Stephen Laub

Stephen Laub (born 1945) is an American artist who works in performance, video, and sculpture.

Education

Laub received both his undergraduate and master's degrees at the University of California, Berkeley studying under artists such as Peter Voulkos, Arnaldo Pomodoro, Mark di Suvero, William T. Wiley, and Jim Melchert. As a student, he was associated with Bay Area artists Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Terry Fox and Paul Kos. Between 1964 and 1966, he studied performance with Étienne Decroux in Paris.

Performance works

In Laub's early performance work such as RELATIONS (1970) the artist used projections and mirrors to insert himself into a historical photograph, merging his gestures and features with that of the person depicted. Some video works had political overtones, such as WHITE FOOD (1980) in which A U.S. Navy film about a battle in Vietnam is projected onto a series of white foods that make up a complete meal. The camera pans each course of the meal to reveal stages of the developing battle, from the hors d'oeuvres, progressing through the entree, and concluding with the dessert.

In the 1970s, Laub's video and performance works were shown at venues such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Kitchen, the Museum of Conceptual Art, and the Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art. His work is included in the permanent collections of several major museums in the United States, including The Museum of Modern Art, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, and the Addison Gallery of American Art. Laub's video and performance work such as BODIES OF WATER has been documented in art publications such as Avalanche and WET: The Magazine of Gourmet Bathing. Laub is currently a professor in the department of Arts, Culture, and Media at Rutgers University–Newark.

Sculpture

In the 1980s, Laub began making sculpture and was represented by Koury Wingate Gallery in New York. His works in series such as GOLD (1987-1989) and SILVER (1989-1991) used wood coated in gold and silver leaf to create icons of common objects which framed historical photos, giving the object a new politically-charged meaning. His sculptures have been shown in the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Akron Art Museum, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, among others.

Context

Laub's work is considered important in the Conceptual Art movement in California in the 1970s, alongside figures such as Chris Burden, John Baldessari, Edward Ruscha, Terry Fox, Paul Kos, Bruce Nauman, Howard Fried, Tom Marioni, Allan Kaprow,and Theresa Hak Kyung Cha. In Europe, his work has been associated with Actionism in its use of performance, social critique, and address of themes such as war and historical memory.

Personal life

Laub lives in Water Mill, NY with his wife, visual artist Claire Watson, and two sons.