Ron Gorchov

Ron Gorchov was an American artist renowned for his vibrant and abstract paintings executed on curved canvases.

Biography of Ron Gorchov

Born in Chicago, Illinois, USA, in 1930, Ron Gorchov embarked on his artistic journey early on. In 1944, at the age of 14, he was invited to participate in Saturday classes at the Art Institute of Chicago.

After a brief stint at the University of Mississippi from 1947 to 1948, Gorchov returned to Chicago in 1948. He continued his education at Roosevelt College (now Roosevelt University) and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Subsequently, he attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign from 1950 to 1951.

In 1953, Gorchov relocated to New York City with his wife and newborn son. During the late 1950s, he forged connections with influential artists of the Abstract Expressionism movement, including Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Knox Martin, and Al Held, among others. A pivotal moment in his career occurred in 1960 when he gained recognition as part of the Whitney Museum's "Young America 1960: Thirty American Painters Under ThirtySix."

The year 1960 marked Gorchov's inaugural solo exhibition at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Gorchov became associated with a group of abstract artists based in Manhattan, including Frank Stella, Richard Tuttle, and Ellsworth Kelly. 

From that time until his passing, there was an abundance of shows and exhibitions that featured Gorchov's distinctive artistic vision.

Ron Gorchov passed away on August 18, 2020, in Red Hook, Brooklyn, leaving behind a legacy marked by innovation and a profound impact on the New York art scene.

Ron Gorchov's Art Style

Renowned for his vibrant, abstract paintings on curved canvases, Ron Gorchov's distinctive artistry took center stage.

In the late 1960s, he embarked on a new direction, creating oil-on-linen paintings on unique saddle-like stretchers. These stretchers, simultaneously concave and convex, featured one or two biomorphic shapes set against backgrounds of varying colors. Gorchov's oil-on-linen pieces, characterized by bold brushstrokes, manifested chromatic contrasts through the juxtaposition of biomorphic forms and vibrant backgrounds.

While toying with symmetry and asymmetry within the paintings, the warped edges of Gorchov's canvases introduced novel dimensions and depth, skillfully disorienting the audience's perception.

In addition to his large-scale paintings, Gorchov's watercolors highlighted the artist's inherent lyricism and profound coloristic brilliance. Many watercolors showcased paired shapes gracefully balanced on either side of the page, mirroring the elegant compositional equilibrium explored in his curved canvases.

Notably, Gorchov's works have found a place in prestigious collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and the Guggenheim, among others.