T.V. Bulge

John Torreano
"T.V. Bulge", 1969
Acrylic on canvas
Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art Collection
Gift of Mary and Weston J. Naef
In Memory of Frances Marie and William David McNabola
2019.02

T.V. Bulge exemplifies Torreano’s use of dots (and later gemstones) afloat in abstract grounds to construct the visual perception of spatial depth. If you focus on the dots and move to the other side of the painting, some of the dots will disappear from view. As your eye loses focus on the dots, your focus shifts to the painterly space behind, resulting in a figure-ground flip. This approach captures Torreano’s effort, across the years of his career and a variety of mediums, to create work that incorporates “viewer location as content” through a concept referred to as “movement-oriented perception.” In fact, Torreano’s work has been described by fellow artist, Richard Artschwager, “as paintings that stand still and makes YOU move.”

This seminal painting was first shown at the 1969 Whitney Annual Exhibition in New York City, before being prominently displayed in the home of Weston J. and Mary Naef and eventually gifted to the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art in the Spring of 2019. Weston J. Naef and John Torreano studied
in graduate programs at The Ohio State University during the mid-1960s, where they began a lasting friendship that followed them to New York City. John Torreano established himself as a New York-based artist and Weston J. Naef began his career as a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, later moving on to become curator for The Getty Center in Los Angeles, California. It was from this friendship that Weston J. and Mary Naef spent time at the art studio of Torreano and came to purchase T.V. Bulge prior to its selection for the 1969 Whitney Annual. Stars on the Ground: Works by John Torreano brings in to focus the intersecting paths of John Torreano, Weston J. and Mary Naef, Dr. Frances Marie and her brother William David McNabola, the City of Las Vegas, and the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art at UNLV.

Item Description:
A painting covered with horizontal streaks of green, brown, blue, and pink. Lines of small blue and black dots run across the image. Curved lines at either side of the painting suggest the bulging edges of a cathode-ray tube TV screen.