Since the late 1970s, Jonathan Lasker has developed a distinctive formal vocabulary based on different mark-making processes, including structural grids, graphic scribbled lines and thick impasto strokes of paint. Although he creates these forms intuitively, the compositions themselves are highly structured and controlled. At the forefront of artists who re-established the possibilities of painting after Minimalism and Conceptualism emptied the picture-plane, he has mounted a challenge to the medium's status quo, creating a unique system of painting based on a figure-ground relationship, in which the figure and ground stand in a dialectical relationship to one another.
The artist uses doubled, transposed and translated forms to create paintings composed of distinct, clearly defined elements. 'In Lasker's work, forms […] are part of a larger schema, but independent in terms of form, colour, texture, and manner of paint application,' describes art critic Richard Kalina. 'Each image [in the picture] becomes a thing itself, an element to be examined, experienced and categorised; a component of the larger grammatical structure that Lasker has built.' The pictures which form are arrived at by the viewer interpretively rather than literally, through an active engagement with the different abstract figures on the canvas and the relationships between them. Viewers are encouraged to experience themselves through the act of viewing and, in the end, they become the subject of Lasker's paintings.
Born in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1948, Lasker lives and works in New York. He initially pursued a career as a rock musician before studying at the School of Visual Arts in New York and the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia. Early solo exhibitions include the ICA Philadelphia in 1992 and a retrospective that travelled to the Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; and Kunstverein St. Gallen, Switzerland in 1997–98, followed by exhibitions at the Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, USA; Forum for Contemporary Art, St. Louis, USA; and The Power Plant, Toronto. A major retrospective of his work was held in 2003 at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid and the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf. In 2015, the exhibition Jonathan Lasker: Paintings 2001–2014 was shown at the Musée d'art moderne et contemporain in Saint-Étienne, France. In 2024, an exhibition entitled Paintings from Five Decades was organised at MARe, the Museum of Recent Art, in Bucharest.
2024
Jonathan Lasker: Painting and Drawing, Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
Jonathan Lasker: Painting and Drawing, Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
Jonathan Lasker: Paintings from Five Decades, Museum of Recent Art (MARe), Bucharest, Romania
2022
Jonathan Lasker: New Paintings, Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris Marais, France
2021
Jonathan Lasker: Born Yesterday: Drawing into Painting, 1987–2020, Greene Naftali, New York, NY, USA
2019
Jonathan Lasker: Recent Paintings, Galerie Thomas Schulte, Berlin, Germany
2018
Jonathan Lasker, Maruani Mercier, Brussels, Belgium
2017
Jonathan Lasker, Bohman-Kmäpper, Stockholm, Sweden
2016
Jonathan Lasker, Cheim and Read, New York, NY, USA
2015
Jonathan Lasker: Paintings 2001–2014, Musée d'art moderne et contemporain, Saint-Étienne, France
2014
Recent Paintings, Peter Lund, Oslo, Norway
2012
Jonathan Lasker: The 80s, Galleri Lars Bohman, Stockholm, Sweden
Jonathan Lasker: Recent Paintings, Galerie Thaddeaus Ropac, Paris, France
Jonathan Lasker: Early Works, Cheim & Read, New York, NY, USA
Jonathan Lasker: The 80s, Galerie Thomas Schulte, Berlin, Germany
2011
Jonathan Lasker: The 80s, Timothy Taylor, London, UK
2010
Recent Paintings, L.A. Louver, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Jonathan Lasker: In the Presence of the Artists, Alain Noirhomme, Brussels, Belgium
2009
Lars Bohman, Stockholm, Sweden
2008
Thomas Schulte, Berlin, Germany
Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR, USA
2007
Galerie Sabine Knust – Maximilian Verlag, Munich, Germany
