War Room (Wally Hedrick)

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Wally Hedrick, c.1967, in studio working on The War Room (1967).
Wally Hedrick, c.1967, in studio working on The War Room (1967). [1]

The War Room (1967/68-2002), by Wally Hedrick (1928-2003), consists of eight canvases approximately 5. 5’ wide and 11’ tall, all painted a deep black. Hedrick referred to these canvases as “wounded veterans.” These canvases are bolted together to create a freestanding square room that could be entered via a small door in one of the canvases, thus creating architectural painting. The black painted surfaces of the canvases face inward and the backs of the canvases face outward. [2]

Wally Hedrick, War Room, c. 1967, Exterior View. LG Williams installing Hedrick's, War Room at SSU in 2002.
Wally Hedrick, War Room, c. 1967, Exterior View. LG Williams installing Hedrick's, War Room at SSU in 2002.
LG Williams, House Where The Bottom Fell Out, 2007, 2010' Permanent Installation, Wailuku, Hawai'i. View from above.
LG Williams, House Where The Bottom Fell Out, 2007, 2010' Permanent Installation, Wailuku, Hawai'i. View from above.

The War Room is an 'environmental' painting where the viewer enters a small enclosure of painted blackness. The viewer is left to consider the encompassing darkness and contemplate the vacuity that this space creates. Hedrick refused to ignore the war and instead created a work of cultural and political significance. After the Vietnam War ended he repainted these canvases black in protest of the Gulf War in 1992 and the Iraqi war in 2002.[3]

During this time, Hedrick was accused of stealing paintings, including a canvas by Clyfford Still, from the San Francisco Art Institute, where he was teaching, then either painting them black or painting his own iconoclastic pictures over them.[2]

Contents

[edit] Importance

The "War Room", a significant item of Bay Area art history.[3]

[edit] Influence and Legacy

The War Room is an acknowledged reference in another recent art historical landmark, House Where The Bottom Fell Out (2007), by LG Williams.

[edit] Literature

Wally Hedrick: The Dark Millennium, by Gina Dorré and LG Williams, is an in-depth account of The War Room and Black Painting Series between 1953 - 2003.

[edit] Exhibition History

  • 2008, the box, Los Angeles, CA, March 21 - April 26. Curated by Mara McCarthy. [4]
  • 2003, University Art Gallery, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA, Feb. 20 - March 16, Curated by Michael Schwager.
  • 1992, San Francisco International Art Fair, January 18 -20, Curated by LG Williams. [5]

[edit] Additional Resources


[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Wally Hedrick, Sam Tchakalian Exhibition Catalogue. Presented by the Fine Arts Patrons of Newport Harbor, 1967.
  2. ^ Peter Selz and Susan Landauer, Art of Engagement: Visual Politics in California and Beyond, UC Press, 2006, pg.89.
  3. ^ Kenneth Baker, San Francisco Chronicle (2003) [1]

