REX AMOS
BIOGRAPHY AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
P. O. Box 494
Cannon Beach, OR 97110
(503)
436-0936 direx@charter.net
STATEMENT
Rex Amos brings to the art of collage boldness of spirit combined with delicate intricacy. The process of Chine Collé is ideal for enhancing Amos's exquisite technique and stunning combinations of images.These hand-rubbed, pastel collages are run through a press on a larger plate sprayed with a thin layer of ink. They develop unity and richness when fused to a backing sheet of etching paper embossed by the edges of the plate.
Like visual poems, their form, imagery, and symbolism contribute to their meaning. Using an intuitive sense of composition combined with an appreciation of paradox and irony, Amos selects images from the thousands he meticulously cuts out with scissors intended for eye surgery. The results are unexpected juxtapositions that excite and provoke the viewer. Frequently the unifying symbol is a literal ribbon tying the universe of ideas together.
The collages are the result of a complex psyche developed through years of wide reading, intense experience, and thoughtful living. They are beautiful for their delicate craftsmanship, satisfying composition, and startling images. They are successful for the strength and depth of their statements.
HISTORY
In The Dome, Peter Voulkos's spacious studio complex for many of the San Francisco Bay Area's most prestigious artists, Rex Amos was referred to as "The Cutter." This epithet was first coined in the 1970's by Matt Glavin, a close friend and associate of Voulkos, when internationally recognized artist Harold Paris offered to hire Amos to cut out his images. Rex Amos's association with these artists goes back to 1959 when he and Matt Glavin became friends.Amos has never been satisfied with pure aesthetics. He has always been driven to make statements through his art. Extremely verbal and articulate by nature, he includes words or symbols for words in all his work. The violence of the images he selected during the Vietnam conflict clearly proclaimed his objection to America's role in that war. Other works represented the agony of the fight for civil rights of minorities.
Amos cannot pass a scrap of paper on the sidewalk without stooping over to pick it up and examine it for collage possibilities. His friends have been embarrassed repeatedly by his stopping to rip years' worth of pasted posters from public walls, layers of glutted paper and glue so heavy they wrapped themselves around him as he fought them into submission. These were the accumulated leavings of Vietnam protests, gay rights demonstrations, rock concerts, circuses, and political and religious meetings. As he returned from one trip to Europe, customs officials opened his suitcase to find no clothes, no underwear, no toothbrush-just piles of old scrap paper topped by a cardboard cutout of Spencer Tracy's head. These are the raw materials for Amos's expressions.
As his ideas have been refined, so has the precision of his art. From large, paint-splashed canvases and assemblages, he has moved to the delicate and precise form of collage. Precisely snipping out images, he glues them down so smoothly that few can tell where the edges are. Matt Glavin's influence is the flow of patiently rubbed pastels allowing figures to float as though independent of the surface.
Glavin also introduced Amos to Chine Collé. This medium represents a unification of Amos's vision. The work of the mature artist is achieved through images selected by an intellect developed by years of reading and diverse experiences.
These experiences have been as varied as building a log cabin in Idaho, fly fishing, jazz drumming, making candles in Mendocino, being an extra in Paint Your Wagon, digging clams on the Pacific Coast, and traveling throughout Britain and Europe.
Amos was born August 13, 1935, in Wallace, Idaho, and raised in Burke, Idaho, a little mining town featured in Ripley's "Believe It or Not" because it was in a canyon so narrow that store awnings had to be pulled up to let the trains pass through. At the beginning of World War II, the family moved to Portland, Oregon, where Amos attended Buckman Grade School and later graduated from Washington High School. Following that, he was drafted into the army and did his tour of duty in Germany. This gave him his first opportunity to travel through Europe wandering through the great museums and developing his first taste for art.On returning home, he enrolled at Portland State University majoring in philosophy and literature. Meanwhile he took up jazz drumming, modeling his style after the jazz greats-Shelley Manne, Joe Morello and Philly Joe Jones. This culminated in his breaking the world record for marathon jazz drumming, 82 hours, in 1960.
