On 4 September 2008, the Mary Boone Gallery opened at its Fifth Avenue, New York, location, an exhibition curated by Klaus Kertess of paintings and works on paper from 1963 to 1968 by JOHN ALTOON.
John Altoon (1925-1969) was one of the progenitors of the Los Angeles art scene, a native son who studied there in the late 1940s, left for a few pivotal years in New York, and returned to synthesize this first-hand exposure to Abstract Expressionism with West Coast lyricism and ideology.
John Altoon was a prominent figure in the Los Angeles art scene and his works are known for their vibrant colors and abstract forms.
For a brief, shining moment in the 1960s, wrote the LA TIMES, John Altoon was the great American painter of the great American sexual revolution. "Voluptuous colour and luxurious interpenetrations of sensuous forms conspired to make messy, elegant, often witty abstract pictures. Their hedonistic punch is a delicious indulgence."