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  • Albright, Thomas. "Art in the San Francisco Bay Area 1945-80, An Illustrated History", published by University of California Press, 1985.
  • Albright, Thomas. "Alternative of Mainstream", San Francisco Chronicle, March 26, 1982
  • Anderson, Wayne. "American Sculpture in Progress", 1930-1970, New York Graphic Society, 1975, Boston, Massachusetts
  • Bahr, Jeff. "Sheldon Show Gives a View of the Bay Area", The Lincoln Star, Lincoln Nebraska, Sept, 20, 1984
  • Baker, Kenneth. "Wally Hedrick at Paule Anglim", San Francisco Chronicle, March 8, 1994, p. E3 Benetti, David. San Francisco Examiner, March 4, 1994.
  • Baker, Kenneth. "A Bay Area Biennial", L.A. Review, Nov. 9, 1986
  • Kenneth Baker, “Mass appeal: Art comes at visitors from all directions at the S.F. International Art Fair”, San Francisco Chronicle, Saturday, January 18, 2003.[6]
  • Boetteger, Suzaan. "Painting from Raunch to Cotton Candy", San Francisco Chronicle, July 1, 1982
  • Bruns, Rebecca. "Critics Choice", San Francisco Focus Magazine, May, 1985
  • Brunson, Jamie. "Wally Hedrick", Monograph for Catalogue, "2nd Newport Biennial-The Bay Area, Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, California, 1986.
  • Ann Charters, The Portable Sixties Reader (Penguin Classics), 2002.
  • John Coplans. "The New Paintings of Common Objects." Artforum, Dec. 1962, p.26
  • John Coplans. "Circles of Style on the West Coast", Art in America, June 1964, p.28
  • Thomas E. Crow, The Rise of the Sixties: American and European Art in the Age of Dissent (New York, 1996)
  • Curtis, Cathy. "A Visit from Another World: The Bay", The Orange County Register, Oct.3, 1986.
  • Dorre, Gina and LG Williams, "Envisioning The Dark Millennium - Wally Hedrick’s Black Paintings 1953 - 2003" 2005.
  • Eggers, Ron. "Bay Area Artists", Orange Coast Magazine, Oct. 14, 1986
  • Freid, Alexander. "Artistic Vaudeville and the Beer Can Question", San Francisco Examiner, Sept. 16, 1962, p.38
  • Giles, Gretchen. "Word Play: Artist Wally Hedrick Stretches his Canvases". The Sonoma County Independent, July 25-31, 1996. Volume 84, Number 3.
  • Goldman, Leah. "A View to the North", Artweek, Vol. 17, No 37, Nov. 8, 1986
  • Greer, Ted. "Wally Hedrick," A Video Produced by Ted Greer Productions, Indian Valley College, Novato, California, 1981
  • Greil, Marcus. "The Incredible Disappearing Art", San Francisco Focus, Oct 1991.
  • Hammond, Miki. "Diversity Keynotes 12 One-Man Shows from the Bay Area, "The Irvine World News, Oct. 9, 1986.
  • Hedrick, Wally. "Art Bank", A Catalogue published by the Artist Association Of the San Francisco Art Institute.
  • Hedrick, Wally. "Invisible Painting and Sculpture", Booklet, April 24-June 1, 1969, Richmond Art Center
  • Hedrick, Wally. Statement for Catalogue, "Sixteen Americans", published by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, 1959, p.13
  • Hedrick, Wally. Monograph from California School of Fine Arts, Editor; Isabel Hood, Dec. 14, 1956-Jan., 1957
  • Hedrick, Wally. Statement for Catalogue, "Sixteen Americans", Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, 1959, p.13.
  • Hendricks, Mark. "Bay Area Exhibit Paints Diverse Styles, Movements", Daily Nebraskan, Oct. 4, 1984.
  • Walter Hopps. Robert Rauschenberg: The Early 50's The Menil Collection. Houston Fine Arts Press. 1991.
  • Walter Hopps, "Can't Be Cut to Fit (Too Few Thoughts of the Subject of Wally Hedrick)"
  • Hulten, Pontus k. "The Machine as Seen at the End of the Mechanical Age", Museum Of Modern Art, New York, 1968
  • Ikeda, John. "Salute to the Arts", The Orange County Register, Oct. 14, 1986
  • Kimmelman, Michael, New York Times, Art Review: At the Whitney, A Celebration Of Beat Culture (Sandals and All), November 10, 1995
  • Kyne, Barbara. "Veterans of Bay Area Art". Artweek, December 1999. Volume 30, Number 12.
  • Leider, Philip. "The Construction as an Object of Illusion", Artforum, Nov. 1962, p.40