During this time he began to experiment seriously with painting, producing some primitive figures and exciting abstractions in the manner of Jackson Pollock. Living in Big Sur and finding himself with no materials with which to work, he began to use found objects. This resulted in some of the first junk sculptures on the West Coast. Inspired by this new medium, he obtained a dump license in Portland so that his resources were virtually unlimited.
A woodcut he did during this time inspired bookstore-owner Walter Powell to ask him to paint a series of icons for Saint John the Baptist Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The technique employed, building up the hard-edged figures from dark to light with small brushes, became an influence on Amos's later work.
In 1969 he accompanied Professor Graham P. Conroy to Ireland to help with research on Bishop Berkeley. This project allowed him to finish the philosophy degree on which he had been working for ten years at Portland State. Amos's contribution to philosophy is Preliminism, the theory and practice of practice. Rather than keeping it to himself, he gave it to Dr. Conroy, making it the first philosophy ever given away. A bibliophile and voracious reader, Amos has continued to expand his knowledge and ideas. This is evident in his art.
His works are composed of ironically juxtaposed images rich with literary, historical, religious, and philosophical allusions that provoke the viewer to participate in their interpretations.
After thirty-two years of filling a large Northwest Portland home with books, art, and the miscellany necessary for his artistic inspiration and expression, Amos has now moved to Cannon Beach, Oregon, where he and his wife Diane, a retired secondary English teacher, have had a house built. With his long-time associate Matt Glavin, who also has moved to Cannon Beach, Amos has established a studio and continues to work and show in that area.
ONE-MAN SHOWS
Cannon Beach Arts Association. Collage & Chine Collé, 2001Cannon Beach Arts Association. "inaccrochable", (Mixed Media), 1999
Cannon Beach Arts Association. "Non Sequiturs", (Mixed Media), 1998
Coaster Theater Playhouse, Cannon Beach, Oregon. (Chine Collé), 1996
Erickson & Elins / Fine Art, "Contemporary Romanticism", (Collage and Chine Collé), 1995
Augen Gallery, Portland, Oregon. "Men in Love Series", (Collage and Chine Collé), 1994
Augen Gallery, Portland, Oregon. "Women in Love Series", (Mixed Media Chine Collé), 1992
Corvallis Arts Center, Corvallis, Oregon. "A Rextrospective: Works by Rex Amos 1962-1992"
Erickson & Elins / Fine Art, San Francisco, California. "Collage and Chine Collé", 1992
Augen Gallery, Portland, Oregon (Mixed Media Chine Collé), 1991
Simon James Gallery, Berkeley, California. (Mixed Media Chine Collé), 1989
West Hills Unitarian Fellowship, Portland, Oregon. "Rejected Icons, Gutterscapes, Pizza Pies, and Chine Collés", 1988
Magnolia Editions, Oakland, California. "Chine Collé Works", 1986
Portland State University: White Gallery, Portland, Oregon. "Classical Collage Series", 1985
The Blue Moon, Portland, Oregon. (Assemblage), 1985
Emily Thorpe Gallery, Sisters, Oregon. (Pastel Collage), 1984
First Unitarian Church, Portland, Oregon. (Pastel Collage and Drawings), 1983
White Bird Gallery, Cannon Beach, Oregon. "Classical Collage", 1980
West Hills Unitarian Fellowship, Portland, Oregon. (Collage, Drawings, and Prints), 1979
Portland, State College: Off-White Gallery, Portland, Oregon. (Paintings and Assemblage), 1966
Spatenhaus, Portland, Oregon. (Assemblage), 1964-65
Aladdin Theater, Portland, Oregon. Five Shows: 1962-65
