Martin Steele

Oregon-based artist Martin Steele works with multiple mediums and has experience in the business side of the art world. He’s a founding member of the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, and currently runs a studio out of Medford. His work is esoteric and colorful, with many of his recent pieces inspired by 20th century modernism. He uses photographs of iconic pop culture moments and layers them on top of each other to create a saturated representation of the here and now. His piece Yellow Sky Spirit can be found in the Entry Gallery of the Schneider Museum of Art. See the link below to explore Steele’s website for more information, and see his work in person while it’s still on view.

https://www.martinsteele.com/

Basquiat and Warhol

Despite their differences, Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat developed a supportive and competitive friendship. Bruno Bischofberger, an art dealer in New York, introduced the two over lunch. He wanted Warhol to take portraits of the up and coming artist in exchange for a piece of Basquiat’s work. Determined to prove himself as an artist to Warhol, Basquiat left with a polaroid of the two of them together and came back two hours later, canvas still wet, with a portrait of the image. The two would go on to collaborate on more than 150 pieces together. The blend of Warhol’s pop art iconography and Basquiat's neo-expressionism created a jarring yet constructive conversation. One of their collaborative works, GE/Skull, is on display in the Schneider Museum of Art's Entry Gallery. Learn more about one of the most unexpected relationships of the modern art world, and visit us to see GE/Skull in person.

https://www.history.com/news/jean-michel-basquiat-andy-warhol-art-collaboration-painting

Memory Wares

Memory wares are an American folk art with origins in chattel slavery. Many of the original memory wares were jars on the graves of enslaved people that were decorated with mementos from the person’s life. As time went on, items like ceramic jugs, wooden items, and glassware became popular canvases for trinkets that held sentimental value. They were still used to honor the dead, but they also became a kind of scrapbook of memories for the living. Antique fairs became a place where people could sell their memory wares and materials to make them. Artist Mike Kelley was inspired by the work he saw at one of these antique fairs, and bought a bag of old souvenirs to try it out for himself. This was the beginning of his Memory Ware series, where location buttons, pop culture pins, craft beads, and other colorful knick-knacks were scattered across the canvas to create a time capsule of disjointed memories. His piece Memory Ware #41 is currently on display in the Schneider Museum of Art’s Entry Gallery. Find more information about memory ware as a folk art with the link below, and visit us to see Kelley’s work while it’s still on display.

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