  • Linhares, Phil. Catalogue for "Here and Now: "Bay Area Masterworks from the Di Rosa Collection" exhibit at the Oakland Museum. 1994.
  • Lucy Lippard. With Contributions by Lawrence Alloway, Nancy Marmer, Nicholas Calas, "Pop Art", published by Fredrick A. Praeger, Inc., New York, 1966, p.144
  • Martin, Fred. Statement for Hedrick/Hinterreiter Catalogue published by the Fine Arts Patrons of Newport, California, May 1967
  • Michael McClure. "Sixty-Six Things About the California Assemblage Movement," Artweek, March 12, 1992 Volume 23, Number 10.
  • Monte, James. "Polychrome Sculpture", Artforum, November, 1964
  • Morehouse, William. Statement for Catalogue of "Funk Daddy", Exhibition, 1968, p.2
  • Philips, Lisa. "Beat Culture and the New America 1950-1965."
  • Plagens, Peter. "Sunshine Muse: Contemporary Art of the West Coast", Praeger, 1974
  • Polley, E.M. "Some Points of View", Artforum, Jan. 1963, p.41
  • Regan, Kate. "Strong Medicine in Oils", San Francisco Chronicle, April 13, 1985.
  • Regan, Kate. "A Tough Sensibility on Canvas", San Francisco Chronicle, 1984.
  • Rubin, David. "Wally Hedrick (The Secret Life of Harry FallicFallick Fallick)," Catalogue, Adeline Kent Award Exhibition, 1985.
  • San Francisco Art Institute Website, People: Wally Hedrick
  • Solnit, Rebecca. Secret Exhibition: Six California Artists of the Cold War Era. City Lights Books, San Francisco, California, 1990.
  • Selz, Peter and Susan Landauer, Art of Engagement: Visual Politics in California and Beyond, UC Press, 2006
  • Smith, Dean, Bancroftiana: Newsletter of the Friends of the Bancroft Library, DeFeo, Conner papers add to Bancroft’s Beat collection, Volume 112, Spring 1998.
  • Smith, Richard Candida, Utopia and Dissent: Art, Poetry, and Politics in California, University of California Press, 1995.
  • Smithsonian Archives of American Art: Oral History Interview With Jay Defeo At Her Home, Larkspur, California, June 3, 1975
  • Smithsonian Archives of American Art, Paul Karlstrom, "Wally Hedrick Oral History Interview", June 10, 1974.[7]
  • Smithsonian Archives of American Art, Oral History Interview with John Humphrey at the San Francisco Museum of Art, June 25, 1974.
  • Smithsonian Archives of American Art: Oral History Interview With William T Wiley At His Home, Woodacre, California, October 8, 1997
  • Smithsonian Archives of American Art, Oral History Interview Walter Askin in His Studio in Pasadena, California, March 4, 1992
  • Solnit, Rebecca. "Icons & Iconoclasts", Artweek, Sept. 6, 1986, vVol. 17, No. 29
  • Solnit, Rebecca. "Gallery Paule Anglim," Pacific Sun, Aug. 29, 1985.
  • Stiles, Knute. "San Francisco Underground Art in Celebration: 1945-1968", (2nd Edition) 1976, p.27.
  • Stiles, Knute. "Arts of San Francisco, Part 2", Artforum, Nov. 1964, p.45
  • Tarshis, Jerome. "Wally Hedrick at San Francisco Art Institute", Art in America, July, 1985, p.141
  • Tromble, Meredith. "A Conversation with Wally Hedrick". Artweek, October 1996. Volume 27, Number 10.
  • Tooker, Dan. Art International, Edited by James Fitzimmons, Oct. 15, 1975, p.10
  • Tuchman, Maurice. The Spiritual in Art: Abstract Painting 1980-85, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Abbeville Press, Inc., New York, New York, 1986
  • Van Proyen, Mark. "Atypical Prototypes: The Art of Wally Hedrick," Artweek, April 27, 1985, Vol. 16, No. 17, p.1
  • Van Proyen, Mark. "Sight/Vision: The Inward Gaze", Artweek, Oakland, California, Oct. 29, 1983
  • Villa, Carlos, Remembering Wally Hedrick, www.stretcher.org/archives [8]
  • Ward, Jenna. "The Beat Goes on for Artist Wally Hedrick." On Q, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, ,July 6, 1997.
  • Whitmore, Tammy. "The Brain is as important as the Heart". Bodega Bay Navigator. Saturday, January 15, 2000. Volume 13, Number 26.
  • Wilson, William. "The Bay is on the View in Newport", Los Angeles Times/Calendar, Oct. 26, 1986