Cafe Trieste, Portland, Oregon. (Paintings, Drawings, and Assemblage), 1963
GROUP EXHIBITIONSArt Slate. Condon, Oregon. Mixed Media Collage, 2003
Cannon Beach Arts Association. "Haystack Rock Show." (Collage), 2002
Cannon Beach Arts Association. Miniature Show. (Collage), 1999
NextMonet.com, Inc. San Francisco, California. (Mixed Media Chine Collé), 1999
Art Friendly, Friendly House Community Center, Portland, Oregon. (Chine Collé), 1996
The Rutgers Archives for Printmaking Studios, Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey. (Mixed Media Chine Collé), 1994
Magnolia Editions, California Museum of Art, Santa Rosa, California. "Ten Years of Printmaking", (Mixed Media Chine Collé), 1993
Augen Gallery, Portland, Oregon. "Erotic Exhibit", (Mixed Media Chine Collé), 1993
Art Slate '93, Condon, Oregon. (Mixed Media Chine Collé), 1993
Olga Dollar Gallery, San Franscisco, California. "Magnolia Editions Selected Prints by California Artists", (Mixed Media Chine Collé), 1992
Doll Gardner Gallery, West Hills Unitarian Fellowship, Portland, Oregon. "Friends & Founders 1970 to the Present", (Mixed Media Chine Collé), 1992
Augen Gallery, Portland, Oregon. (Mixed Media Chine Collé), 1992
White Bird Gallery, Cannon Beach, Oregon. "Three at the White Bird", 1992
Erickson & Elins / Fine Art, San Francisco, California. (Mixed Media Chine Collé), 1991
Artists of Willamette Heights, Portland, Oregon. "A Centennial Exhibition 1891-1991", (Mixed Media Chine Collé), 1991
Wentz Gallery, Pacific NW College of Art, Portland, Oregon. "The Stendhal Effect. Research & Exhibition", 1990
Northwest Artists Workshop, Portland, Oregon. "Erotic '88", (Chine Collé and Pastel Collage), 1988
University of Oregon Traveling Exhibition. "The Layered Look: West Coast Collage", 1986-88
White Bird Gallery, Cannon Beach, Oregon. (Chine Collé), 1986
White Bird Gallery, Cannon Beach, Oregon. "The Sea and Art", 1983
Harris Gallery, Houston, Texas. (Pastel Collage), 1982
Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon. "Oregon Biennial", 1981 (Illustration in Catalogue)
Northwest Artists Workshop, Portland, Oregon. "Other Artists of Oregon L'Exhibition Des Refuses", 1979
Arts Place Gallery, Portland, Oregon. (Collage), 1978
Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon. "Artists of Oregon", 1977
Northwest District Association, Portland, Oregon. "Splash", 1975
Mudlark Gallery, Portland, Oregon. "80th Anniversary Artists of Oregon Invitational Exhibition", 1973
Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon. "Artists of Oregon Paintings and Sculptures", 1971
Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon. "Artists of Oregon", 1970
University of Oregon Museum of Art, Eugene, Oregon. "9 Pacific Northwest Artists/3 Dimensions/1966", 1966
Tangent Gallery, Portland, Oregon. (Assemblage), 1966
Fountain Gallery of Art, Portland, Oregon. "Supplement 66", 1966
Long Alley Gallery, Lake Oswego, Oregon. 1966
University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon. "Living with Art", 1965
Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon. "Artists of Oregon", 1964
Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon. "Wall Sculptures by Oregon Artists', (Assemblage), 1963
Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon. "Artists of Oregon Exhibition", 1962-63
RENTAL SALES GALLERIESPortland Art Association, Portland, Oregon. 1966-1997
University of Oregon Museum of Art, Eugene, Oregon 1965
PUBLISHED WORKSayre, Henry M. A World of Art. Fourth Edition. Prentice Hall, 2002 (Discussion and reproduction of the assemblage 911, end pages)
"Exploring the 'Rock'". Cannon Beach Gazette, March 28, 2002, 2nd Section.
