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Introduction

Mel Bochner (born 1940) is recognized as one of the leading figures in the development of Conceptual art in New York in the 1960s and 1970s. Emerging at a time when painting was increasingly discussed as outmoded, Bochner became part of a new generation of artists which also included Eva Hesse, Donald Judd, and Robert Smithson - artists who, like Bochner, were looking at ways of breaking with Abstract Expressionism and traditional compositional devices. His pioneering introduction of the use of language in the visual led Harvard University art historian Benjamin Buchloh to describe his 1966 Working Drawings as ‘probably the first truly conceptual exhibition.'

Bochner came of age during the second half of the 1960s, a moment of radical change both in society at large as well as in art. While painting slowly lost its preeminent position in modern art, language moved from talking about art to becoming part of art itself. Bochner has consistently probed the conventions of both painting and of language, the way we construct and understand them, and the way they relate to one another to make us more attentive to the unspoken codes that underpin our engagement with the world.

Mel Bochner has been working at Two Palms since 1994.

New Works 2

New Works 2 Thumbnails
Mel Bochner,  Amazing, 2019 - 2022

Amazing, 2019 - 2022
Etching in 18 colors
36 x 27 1/2 inches 
Edition of 30

Inquire
Mel Bochner, Master of the Universe, 2022

Master of the Universe, 2022
Cast and pigmented paper
71 1/2 x 52 inches
MB6584

Inquire
Mel Bochner, I Forget What I Forgot, 2022

I Forget What I Forgot, 2022
Monoprint in oil with collage, engraving and embossment
30 1/8 x 30 inches

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Mel Bochner, Blah, Blah, Blah / 60" / Blah, Blah, Blah, 2022

Blah, Blah, Blah / 60" / Blah, Blah, Blah, 2022
Monoprint in oil with collage, engraving and embossment
60 x 60 inches 

Inquire
Language Is Not Transparent, 2017
Silkscreen in 13 colors, UV and water-based inks, in 3 parts
63 x 141 inches (each sheet 63 x 47 inches)
Edition of 20

Language Is Not Transparent, 2017
Silkscreen in 13 colors, UV and water-based inks, in 3 parts
63 x 141 inches (each sheet 63 x 47 inches)
Edition of 20

Inquire
Mel Bochner, BOZO, 2022

BOZO, 2022
Monoprint in oil with collage, engraving and embossment 
29 x 22 1/2 inches

Inquire
If The Color Changes..., 2018
Etched and silvered glass
30 1/4 x 40 1/4 x 3 1/4 inches
Edition of 12

If The Color Changes..., 2018
Etched and silvered glass
30 1/4 x 40 1/4 x 3 1/4 inches
Edition of 12

Inquire
Mel Bochner, Obscene, 2017

Obscene, 2017
Silkscreen
62 x 46 1/2 inches

Inquire
Mel Bochner,  Amazing, 2019 - 2022

Amazing, 2019 - 2022
Etching in 18 colors
36 x 27 1/2 inches 
Edition of 30

Mel Bochner, Master of the Universe, 2022

Master of the Universe, 2022
Cast and pigmented paper
71 1/2 x 52 inches
MB6584

Mel Bochner, I Forget What I Forgot, 2022

I Forget What I Forgot, 2022
Monoprint in oil with collage, engraving and embossment
30 1/8 x 30 inches

Mel Bochner, Blah, Blah, Blah / 60" / Blah, Blah, Blah, 2022

Blah, Blah, Blah / 60" / Blah, Blah, Blah, 2022
Monoprint in oil with collage, engraving and embossment
60 x 60 inches 

Language Is Not Transparent, 2017
Silkscreen in 13 colors, UV and water-based inks, in 3 parts
63 x 141 inches (each sheet 63 x 47 inches)
Edition of 20

Language Is Not Transparent, 2017
Silkscreen in 13 colors, UV and water-based inks, in 3 parts
63 x 141 inches (each sheet 63 x 47 inches)
Edition of 20

Mel Bochner, BOZO, 2022

BOZO, 2022
Monoprint in oil with collage, engraving and embossment 
29 x 22 1/2 inches

If The Color Changes..., 2018
Etched and silvered glass
30 1/4 x 40 1/4 x 3 1/4 inches
Edition of 12

If The Color Changes..., 2018
Etched and silvered glass
30 1/4 x 40 1/4 x 3 1/4 inches
Edition of 12

Mel Bochner, Obscene, 2017

Obscene, 2017
Silkscreen
62 x 46 1/2 inches

Selected Exhibitions

Selected Solo Institutional Exhibitions 

2022 Mel Bochner Drawings: A Retrospective, Art Institue of Chicago, IL 
2020  Bochner Boetti Fontana, Magazzino Italian Art, Cold Spring, NY 
2019  Mel Bochner, Dia:Beacon, Beacon, NY
2018  Amazing! Mel Bochner Prints from the Collection of Jordan D. Schnitzer and his Family Foundation, Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK
2018  Measurement Room: Perimeter, 1968, Fine Arts, Sydney, Sydney, Australia
2014  Mel Bochner: Strong Language, The Jewish Museum, New York, NY 
2013  Mel Bochner: Wenn sich die Farbe ändert, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany
2012  Mel Bochner: If the Colour Changes, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK
2011  In the Tower: Mel Bochner, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. 
2006  Mel Bochner: Language 1966 – 2006, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2002  Forum: Mel Bochner: Photographs, 1966 – 1969, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA

Selected Solo Gallery Exhibitions 

2019  Exasperations, Peter Freeman, Inc., New York, NY
2019  Mel Bochner: Exasperations, Simon Lee Gallery, London, UK 
2019  Mel Bochner, Marc Selwyn, Los Angeles, CA

2017  Language is Not Transparent, Gladstone Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
2017  Voices, Peter Freeman, Inc., New York, NY
2017  Mel Bochner: Blah Blah Blah, Simon Lee Gallery, Hong Kong
2016  Mel Bochner, Ikeda Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2015  Mel Bochner, Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA
2015  Mel Bochner: Drawings 1966 – 1968, Craig F. Starr, New York, NY
 

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