FRESNO—The Fresno Art Museum presents the exhibition “Rendering Homage: Portraits of a Patron” featuring Los Angeles art patron, collector, and arts advocate, Joan Agajanian Quinn. Quinn has been depicted in portraiture for over five decades by world-renowned artists at the forefront of their era, medium, and impact upon the contemporary art scene.
The exhibition is a selection of artworks depicting her visage, created for her by artists she has championed over time. Approximately 50 two and three-dimensional pieces from Quinn’s collection of over 300 portraits tell the story of her passion for cutting edge American artists through their portrayals of her as their valkyrie.
Bay Area painter Mel Ramos describes Joan as “a living work of art.” This exhibition serves to herald her in this light, in addition to revealing her treasured artist friendships and her instinctual certainty of their relevance to 20th and 21st century contemporary art history, and pays homage to an art patron, sincerely appreciated.
The exhibited portraits are realized in all mediums, spanning four decades of Quinn’s relationships with artists she has believed in and supported. The exhibition includes works by Peter Alexander, Charles Arnoldi, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Laddie John Dill, Claire Falkenstein, Sophia Gasparian, Frank Gehry, Robert Graham, David Hockney, George Hurrell, E.F. Kitchen, Marie Lalanne, Robert Mapplethorpe, Ed Moses, Mel Ramos, Zandra Rhodes, Ed Ruscha, Alexis Smith, and Beatrice Wood, among others.
Nationally and internationally known artists portray their patron as a powerful art-world personage: an advocate who is true to herself, the artists, and the art she loves.
Curated by Michele Ellis Pracy and Kristina Hornback
Opens May 20, 2016, 4pm at the Fresno Art Museum
2233 North First Street
Fresno, CA 93703
Pre-Opening Talks: 4:30pm
(Bonner Auditorium)
Opening Reception: 6pm to 8pm
As the lender of the exhibited art works, Mrs. Quinn will be at the pre-opening talks and opening reception.
Exhibition runs May 20, 2016 through August 28, 2016