Timothy Taylor, London, UK
Cheim & Read, New York, NY, USA
2006
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
Galerie Alain Noirhomme, Brussels, Belgium
From Drawing to Painting to Drawing, Kunsthallen Brandts, Odense, Denmark
From Drawing to Painting to Drawing, Pori Art Museum, Pori, Finland
2005
Galleria Cardi, Milano, Italy
Pori Art Museum, Pori, Finland
2004
Coloured Scribbles, Timothy Taylor Gallery, London, UK
2003
Jonathan Lasker: Paintings, Drawings, Studies 1977-2003, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain; K-20 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany
2002
Jonathan Lasker, Galerie Kiezle und Gmeiner, Berlin, Germany
Drawing and Painting, Sperone Westwater, New York, NY, USA
Jonathan Lasker, Galerie Thomas Schulte, Berlin, Germany
Jonathan Lasker, Galeri Wang, Oslo, Norway
2001
Jonathan Lasker, Galleri Lars Bohman, Stockholm, Sweden
2000
Jonathan Lasker: Oeuvres Récentes, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
Jonathan Lasker: Complete Print Survey, Jan Weiner, Kansas City, MO, USA
1999
Forum for Contemporary Art, St. Louis, MO, USA
The Power Plant, Toronto, Canada
Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, USA
Jonathan Lasker, Sperone Westwater, New York, NY, USA
Jonathan Lasker: Selective Identity – Paintings from the 1990’s, Forum for Contemporary Art, St. Louis, MO, USA; The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery at Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Canada; Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, USA; Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL, USA
1998
Jonathan Lasker, Timothy Taylor Gallery, London, UK
Jonathan Lasker, Galeria Soledad Lorenzo, Madrid, Spain
1997-1998
Jonathan Lasker: Paintings 1977–1997, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Kunstverein St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland
Jonathan Lasker, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
1997
Jonathan Lasker, Velge et Noirhomme, Brussels, Belgium
Jonathan Lasker, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris France
Jonathan Lasker, Galerie Kienzle und Gmeiner, Berlin, Germany
Jonathan Lasker, Galleria Milleventi, Torino, Italy
Jonathan Lasker, Schmidt Contemporary Art, St. Louis, MO, USA
1996
Jonathan Lasker: New Paintings, Sperone Westwater, New York, NY, USA
1995
Jonathan Lasker, Galeria Soledad Lorenzo, Madrid, Spain
1993
Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, Netherlands
1992
Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
2024
Pictorial Resonance, Galerie Thomas Schulte, Berlin, Germany
2020
30 Years in Paris, Thaddeaus Ropac, Paris Pantin, France
2019
The Frozen Gesture, Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland
2018
The Matter in Harmony, Galerie Thomas Schulte, Berlin, Germany
Sumertime Picks, Tamarind Institute, Albuqueruque, NM, USA
Set Adrift on Memory Bliss, Pablo's Birthday, New York, NY, USA
Abstract/ion, Galerie Klüser, Munich, Germany
2017
Think Paint, Unix Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Sammlung Kienzle, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz, Liechtenstein
ARTICULATE, Silas Von Morisse Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Abstract Painting Now!, Kunsthalle Krems, Krems an der Donau, Austria
Permanent Repetition, Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2017 Canadian Biennial, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada
2016
Strange Abstraction, Federicks & Freiser, New York, NY, USA
How to Be Unique, Kienzle Art Foundation, Berlin, Germany
Affinities, Galeria Miguel Marcos, Barcelona, Spain
The Conversation Continues… Highlights from the James Cottrell + Joseph Lovett Collection, Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL, USA
Basquiat, Dubuffett, Soulages… Une Collection Privée, Foundation de l’Hermitage, Lausanne, Switzerland
ABC/123, Steven Zevitas Gallery, Boston, MA, USA
Structural Intergrity, Eugene Binder, Marfa, TX, USA
2015
Jeremy DePrez, Jonathan Lasker, Zachary Leener, Retrospective Gallery, Husdon, NY, USA
Post-Analog Paintings, The Hole, New York, NY, USA
