The estate and foundation of controversial pop artist Larry Rivers is now represented by Los Angeles’ 101/Exhibit, the gallery confirmed to the Observer. He and his estate had been represented by the Marlborough Gallery since 1963.
Rivers, who began his career as a saxophonist and contemporary of Miles Davis, burst upon the contemporary art scene in the 1950s, becoming a painter and sculptor regarded as the “bad boy” of Pop Art. He was known for his “hypersexuality,” according to Vanity Fair, and carried on affairs with women as well as men, including poet Frank O’Hara, with whom he also collaborated.
Rivers has come under fire in recent years, however, for his early video experiments, which were discovered after his death in 2002 and featured his underage daughters nude.
As with Woody Allen, this has not done much to halt his reputation as an artist. His work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery and the Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden and he sometimes is referred to as “the grandfather of Pop Art.” (Though, really, it feels like Pop Art has a lot of grandfathers, fathers and godfathers).
West Hollywood-based 101/ Exhibit said in a statement that they “will work in tandem with the Foundation to produce original exhibitions that highlight Rivers’ innovations and position them within the current context of contemporary art. The gallery will spearhead awareness of Larry Rivers’ legacy on the West Coast and serve as liaison to local Los Angeles county museums and institutions.”
