegas, USA December 5, 2019If Las Vegas is a city of chance, what are the odds of the seminal painting TV Bulge (1969), by John Torreano, landing at the...Read more -
Meet the Artist: John Torreano
Museum of Glass, Tacoma, WA, USA September 4, 2016 Read more