Jean Milant, the grasp printmaker who helped increase the artistic attain of younger L.A. conceptual artists corresponding to Ed Ruscha and John Baldessari with the 1970 founding of Cirrus Gallery and Cirrus Editions, has died. He was 81.
Milant died peacefully at house on Dec. 30, Cirrus Gallery introduced Saturday.
Milant based Cirrus as a gallery, printer and writer at a very auspicious time for the Los Angeles artwork scene. The legendary Ferus Gallery had not too long ago closed, however its counterculture legacy continued within the work of a politically energetic group of experimental artists together with Ruscha, Baldessari, Ed Moses, John Altoon, Billy Al Bengston, Ken Worth, Vija Celmins and Lita Albuquerque — all of whom made unique prints with Milant and Cirrus.
At the moment, solely three main printing homes existed in Los Angeles: Tamarind Workshop (the place Milant apprenticed as a printer-fellow underneath Garo Antreasian); Gemini G.E.L.; and Cirrus. The latter distinguished itself by specializing in the work of groundbreaking younger artists primarily based in Southern California. Milant additionally stood out as a craftsman who was not afraid to experiment with the printmaking course of or the shape it took. He as soon as famously helped Ruscha use Pepto-Bismol and caviar to silkscreen a picture of the Hollywood signal. He printed work by Eric Orr on lead, William T. Wiley on leather-based conceal and Jill Giegerich on cork.
“In the early ’70s, because of the renaissance of printmaking, a lot of parameters were established for what a good print is. I think there are some people who try to take the technology and make it a tour de force. And that’s not where I’m coming from. I really only work with what the artist wants to do and hopefully push a little further,” Milant informed The Instances in a 1995 interview, when Los Angeles County Museum of Artwork staged a retrospective celebrating the twenty fifth anniversary of Cirrus, titled, “Made in L.A.: The Prints of Cirrus Editions.”
Jean Milant died on Dec. 30.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Instances)
Milant was additionally an artist and cared deeply in regards to the expertise of creating artwork — for himself and likewise for the artists with whom he collaborated. As a printer, he wasn’t trying to reproduce work however slightly to create new work, with contemporary parameters that stretched what an artist thought themselves able to.
“The exciting part for me is to be involved in the creation of the work,” Milant informed The Instances. “For one thing, the artist doesn’t bring in a painting to make into prints. They come in with an idea that they want to talk about, and the ball just starts to roll. It’s truly an original work of art in a graphic format, not just a reproduction of something that exists.”
Cirrus publications helped increase the attain of the colourful L.A. artwork scene to far-flung locales and audiences. Shortly after founding Cirrus, Milant started touring repeatedly, together with to artwork festivals in Basel, Switzerland, and Cologne and Düsseldorf, Germany.
“My theory was that if I was showing this young art, and I thought it was the greatest art around, then I should put it next to [dealers] Leo Castelli and Ileana Sonnabend’s art and see what they thought,” Milant informed The Instances. “And in fact, we had great success. There was tremendous interest in California art in Europe, and there still is. It was an awakening for me.
Milant was born in Milwaukee in 1943, and earned a degree in fine art from the University of Wisconsin before beginning his career as a painter. He spent time in a master’s program at the University of New Mexico in 1967, before heading to Los Angeles to begin his printmaking work at Tamarind. He founded Cirrus with $1200 in a Hollywood space that Ruscha helped him find near his studio. The collector Terry Inch later bought shares of Cirrus, becoming a behind-the-scenes partner.
In 1979, Cirrus moved its operations to Alameda Street in downtown L.A. at a time when few galleries existed there — eventually becoming a vital force in L.A.‘s Arts District. As the years passed, Milant never took his finger off the creative pulse of his beloved adopted hometown. Over the years, Cirrus has published and exhibited work by Fred Eversley, Craig Kauffman, John Mason, Eve Sonneman, Lari Pittman, Mary Weatherford, Sabina Ott, Jill Giegerich, Sarah Seager, Mark Bradford and Matthew Brannon.
“My whole concept was that I loved L.A. I thought it was like living in New York in 1910 or the ’20s. Everyone was building their own tradition,” Milant informed The Instances.
Milant is survived by his two sisters, Sue Lynn Milant and Jacqueline Milant Lohuis, in addition to Cirrus workers members Robert DeMangus, Dan Bayles and Travis Lober.
