Alvin D. Loving
| Alvin D. Loving Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Born |
September 19, 1935 Detroit, MI |
| Died | June 21, 2005 (aged 69) New York, NY |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | University of Michigan |
| Known for | Painting |
| Movement | Abstract expressionism |
Alvin D. Loving Jr. (September 19, 1935 – June 21, 2005), better known as Al Loving was an African-American abstract expressionist and painter. His work is known for hard-edge abstraction, fabric constructions, and large paper collages - all exploring complicated color relationships.
Loving earned a BFA from the University of Illinois in 1963 and an MFA from University of Michigan in 1965. Within a year of moving to New York City, he received his first solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art. He received National Endowment for the Arts fellowships in 1970, 1971, 1975, 1976, and 1985; and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1986. Loving created large-scale commissioned public works, including a ceramic mural in one of Detroit's People Mover stations and another in the David Adamany Library at Wayne State University. In 1996, he created a collage painting for the Sacramento Convention Center, and in 2001 he completed a large mosaic wall with 70 stained-glass windows for Brooklyn's Broadway-East New York subway station.
Although he never matched the success of his first show, Loving exhibited steadily throughout his life in group and solo exhibitions at numerous venues, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Studio Museum in Harlem; Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, New York; Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France; and PS1 Contemporary Art Center, Queens, New York. His work appears in many public collections including the Whitney, the Detroit Art Institute, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Estate of Al Loving is represented exclusively by Garth Greenan Gallery, New York.
Loving began his education at the University of Illinois, Champaign. The teaching consisted of formal instruction of painting and drawing. Later, he would go to graduate school at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His major mentor there was Al Mullen, who helped him get involved with the Once Group organization. This organization was made up of members such as Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg, and Andy Warhol. Thus, once Loving moved to New York City he was able to get in touch with other well-known artists, such as Frank Stella and Kenneth Noland, who would become major influences on his art practice. As Loving is studying and moving to New York, abstract expressionism was on its way out to be replaced by pop art, minimalism, and hard-edge abstraction.
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