I Like America, SCHAUWERK Sindelfingen, Sindelfingen, Germany
Rio, Office Baroque, Brussels, Belgium
Paul Klee, Underdonk, Brooklyn, NY, USA
12 New Yorkers, Jablonka Maruani Mercier Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
2014
Taking a Line for a Walk, Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, Switzerland
CalArts Benefit Exhibition, Metro Pictures / Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Group Show, L.A. Louver Gallery, Venice, CA, USA
Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA
Night Images, Michael Werner Kunsthandel, Cologne, Germany
Pop Abstraction, Garth Greenan Gallery, New York, NY, USA
93 Exhibition, Centro Galego de Arte Contemporanea, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Slow Learner, Timothy Taylor Gallery, London, UK
Bad Influence, Michael Thibault Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Busan Biennale 2014, Busan Museum of Art, Busan, South Korea
The Hidden Picture – Collecting Art at ING, Cobra Museum of Modern Art, Amstelveen, Netherlands
2013
Painting 101, Sargent's Daughters, New York, NY, USA
Wit, The Painting Center, New York, NY, USA
Thought, Galerie Thomas Schulte, Berlin, Germany
Spring Break, Galerie Sabine Knust, Munich, Germany
Reinventing Abstration, Cheim and Read, New York, NY, USA
Entrée libre mais non obligatoire, Villa Arson, Nice, France
Panorama, Lars Bohman Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden
Keine Parole: Aktion-Malerei-Konzept, Werke aus der Sammlung Kienzle, Berlin, Kunstmuseum Kloster Unser Lieben Frauen, Magdeburg, Germany
Promenades d’Amateurs, Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, Monaco
2012
Reinventing Abstraction: New York Painting in the 1980s, Cheim & Read, New York, NY, USA
American Art of the 1980s, Nosbaum and Reding Art Contemporain, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
A. ABSTR_ACTION., Galerija Contra, Koper, Slovenia
Outside In, Timothy Taylor, London, UK
Art in Embassies Exhibition, US Embassy, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Smile, Amerikanische Kunst: Sammlung Kienbaum, Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne, Germany
Conceptual Abstraction, Hunter College, Times Square Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Heute: Malerei, Kunstmuseum Kloster Unser Lieben Frauen, Magdeburg, Germany
2011
Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY, USA
Exhibition of Newly Elected Members and Recipients of Honors and Awards, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY, USA
Jim Schmidt Presents: Abstraction, Philip Slein Gallery, St. Louis, MO, USA
The Minimal Gesture, Timothy Taylor, London, UK
1991… Thomas Schulte, Berlin, Germany
Night Scented Stock, cur. Todd Levin, Marianne Boesky, New York, NY, USA
The Bewildered Image: American Painters from the 1980’s, Patricia Low Contemporary, Geneva, Switzerland
2010
Loose Joints, Kienzle Art Foundation, Berlin, Germany
España / America The Redefined Abstraction, Galería Max Estrella, Madrid, Spain
Babel, FRAC Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France
Le Tableau, Cheim and Read, New York, NY, USA
Bravin Lee Programs, New York, NY, USA
Town and Country, Tibor de Nagy, New York, NY, USA
Tamarind Touchstones: Fabulous at Fifty, University of New Mexico Art Museum, Alburquerque, NM, USA
Currents in Contemporary Art, Orlando Art Museum, Orlando, FL, USA
Studies in Paint: Jonathan Lasker and John Noel Smith, Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin, Ireland
2009
Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany
Die Gegenwart der Linie, Trahern Gallery, Austin Peay University, Clarksville, TN, USA
Jettison: New Ideas in Abstraction, L.A. Louver Gallery, Venice, CA, USA
Collecting Evidence – Part I: False Friends, The Kienzle Art Foundation, Brandenburgischer Kunstverein, Potsdam, Germany
On Paper, Shaheen Modern and Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH, USA
Abstractions by Gallery Artists, Cheim & Read, New York, NY, USA
Summer Eyes/Summarize, Jan Weiner, Kansas City, MO, USA
Print, Mushroom Works, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
2008
