Listen to me carefully, you bunch of snobs. In the artistic frenzy of the 1980s, when minimalism was still dominating the New York scene with its ascetic rigor, Julian Schnabel burst onto the art world with a seismic intensity that continues to resonate today. His monumental works, broken surfaces, and exaggerated pictorial gestures disrupted established codes with a daring that still defies our conventional understanding of art.
Born in Brooklyn in 1951, this prolific artist has always asserted his uniqueness with disconcerting confidence. Some have seen arrogance, others genius. But beyond the controversies that have punctuated his career, Schnabel embodies a rare form of creative freedom, that of an artist who obstinately refuses to conform to expectations. In a world of art often trapped by its own conventions, he chose the path of radical experimentation, constantly pushing the limits of what is possible.
His famous “plate paintings,” paintings covered with fragments of broken dishes that he began producing in 1978, mark a decisive turning point in the history of contemporary art. These works are not merely a technical innovation or an iconoclastic gesture. They represent a genuine philosophical rupture with pictorial tradition, evoking the Bergsonian concept of pure duration. Henri Bergson, in his “Essay on the Immediate Data of Consciousness,” develops the idea that true time is not the homogeneous and divisible time of clocks, but rather the heterogeneous and continuous time of consciousness. Schnabel’s fragmented surfaces, in their very materiality, embody this shattered temporality where each moment retains the trace of the previous ones while opening up to the future.
The accident-prone surface of these works creates a complex topography where light dances and refracts, generating a visual experience that surpasses mere contemplation to become a true sensory exploration. The fragments of porcelain, with their sharp angles and shiny surfaces, create an endless play of reflections and shadows that transforms each painting into a dynamic landscape, changing according to the viewpoint and light intensity. This physical dimension of the work is reminiscent of Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s reflections on the phenomenology of perception. In “Eye and Mind,” the philosopher emphasizes the importance of the body in our relationship to the world and art. Schnabel’s paintings, with their imposing presence and heightened materiality, precisely engage this bodily dialogue with the viewer.
This approach finds a particular resonance in his series of the 1990s painted on repurposed military tarps. The artist layers paint on these supports already marked by time and use, creating contemporary visual testimonies where the past and present mingle inextricably. These canvases carry a history predating the artist’s intervention, traces of military or industrial uses that emerge beneath the layers of paint. Schnabel does not seek to erase these pre-existing marks but rather incorporates them into his composition, creating a complex dialogue between the memory of the material and the pictorial act.
The use of military tarps is not incidental. These materials, designed for war and protection, are diverted from their primary function to become the support for artistic expression. This act of transformation echoes the alchemical notion of transmutation, where base matter is converted into philosophical gold. Schnabel performs a similar transformation, elevating utilitarian materials to the level of works of art. This process is part of a long tradition of artistic reappropriation while pushing it into new territories of expression.
The 1990s also marks a period of intense experimentation with other unconventional materials. Velvet, in particular, becomes a favored support for Schnabel. The deep and absorbent texture of this material allows him to explore new pictorial possibilities. The paint, whether applied on the surface or penetrating the fibers, creates effects of depth and luminosity impossible to achieve on a traditional canvas. These velvet works reveal an exceptional mastery of light and darkness, where figures seem to emerge from the shadows like spectral apparitions.
This constant search for new supports and new techniques demonstrates a fundamental dissatisfaction with the limits of traditional painting. Schnabel never settles for established solutions. Each series of works represents a new attempt to push the boundaries of what is possible, inventing a new pictorial language. This incessant quest echoes that of medieval alchemists, who perpetually sought to transform matter while transforming themselves in the process.
The portraits created by Schnabel constitute a particularly interesting chapter in his work. Whether they depict historical figures or contemporaries, the artist manages to capture not so much the physical appearance but the spiritual essence of his subjects. These portraits do not aim for photographic likeness but rather seek to reveal an inner truth, a presence that transcends mere representation. In these works, Schnabel often combines different techniques and materials, creating complex surfaces that seem to vibrate with their own energy.
