“Raven
they hold the
air like a brush
painting
with strokes
as they go
but never grasping
for fear of
halting their passage
through the space”
-Don Van Vliet, July 1991
Michael Werner Gallery, London is pleased to present Don Van Vliet: Standing on One Hand, an exhibition of paintings from the 1980s and 1990s by American artist Don Van Vliet (b. 1941, d. 2010).
A musician, poet, and painter, Don Van Vliet is famously known by his stage name Captain Beefheart. Throughout the course of his music career, Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band recorded thirteen bold, highly experimental studio albums, securing his place in history as a pioneering and unconventional rock and roll artist. As a child, Van Vliet starred on a weekly local television show as a gifted young sculptor. He painted throughout his life. However, in the mid-1980s, he shifted his immense creative energy away from music and performance, focusing solely on painting.
Nature was a source of great inspiration for Van Vliet. The desert, where he spent a large portion of his life, inspired his thick, white painted backgrounds, reminiscent of the desert sun. Van Vliet has said, “The way I keep in touch with the world is very gingerly.” In tune with animals and nature, the artist was also fully engaged with his senses and dreams. Art critic John Yau explains: “Dream, sight, sounds, smell, taste, and touch are inextricable aspects of his experience. For Van Vliet, one of the burdens his paintings must bear is his attempt to preserve the unity of his experience with a fleeting world in which the inner and outer zones mix.”
Born in Glendale, California in 1941, Don Van Vliet’s work has been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide, including San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Bielefelder Kunstverein, Brighton Museum and Art Gallery, Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, PS.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York, and the Brant Foundation in Greenwich, Connecticut. Van Vliet died at home in Northern California in 2010.
Don Van Vliet: Standing on One Hand opens on 22 November with a private view from 6-8pm and will remain on view through 17 February. The exhibition is accompanied by a full-colour catalogue with a text by London-based artist and writer Charlie Fox. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10am to 6pm.
Don Van Vliet
“Aunt Cigar’s Baby”, 1984
Oil on wood
48 x 38 inches
122 x 97 cm
VLI 11/A
Don Van Vliet
“Red Cloud Monkey”, 1985
Oil on canvas
83 3/4 x 72 inches
213 x 183 cm
VLI 19
Don Van Vliet
“Two Rips in a Haystack”, 1985
Oil on canvas
84 x 48 inches
213.5 x 122 cm
VLI 25/G
Don Van Vliet
“Ming Move”, 1985
Oil, India ink on canvas
84 x 60 inches
213.5 x 152.5 cm
VLI 25/I
Don Van Vliet
“A Bride for Wallah”, 1986
Oil on canvas
83 3/4 x 48 inches
213 x 122 cm
VLI 32/F
Don Van Vliet
“Ibex”, 1986
Oil on canvas
84 1/4 x 60 1/4 inches
214 x 153 cm
VLI 36
Don Van Vliet
“Bird with Cotton Shadow”, 1984
Oil on linen
58 1/4 x 48 1/2 inches
148 x 123 cm
VLI 41/B
Don Van Vliet
“China Pig”, 1986-1987
Oil on canvas
102 x 76 inches
259 x 193 cm
VLI 42/B
Don Van Vliet
“Feather Times a Feather”, 1987
Oil on linen
63 3/4 x 51 1/4 inches
162 x 130 cm
VLI 53
Don Van Vliet
“One Step from the Jungle”, 1988
Oil on canvas
64 1/2 x 51 1/2 inches
164 x 131 cm
VLI 66
Don Van Vliet
“Crow Dance a Panther”, 1988
Oil on canvas
28 1/4 x 24 1/2 inches
72 x 62.5 cm
VLI 69
Don Van Vliet
“Dream Sloth”, 1988
Oil on canvas
28 1/4 x 24 1/2 inches
72 x 62.5 cm
VLI 70
Don Van Vliet
“Spirit Improving Spirit”, 1990
Oil on canvas
28 x 24 1/2 inches
71 x 62 cm
VLI 103
Don Van Vliet
“Camp Ghost”, 1990
Oil on canvas
37 x 32 1/2 inches
94 x 82.5 cm
VLI 109
Don Van Vliet
“Boneless Spirit”, 1990
Oil on canvas
45 3/4 x 35 inches
116 x 89 cm
VLI 113
Don Van Vliet
“Wrought Iron Cactus”, 1991
Oil on canvas
37 x 32 1/2 inches
94 x 82.5 cm
VLI 127
Don Van Vliet
“Untitled #2”, 1993-1994
Oil on linen
46 x 35 inches
117 x 89 cm
VLI 141
Don Van Vliet
“A Tremendous Black Upside-Down Tulip #1”, 1991/1994
Oil on linen
37 x 32 1/2 inches
94 x 82.5 cm
VLI 155
Don Van Vliet
“Standing on One Hand”, 1994
Oil on linen
46 x 35 inches
117 x 89 cm
VLI 158
Don Van Vliet
“Untitled #3”, 1994
Oil on linen
32 x 39 1/4 inches
81.5 x 100.5 cm
VLI 159
Don Van Vliet
“Untitled #13”, 1994
Oil on linen
39 1/2 x 32 inches
100.5 x 81.5 cm
VLI 164
Don Van Vliet
“Full Grown Babble”, 1994-1996
Oil on canvas
28 x 24 1/2 inches
71 x 62 cm
VLI 166
Don Van Vliet
“Untitled #18”, 1994
Oil on linen
39 1/2 x 32 inches
100.5 x 81.5 cm
VLI 169
Don Van Vliet
“Untitled #22”, 1994
Oil on linen
28 x 24 1/4 inches
71 x 61.5 cm
VLI 173
Don Van Vliet
“Luxury Rack”, 1994
Oil on linen
45 3/4 x 35 inches
116 x 89 cm
VLI 175
Don Van Vliet
“Untitled #25”, 1994
Oil on linen
45 3/4 x 35 inches
116 x 89 cm
VLI 176
Don Van Vliet
“Puce and Rouge”, 1997
Oil on canvas
51 1/4 x 38 3/4 inches
130 x 98.5 cm
VLI 189
Don Van Vliet
“The Drazy Hoops #2”, 1997
Oil on canvas
45 3/4 x 39 1/2 inches
116 x 100.5 cm
VLI 191