What is a Print?, Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati, OH, USA
Out of Storage I: Peintures choisies de la Collection, Mudam Luxembourg, Luxembourg
En Construcción I, La Fundación Pedro Barrié de la Maza, Vigo, Spain
2007
Atomations, Black Dragon Society, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Contemporary, Cool and Collected, Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC, USA
Conversations – Artist and Collector, North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks, ND, USA
PAINT IT BLUE – Werke aus der ACT Art Collection / Siegfried Loch, Neues Museum Weserburg Bremen, Bremen, Germany
2006
Broken Surface, Galerie Sabine Knust, Munich, Germany
Patrick Heron, Jonathan Lasker, Katie Pratt, John Hansard Gallery, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
hot spring in autumn, Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna, Austria
Affinities, Centre Européen d’Action Artistiques, Strasbourg, France
The 181st Annual: An Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary American Art, National Academy Museum, New York, NY, USA
Galleri Lars Bohman, Stockholm, Sweden
Modern and Contemporary Master Drawings, Connaught Brown Gallery, London, UK
Summer Eyes/Summarize, Jan Weiner Gallery, Kansas City, MO, USA
Gunnar A. Kaldewey: Artist Books for a Global World, Four Collaborations in Depth, MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA, USA
Paint it Blue – Werke aus der ACT Art Collection Siegfried Loch, Neues Museum Weserburg Bremen, Bremen, Germany
Galerie Thomas Schulte, Berlin, Germany
2002
Galerie Thomas Schulte, Berlin, Germany
2001
New Paintings, Kevin Bruk Gallery, Miami, FL, USA
American Art from the Goetz Collection, Munich, Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague, Czech Republic
Between Language and Form, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT, USA
2000
Arte Americana, Ultimo Decennio, Museo d Arte della Citta di Ravenna, Ravenna, Italy
1999
In Site: Constructing the JCC Collection, Johnson County College, Gallery of Art, Overland Park, KS, USA
1998
Pop/Abstraction, Museum of American Art of Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA
ART C. Association Art Contemporain Ville d'Issoire, France
1997
Abstraction/Abstractions – Géometries Provisoires, Musée d'Art Moderne: curators DeChassey & Morineau, St. Étienne, France
1996
Playpen & Corpus Delirium, Kunsthalle Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
1995
Sarah Campell Blaffer Gallery – University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA
1993
The Permanent Collection Revisted, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., USA
1989
Horn of Plenty, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1985
Vernacular Abstraction, Wacoal Art Center, Tokyo, Japan
1981
Patrick Verelst, Antwerp, Belgium
Belgium
Banque Bruxelles Lambert, Brussels
France
Fond National d'Art Contemporain, Paris
FRAC Auvergne | Fond régional d'art contemporain, Auvergne
Musée d'art moderne et contemporain, Saint-Étienne
Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris
Germany
Museum Ludwig, Cologne
Sammlung Goetz, Munich
Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, Munich
Holland
De Peter Stuyvesant Stichting, Amsterdam
Japan
Misumi Collection, Tokyo
Wacoal Art Center, Tokyo
Luxembourg
Casino Luxembourg, Forum of Contemporary Art, Luxembourg
Mudam, Luxembourg
Spain
Fundacio La Caixa, Barcelona
Fundación Pedro Barrié de la Maza, Vigo
Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Seville
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid
Sweden
Moderna Museet, Stockholm
United States of America
Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL
Broad Art Foundation, Santa Monica, CA
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
David Winton Bell Gallery, Brown University, Providence, RI
High Museum, Atlanta, GA
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS
Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA
List Center for the Visual Arts, Mass. Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Progressive Companies, Pepper Pike, OH
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS