Allan D’Arcangelo      

American (Buffalo, N.Y., 1930-1998, New York, N.Y.)

“Dipped”

screenprint

1982.001.014

Allan D’Arcangelo started his painting career in New York during the late 1950s when generational reaction against abstract expressionism was gaining momentum. Abandoning abstraction and gesture but striving to emphasize the flat surface of paper or canvas, he focused on the landscape of contemporary America—the highway. While related to pop imagery, D’Arcangelo’s sensibility is more romantic than ironic. Although he was personally engaged in social issues of the day and joined the protests against the Vietnam War, he shared with other artists an inability or unwillingness to put his art in the service of causes. He donated “Dipped,” a work typical of this time in his career, to the anti-war activists.