Judy Pfaff, Untitled (Unique mixed media work with Andre Emmerich Gallery & Bellas Artes gallery labels), 1994

Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York
Bellas Artes Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
This unique work which exhibited in New Mexico and at Emmerich and is accompanied by the artist's original shipping box and Andre Emmerich gallery label. Personally, I think Pfaff's works like this abstract mixed media painting with real leaves from the mid 1990s are far more substantive than her recent brightly colored large scale LED pieces which feel like they're trying a bit too self-consciously to be "show stopping" and to appeal to a generation that's grown up on neon and day-glo art. But who knows? Maybe they're selling out. Either way, I'd still take an organic, authentic environmental Pfaff like this 1994 work any day over her later LED spectacles.

Judy Pfaff's sculptures, drawings and prints have been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world. She has been described as a "collagist in space", Pfaff’s dramatic style is eloquently exemplified eloquently in this unique, hand-signed and dated collage from 1994. Here, the rich, clearly defined leaves of the composition illustrate her interest in natural, organic materials and motifs. Note that we have shown the work horizontally in the images as that is how many of her collages hang, and the placement of the signature suggests a horizontal work. But the labels from Emmerich and Bellas Artes are placed to suggest the work should be hung vertically (see photos); so unless a representative of the artist tells us otherwise, we will defer to collectors prerogative in hanging. The previous owner, art writer Winifred Bell, tells us she hung it both ways over the years, in different parts of her beautiful home.

This work is presented in the artist's original, hand-made, wooden frame, measuring 20 x 56 x 2.5 inches. The work measures 20 x 56 inches.

In addition, the work comes in the original custom made wooden crate that was created for it. This work has excellent provenance: it came from the collection of art critic and writer Winifred Bell, who acquired it directly from Bellas Artes Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It bears the label of Bellas Artes Gallery, as well as the Andre Emmerich Gallery where it was originally shown. Judy Pfaff was born in London in 1946 and later settled in America at the age of thirteen. She received her B.F.A. from Washington University and her M.F.A. from Yale University. Her work can be found in such prestigious collections as the Detroit Institute of Art; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Pfaff's innovative work has brought her wide acclaim from galleries and museums throughout the world and earned her many awards, including a John D. and Catherine T. Mac Arthur Foundation Award (2004); a Bessie (1984); and fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (1983) and the National Endowment for the Arts (1986). In April, 2014,she was granted a Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Scupture Center (ISC). Long heralded as a pioneer of installation art, Pfaff continues to generate work that is innovative in its formal complexity, breadth of reference, and sensitive use of materials.
Judy Pfaff was born in London, England, in 1946. She received a BFA from Washington University, Saint Louis (1971), and an MFA from Yale University (1973). She has been the recipient of numerous awards including the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Guggenheim Fellowship and a MacArthur Award. Recently, The International Sculpture Center honored her with its 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award.
More biographical information on the artist:
A pioneering figure of 1970s installation art, Judy Pfaff is credited for her emotional, elaborately crafted, and collage-like environments. Her sprawling sculptures and installations are studies in balance, as disparate objects synchronize and order is found amid the chaos. Pfaff was born in London in 1946, and after moving to the United States as a child, she earned a BFA from Washington University in Saint Louis, followed by an MFA from Yale University. While she trained as a painter during that period, her attraction to materials and tools—“stuff,” as she puts it—ultimately led her to sculpture and installation, through which she enjoys experimenting with form and substance, and creates organic entities that are largely concerned with architecture, the natural world, and the body.

Pfaff has also made a considerable array of prints and drawings, in addition to producing stage designs for the theatre. Pffaf is the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Award and has been the subject of exhibitions at institutions such as the Denver Art Museum, the St. Louis Art Museum, and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York, among others.
The present work is held in an artist made frame with Andre Emmerich Gallery & Bellas Artes gallery labels in original crate