Mary Joan (Jay) DeFeo was an American artist renown for her large scale abstract style of painting. Jay DeFeo was born in Hanover, New Hampshire in the year 1929.
DeFeo attended the University of California at Berkeley earning a B.F.A. and M.F.A. After college the artist traveled overseas to Europe and upon return to the United States supported herself by making jewelry.
The artist enjoyed working with many mediums. DeFeo worked with photo collage, drawings, paintings, sculptures, and installations.
Her largest and heaviest piece was called the Rose. It took eight years to finish and the weight of the artwork surpassed one ton (2,000 pounds) in weight. When finished it was taken from her living quarters by a forklift. Here the Whitney Museum which has the largest collection of her work, takes a closer look at the Rose:
DeFeo was a professor at Mills University located at Benicia, California.
In this clip we view a retrospective of Jay DeFeo with our dear friend James Kalm:
Jay DeFeo passed away in 1989 at the age of 60.
The artist is part of the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago among others.
Price range information: Sorry none available.
What an amazing artist whose career is a great example of California artist who enjoyed experimenting with many mediums.
D
Diattaart Blog 