Brooke, Sandy, Hooked on Drawing! Illustrated Lessons & Exercises for Grades 4 and Up. Prentice Hall, 1996. (Two color plates, pages 221 and 241)
Magnolia Editions Works on Paper 1981-1992, Magnolia Editions, Inc., p. 2
The Rutgers Archives for Printmaking Studios Catalogue of the Acquisitions 1991-1993 No. 173 Magnolia Editions, p. 60
AWARDS AND COMMISSIONS
Art Slate, Condon, Oregon. 1st Prize Juror's Award, 1993
Goose Hollow Inn, Portland, Oregon. "Rubber Ducky", Commission, 1986
Tuttles Candles International, Warrenton, Oregon. "Tricky Dick and Old Trapper Candle Design", Commission, 1973
Saint John the Baptist Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Portland, Oregon. "Icon Paintings", Commission, 1963
Oregon State Fair, Salem, Oregon. Painting, 1st Prize, "Crux Ansanta", 1960
The Shadows, Portland, Oregon. Marathon Jazz Drumming: World Record, 1960
EVENTS
McMenamins Tavern & Pool, Portland, Oregon. "Expose Art to Yourself", (Wall Painting: Tat Tvam Asi), 1984Portland, Oregon. "The Professional Virgin", (Street Sculpture), 1971
Portland, Oregon. "Urban Refusal No. 1…A Resting Place", (Street Sculpture), 1964
PERSONAL PUBLICATIONS
The Stendhal Effect, "Stalking the Stendhal Effect", Dadadady, Portland, Oregon. February 1990
The North CoastTimes Eagle, Cannon Beach, Oregon. "Final Agony Series", (Notes and Drawings), July 16, 1982
The North Coast times Eagle. Cannon Beach, Oregon. "The Preliminist Manifesto" Text and Drawings by Prof. Graham P. Conroy and Rex Amos. June 13, 1980.
Provoke 1 Volume 1, Number 2, Portland, Oregon. November 1966
Provoke 1 Volume 1, Number 1, Portland, Oregon. July 1965
Black Panther in Fat City, Sausalito, California. 1964
PROFILES
"The 'respectable one' and the 'village idiot' find their 'Nirvana'," This is Cannon Beach, Spring 2002, p. 5Cannon Beach Gazette, Cannon Beach, Oregon. "Amos… refilling the tank" by Cat Mauldin, December 23, 1999
The Sunday Oregonian, Portland, Oregon. In One Ear by Bev Butterworth, July 14, 1991
The Sunday Oregonian, Portland, Oregon. About Town, "Déjà vu Visionary" by Jonathan Nicholas, June 30, 1991
The Oregonian, Portland, Oregon. "Rex Redux" by Jonathan Nicholas, January 29, 1990
The Northwest Examiner, Portland, Oregon. "Tale of a Rubber Ducky", (Photo). May 1987
The Oregonian, Portland, Oregon. "Columnist Hattacked" by Jonathan Nicholas. October 4, 1984
The Neighbor, Portland, Oregon. "Pair Pursues the Practice of Practice" by James Hunt Miller. (Photo), February 1985
The Oregonian, Portland, Oregon. "The Practice of Practice" by Jonathan Nicholas. October 4, 1984
WillametteWeek, Portland, Oregon. "A Dry Fly Tirade" by Rick Rubin. August 10-16, 1982Willamette Week, Portland, Oregon. "An Urban Thoreau on Fly Fishing" by Rick Rubin. June 29-July 5, 1982
The Oregonian, Portland, Oregon. "Sculptor Adds Humor to Festival", (Street Sculpture with Photo). June 10, 1971
The Sunday Oregonian: Northwest Magazine, Portland, Oregon. "The New Art and Portland" by Jack Eyerly. (Photo), January 7, 1968
The Oregon Journal, Portland, Oregon. "Hollywood Action Brings Another Gold Rush to Baker", (Photo). June 27, 1968
The Sunday Oregonian: Northwest Magazine, Portland, Oregon. "Rex Amos: The Artist as a Man of Many Hats" by Rick Rubin, (Photos). July 17, 1966
The Vanguard, Portland, Oregon. "Former PSC Student's Sculpture to Be on Display at Art Museum" by John Wendeborn, (Photo). November 1, 1963
REVIEWS
Seaside Signal Leisure, Seaside, Oregon. "The Artwork of Rex Amos on Display at Coaster Theater Playhouse", March 14, 1996Artspirit, Corvallis Arts Center, Corvallis, Oregon. "30-Year Rex-trospective Look in Collage", (Photo). June 1992
The Oregonian, Portland, Oregon. Arts & Entertainment, "Art of Desire" by Randy Gragg. (Photo). July 19, 1991
Willamette Week, Portland, Oregon. Art by Greg Morris. July 11-17. 1991.
