︎
Paint-splatter buildup on the printmaking loft floor, dating from David Park’s use of this space as his studio from the 1940s through 1952.


Paint Splatter


Author
Jeff Gunderson

Decade

1940s 1950s


Tags

Music Painting Sculpture
The Unknown


Many of the faculty in the late 1940s had studio space on campus. There was even a shared “Faculty Studio” designated on the building’s original architectural plans. Nancy Boas—interviewing then-student Deborah Remington for her book David Park: A Painter’s Life (2012)—learned that his studio on campus was located in a loft area above the studio where he taught, now used for printmaking. Boas writes,

“Deborah Remington watched Park paint Kids on Bikes. She had a class in Studio 3, which was right below Park’s balcony studio, and he sometimes worked when the class was in session. ‘His studio was so small that you would suffocate if you shut the door, and he would leave it open,’ Remington recalled.”

Sure enough, investigating this small space revealed an area on the floor with many layers of splattered paint that must have dated from Park’s studio residency in the 1940s.

 JG 

David Park teaching below his printmaking loft studio, 1948. Photo: Bill Heick. David Park stands on a ladder; Squire Knowles holds a hammer; Hassel Smith sits on Elmer Bischoff’s shoulders; and Ernest Mundt points while constructing “distractions” for the 1949 party The Unknown, a theme conjured up by painter and funk artist Clay Spohn along with his friend Mark Rothko. Flyer for The Unknown, which “attracted 1,600 guests” in “bizarre outfits” and included “Supper, Bar, Distractions, Dancing” and Clay Spohn’s Museum of Little Known and Unknown Objects installed in Studio 13. Clay Spohn’s Museum of Little Known and Unknown Objects, installed in Studio 13, was one of the “distractions” for The Unknown party. Spohn’s installation of found objects and ephemera is noted for launching California’s Dada/funk/raw assemblage sculpture movement, which took root in the Bay Area in the 1950s. “Bizarre outfits” with dancing at The Unknown, 1949 David Park: Rehearsal, c. 1949–50; oil on canvas; 46 x 35 3/4 in.; Collection of the Oakland Museum of California. Gift of the Anonymous Donor Program of the American Federation of Arts. Courtesy of Hackett Mill, representative of the Estate of David Park..The music at The Unknown most likely included the school’s Studio 13 Jass Band, which David Park depicted in his painting Rehearsal. Park broke from Abstract Expressionism and returned to the figure in this painting—triggering Richard Diebenkorn to say “My God, what’s happened to David?” This also marked the beginning of the Bay Area figurative movement. Rehearsal shows Douglas MacAgy on drums, Jon Schueler on bass, Elmer Bischoff on trumpet, Conrad Janis on trombone, and Park on piano. This 1959 photo by California School of Fine Arts student Jerry Burchard shows the Studio 13 Jass Band with David Park on piano, Elmer Bischoff on trumpet, and Wally Hedrick on banjo.


Video




Secondary Connections