Some
years ago, in the 1960’s, I saw Jim Strombotne’s
work at Frank Perls Gallery. I was deeply moved. In
the 1990’s, I witnessed his series of paintings,
The Entry of Christ into Los Angeles, and again, I was
very much impressed. Strombotne’s palette is simple,
strong and flat; a very contemporary point of view.
This exhibition beginning with The Entry of Christ into
Los Angeles VII, employs
Strombotne’s wit, talent, skill, line, paint and
color in the construction of a powerful theme carried
out with aplomb, sincerity, vitality, and critical skill.
The Getty Museum recently acquired a painting by James
Ensor of a similar subject, Entry of Christ into Brussels,
a study of grotesque humanity which inspired this series.
Strombotne’s first one-man show was in San
Francisco in 1956, and since then, he has had over
seventy five one-man shows, with twelve retrospectives,
four in New York City, twenty five Museums including
the Museum of Modern Art, NY, Whitney Museum of American
Art, City Art Museum, St. Louis, La Jolla Museum of
Art, Amon Carter Museum, TX, Hirshhorn Museum, DC,
Art Institute of Chicago, Los Angeles County Museum
of Art, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Strombotne’s one-man shows include the Orange County
Museum of Art, CA, Frank Perls Gallery, LA, and many
others. Strombotne earned a Guggenheim Fellowship in
1962, and in the same year, a feature article on him
appeared in Time Magazine. He was rewarded the honor
of exhibiting at the Carnegie International, Whitney
Annual, and Corcoran Biennial.
James continues to paint and teach at the University
of California, Riverside, where he has been for 30 years.
- Herbert Palmer
