William Katz, Ampersand (&) Abstract Geometric Silkscreen on Handmade Kenzo Paper, 1986

Description

Screenprint printed in black and white on handmade oatmeal paper. Signed, dated and numbered in white pencil. Date and name … more Screenprint printed in black and white on handmade oatmeal paper. Signed, dated and numbered in white pencil. Date and name lower right, Signed and numbered edition of 85 from ARTISTS PORTFOLIO, a limited edition series of five prints in support of the dance company of Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane & Company. The other four artists who contributed were Robert Longo, Keith Haring, William Katz and Gretchen Bender.

Bill Katz was born in New York, studied at The Art Students League and with Sebastiano Mineo of New York City. He was the studio assistant to Robert Indiana for more than a decade, initiating and arranging print projects for the artist, including Numbers (1968), with poems by Robert Creeley.For five years he worked and lived in the home that was once occupied by the great American sculptor Gutson Borglum. He also spearheaded the project of the cover artwork at Chanterelle with the full roster of distinguished contributing artists, photographers, musicians, and writers —
Marisol, Chuck Close, Jasper Johns and Robert Mapplethorpe. Almost all the images were made specifically for the menus In addition, some of the images were made for one night special events, such as annual benefits held for the Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane Dance Company. He also Curated for the Fisher Landau Center for Art, Painting and Sculpture, Selections from the collection, which included work by Carl Andre, Willem de Kooning, John Duff, Robert Indiana, Neil Jenney, Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Martin Puryear, Ed Ruscha, Mark Tansey, Andy Warhol, and Daisy Youngblood, among others. His works are in many private collections in the United States, Norway, England, Canada and Greece. Best known for sculptures, he also created paintings and designed textiles and jewelry. Alexander Kirkland called him an abstract "figurist-fantasist."
He has had one-man exhibits at many galleries including: 1964, Miami Museum of Modern Art, Miami, FL; 1965, Fordham University, NYC; 1969 Hiram Halle Library, Pound Ridge, NY
His works are in numerous museums and collections: less