John Altoon “About Women” Opening Reception

Redbud Arts Center is pleased to announce, “About Women” series, an important collaboration by the Los Angeles surrealist and abstract expressionist artist John Altoon and the American poet Robert Creeley. This series of ten lithographs was inspired by Creeley’s three poems: “Anger,” “The Woman,” and “Distance”. Altoon first met Creeley on the Spanish Island of Majorca. The highly influential poet of the post war era connected with Altoon. Both the artist and poet dealt with social and political issues as primary sources for their works.
We first became aware of Altoon’s work during our many discussions about the LA Ferus Gallery with Edward Kienholz. In the late 1950’s, Ferus Gallery, founded by Kienholz and Walter Hopps, exhibited many future art stars including Berman, Moses, Warhol, Rische, and Herms among many others.
Some of Altoon’s contemporaries described Altoon as being slightly mad. His erotic and abstract work represented the artist’s personal fantasies and nightmares. His mental illness contributed to his early passing at age forty-three in 1969. His work is included in major museum collections including the Whitney. This exhibition comprises the complete series of this major collaboration between two masters of their craft. Our mission at Redbud is to educate and help preserve the legacy of important figures of American art and literary history.