Paintings by Jan Stussy

This exhibition featured 33 works by California-based artist Jan Stussy (1921–1990). By 1957, Stussy had taught art at the University of California, Los Angeles for eight years. The artist took a sabbatical in Europe in the early 1950s, where he researched little-used and newly-developed paints and materials. This course of study helped produce paintings that were exhibited for the first time at the Pasadena Art Museum. They incorporated various materials and mediums, such as charcoal, conté crayon, lacquer on chipboard, enamel, sand and Masonite. In his artist’s statement for the show, Stussy said that he rejected artists’ statements entirely: “Art is pure experience . . . first hand, and undiluted. The art in painting is like electricity; you can feel it, see it, use it and know it but trying to explain it in words is frustrating, ambiguous and futile.”