Born in Saint Louis, Missouri; Lembeck attended Washington University in Saint Louis for two years. He earned a BFA degree from the University of Kansas. He earned a MFA degree from Yale where he worked closely with well known artists Jack Tworkov, Al Held, Lester Johnson, William Bailey, philosopher Paul Weiss and of course Bernard Chaet. By 1970 he was a full-time faculty member at Yale University and became a Morse-Stiles Fellow under Master Bart Giamatti.
In 1969 he joined a small artists co-op to become an art pioneer in the now fashionable SoHo district of New York. As a reorganization president he converted this co-op on West Broadway into one of the earliest alternative exhibition spaces for emerging artists. His first solo exhibition was there in 1970. It consisted of paintings influenced by his investigations at Yale of children's art development.
Razor Gallery (as it was renamed) was the first to exhibit such artists as Robert Colescott, Judy Pfaff, Grace Knowlton, the United Graffiti Artists(u.g.a.) and other currently popular women and minority artists. Many ideas formulated at Razor were used by Irving Sandler and Trudy Grace to develop the now famous and important Artists Space in New York.
From Razor, Lembeck launched a successful exhibition career with timely and unique work. This work was originally inspired by children's art, primitive art, graffiti and the harsh physical environment of New York. It then evolved into a synthesized art of its own. That evolution now spans more than three decades and includes environmental work, installations, collaborations with other artists as well as individual exhibitions with professional galleries and institutions.
In 1986, looking for fresh inspiration, a change of environmental pace and natural surroundings, Lembeck and family moved to Sanibel Island, Florida. He steadily commuted and maintained studios in Florida and New York until 1990.
Florida accentuated his never ending quest for intriguing new sources and discovery. With an eye on process, Lembeck began actively pursuing his interest in marine archaeology and geology. He worked with Dr. John Gifford at the University of Miami Rozentiel School of Marine Science as an archaeology research diver. This included extensive field work at Little Salt Spring. This interest originates from growing up in the shadow of the Mississippian mound builder sites. All of this experience plays a major role in his art. It became obvious in both theBrittle Star Park andWindscape projects.
Since 1994 the east coast of Florida has been the base for continued evolution.
Jack Lembeck is not exclusively represented by any gallery, dealer or agent. You can contact him directly at:
jack.lembeck@aya.yale.edu
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NYC. The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C. Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond,Va. The Hudson River Museum, Yonkers,NY. Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport,CT. Grand Rapids Museum of Art Miami-Dade College, Homestead, Fl. Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Fl. Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wi. Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY. Munson-Williams-Procter Institute Norton Center for the Arts The Currier Gallery of Art Marietta Cobb Museum of Art Fred Jones Jr. Memorial Art Center Samuel Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida Orlando Museum of Art Tampa Museum of Art Arizona State University, Tempe The Phoenix Art Museum The Philbrook Museum of Art Edwin Ulrich Museum of Art Manchester Institute of the Arts and Sciences Savannah College of Art and Design Southern Allegaenies Museum of Art Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham, Ma. Erie Art Museum Sordoni Art Gallery, Wilkes University Freeport Art Museum The Butler Museum of Art Plattsburgh Art Museum, SUNY Mobile Museum of Art Furlong Gallery, University of Wisconsin The University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque Avampato Discovery Museum Art Museum of South Texas Muscarelle Museum of Art Wiregrass Museum of Art The Midwest Museum of American Art Radford University Art Museum
"I work in the gap between art and life." Robert Rauschenberg Video - Erasing De Kooning
"I've actually thought about cataloging my sources, but you're supposed to be coy about that: people prefer to think that ideas spring straight from the artist and not that artists are paying attention to, and learning from, the world. I learn from everywhere." (Kiki Smith -"Portraits" by Michael Kimmelman 1998)
"Primarily, what we carry around with us is a memory of our childhood, back when each day held the magic of discovering the world." (Isamu Noguchi)
"If your work looks like art, its probably someone-else's art." (Chuck Close -to students at Yale-Norfolk 1971)
"What a Hoot" (Mike Peters-Always at the perfect time.)
"As sunlight falls on you, you feel it. Light and color are prime movers." (Judy Pfaff-Sculpture Magazine Feb.1998...Link to other articles.)
"One of the profound powers of the artist is that he can will or choose to become anything he wills or chooses." (Al Held -Crown Point Press 1998.)
"I'm trying to paint a world that's not around us." (William Bailey -Crown Point Press 1998.)
"The desire for a state of perfect repose and life eternal has always haunted mankind,"(A.Bartlett Giamatti)
"I am an artist that values, above all, the ability of art to move me emotionally and psychically."(April Gornik)
"These things are all part of a transient process that I cannot understand unless my touch is also transient..."(Andy Goldsworthy)
"When the illusion is lost, art is hard to find," (Kermit Davis son of Ron Davis Defining Illusionism)
"Art can make refernces to many things, and the way you move back and forth among those references is where the magic starts happening." (Brice Marden -"Portraits" by Michael Kimmelman)
"Abstract expressionism never meant to me an esthetic of disorder,"(Jack Tworkov)
"I've come to feel that being involved with my family helps my work and doesn't take me away from it. It deepens the work and adds to its physicality." (Elizabeth Murray -"Portraits" by Michael Kimmelman)
"We communicate to future generations what we are, what we have been; hopefully influencing what we will become." ("Reflection on Art within Society" - Maya Lin)
Front Page | About the Artist | Public Collections | Early Work | Brittle Star | Windscape | Windscape Works
jack.lembeck@aya.yale.edu
Click here for links to:
NEW YORK CITY GALLERIES
United States
