Los Angeles bore witness to a unique convergence of artistic lineages this past Saturday. At Sebastian Gladstone, Jonas Wood and Brian Sharp reunited to reminisce about their former University of Washington professor, the late artist Denzil Hurley, in a dialogue moderated by writer and curator Andrew Berardini.
The conversation underscored the profound, often unseen, threads connecting generations of artists, in a rich display of personal anecdotes. “It’s full cosmic nepotism, or whatever you want to call it, and it really shaped a lot of my life,” Wood told Sharp of working under Hurley, nodding to the enduring bond between mentor and student.
The artists painted a vivid picture of the late post-conceptual painter’s indelible influence as Sebastian Gladstone’s “Denzil Hurley and Brian Sharp,” an exhibtion of the artists’ work organized by Wood, came to a close last week. For those who didn’t have an opportunity to catch the show or the live conversation, the gallery is publishing an accompanying book featuring a printed back-and-forth between Wood and Sharp.
The slate of programming serves as a powerful testament to Hurley’s abstract prowess—offering a rare opportunity to see the artist’s work in dialogue with a generation of creatives he inspired. “There were times when he would laugh, usually about things he said himself,” Sharp recently told CULTURED of his late professor. “I really liked that part of Denzil; it was a soft part of him because, as a professor and as an instructor, he was so serious about making art and painting.”
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