This approach to portraiture finds a natural extension in his work as a filmmaker. His films, notably “Basquiat” (1996) and “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (2007), reveal the same sensitivity to human presence, the same desire to pierce appearances to reach a deeper truth. This ability to navigate between different artistic mediums testifies to a creative vision that transcends traditional categories.
The 2000s saw Schnabel exploring new territories with his paintings on printed surfaces. Using reproductions of photographs or pre-existing patterns as a base, he creates works that play with the tension between the mechanical image and the pictorial gesture. These works interrogate the very nature of the image in our contemporary society while reaffirming the primacy of the artistic gesture.
This period also sees the artist developing a series of monumental works that push the limits of scale even further. These paintings, some reaching architectural dimensions, create immersive environments that radically transform the viewer’s experience. The scale is not merely a grandiloquent effect but fully contributes to the emotional impact of the work.
Critics have often reproached Schnabel for his excessive ambition, his oversized ego. But is it not precisely this excess that gives his work its unique power? In an art world sometimes paralyzed by cynicism and calculation, Schnabel maintains an almost naive faith in the power of painting to transform our perception of reality. This faith manifests in every aspect of his practice, from his material choices to his compositional decisions.
The monumental scale of his works, far from being gratuitous, fully contributes to their emotional impact. Faced with these paintings, which often exceed human scale, the viewer experiences the physicality of their own finitude. This confrontation with the sublime, in the Kantian sense of the term, provokes a vertigo that is also an invitation to transcend our usual perceptual limits. Schnabel’s large formats are not merely a show of power but create a space for contemplation where the viewer can get lost and find themselves again.
Schnabel’s recent works demonstrate that his creativity remains intact. His experiments with new materials and techniques, particularly his prints on polyester, testify to an inexhaustible curiosity. The artist continues to explore new technical possibilities while maintaining the emotional intensity that characterizes all of his work. His paintings retain this rare ability to surprise us, destabilize us, and make us question our aesthetic certainties.
If the history of 20th-century art can be seen as a succession of breaks and questioning, Schnabel occupies a distinctive place in this genealogy. His work does not follow a linear progression but rather creates temporal short-circuits, engaging in dialogue between tradition and innovation in a unique personal synthesis. He freely draws from art history while maintaining a resolutely contemporary vision.
This freedom concerning history manifests particularly in his way of treating the pictorial surface. Schnabel does not hesitate to combine traditional techniques with contemporary materials, creating works that defy simple categorizations. This hybrid approach produces paintings that seem to exist outside of time while being deeply rooted in our era.
The question of temporality is central in Schnabel’s work. His paintings, whether painted on worn tarps, broken plates or velvet, always bear traces of a history. It is not just the history of the materials themselves, but also that of painting as a medium. Each work seems to contain multiple overlapping and intertwining temporalities.
This temporal complexity is also reflected in his film practice. His films, just like his paintings, play with different layers of time and memory. Whether it is the life of Jean-Michel Basquiat or the experience of Jean-Dominique Bauby in “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” Schnabel creates works that transcend simple linear narration to reach a deeper truth.
What is striking in Julian Schnabel’s journey is his ability to maintain, for over four decades, a creative intensity that does not wane. In an art world often dominated by fashion effects and marketing strategies, he continues to produce profoundly personal works that make no concessions to market or critical expectations.
Schnabel’s detractors reproach him for his refusal of conventions, his taste for the spectacular, his propensity to work on oversized formats. But is it not precisely this ability to push boundaries that makes his work great? In an era marked by conformism and standardization, his creative intransigence appears as an act of necessary resistance.
The work of Julian Schnabel reminds us that true art always arises from an inner necessity, from a urgency that transcends style or market considerations. His painting, even in its excess, is an essential testimony to the possibilities of art in our time. It shows us that it is still possible, today, to create works that move and transform us, works that give form to the invisible and voice to the unspeakable. Through his unique ability to transcend boundaries between mediums, through his formal audacity and constant reinvention, Julian Schnabel is already inscribed in history as one of the major artists of the 21st century, a creator whose influence will continue to resonate far beyond our time.