The Oregonian, Portland, Oregon. "Mixed Media Show Adds to Coast Allure" by Beth Fagan. (Photo). May 23, 1980
Coast Tidings, Cannon Beach, Oregon. "Show Features Collages…", (Photo). Summer 1980
The Oregonian, Portland, Oregon. "Amos Returns with 'Inaccrochable' Show Featuring 1st Embossings" by Beth Fagan. January 12, 1979
The Oregonian, Portland, Oregon. "Preliminism Exhibit" by Beth Fagan. (Impromptu, Nonsponsored, Nonjuried show in the Portland Art Museum Basement). (Photo). March 17, 1976
The Sunday Oregonian, Portland, Oregon. "Artist Turns Discarded Objects into Rhythmic Assemblages" by Beth Fagan. (Photos). May 22, 1966.
WORKS IN PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
Al and Michelle Abramson, Clinton Amos, Harry and Barbara Ayres, Kelly Ayres, Cynthia Bathurst, Janit Brockway, Sandy Brooke, Christen and Christian Brooke-Gladu, Louis Bunce, Chester M. Burger, Beverly Butterworth, Bud and Sigrid Clark, Nicolas Clark, Rachel Clark Beil, Marcia Congdon, Graham Conroy, Mary Constans, Audrey Daniel, Jane Dillon, Colette and Joe Draegert, Rick Dula, Danielle Elins, Mel Elins and Sandra Erickson, Joe Erceg, Beth Fagan, Donald Farnsworth, Susan Ferguson, Ferguson Autobody, Ann Wall Frank, Roger and Sarah Friedel, Byron Gardner, Elwynne Garvey, Maurice and Evelyn Georges, Matt Glavin, Craig and Jeanne Gostnell, Gary Gretencort, Rachael Griffin, Gary and Karen Guy, Robert Gwinn, John Hamil, Judy Hatton, Lori Hope, Lynnette Hubert, Billy Hults, Bill Ittman, Peter and Linda Janke, Daryl 'Hank' Johnson, Joel and Susan Keizer, C. A. Keller, Barbara Kerr, David Kimball, Suzanne Kindland, LaVerne Krause, Margo Lalith, Kathy Lind, Peter Lindsey, Steve MacDonald, Magnolia Editions, Petra and Michael Mathers, Peter McGill, Francis Newton, Jimmy Onstott, Staci Paley-Buchal, Noelle Penn, H.F. Peters, Michael Powell, Carmen Ramos and Bruce Kennedy, Marc Rappaport, Charles and Judy Raymond, David Resnick, Gerald Robinson, Rick and Charlotte Rubin, The Rutgers Archives for Printmaking Studios, Lisa and Albert Saporta, Henry Sayre, Ron Schmidt, Jim and Barbara Sevde, Carl Smith, David Spence, Edgar and Susan Storms, Dan and Kathleen Taggart, J.P. Teets, Herk Van Tongeren, Peter Voulkos, Elsa Warnick, Edwin and Grace Weinstein, John Wendeborn, Harriet White, Peter Wiley