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Gronk

July 19, 2011 – February 5, 2012

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An image of Gronk's 2011 Visiting Artist installation, showing expressionistic black and red marks on a tan wall.

Gronk, Untitled (detail), 2011, latex paint

Installation timelapse

A detail image of Gronk's 2011 Visiting Artist installation, showing expressionistic black, green, and red marks on a tan wall.

Untitled (detail)

A detail image of Gronk's 2011 Visiting Artist installation, showing expressionistic black and red marks on a tan wall.

Untitled  (detail)

A detail image of Gronk's 2011 Visiting Artist installation, showing expressionistic black and red marks on a tan wall.

Untitled  (detail)

Albuquerque Museum’s Visiting Artist program is generously funded by the Frederick Hammersley Fund for the Arts at the Albuquerque Community Foundation.

From July 19 through July 30, 2011, internationally renowned artist Gronk painted a site-specific and temporary wall painting inside the Albuquerque Museum’s Ventana Salon. During the installation, visitors had the opportunity to engage the artist in discussion to learn more about his artistic process.

At the end of the exhibition period, the mural was painted over and now exists only in the museum visitor's memory. Referring to the ephemeral nature of his site-specific works, the artist stated “People like to hold onto life in many ways, but everything is transitory. This is it, right now. Youth doesn’t last forever, beauty doesn’t last forever, so appreciate it for the moment.” He continued, “On another level you can see the issue of my murals being painted over as a tip of the hat, an homage to those who came before and whose pieces were whitewashed. [Davíd Alfaro] Siqueiros came to the US—his America Tropical was whitewashed. [Diego] Rivera comes to do his big mural for the Rockefellers, and it has been whitewashed. In a sense, our recent history has been whitewashed; that temporality is in a lot of my work.”

“We are so pleased to offer to our visitors the chance to interact with Gronk as he paints at the Museum,” said former Albuquerque Museum director, Cathy Wright. “Not only is he a major artist on the world stage, but he is a great educator and nothing livens up a museum more than a great artist in residence.”

A photograph of the artist Gronk, sitting in the middle of a large, non-objective mural across three walls with a green floor.

Gronk with his set piece for Griselda (2011) at the Santa Fe Opera

About the Artist

Gronk (born 1954 Los Angeles, California; lives Los Angeles) is a painter, printmaker, and performance artist based in Downtown Los Angeles. During the 1970s and 80s, Gronk was a member of the influential Chicano art collective Asco. Well-known for his murals, street art, and set designs, Gronk’s artistic practicess is inspired by the culture of East Los Angeles as well as a variety of philosophers, theorists, and writers. Through his gritty and edgy, yet sensitive and expressive work, Gronk addresses social issues with a sense of immediacy.