Born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1926, Jack Youngerman studied at the Universities of North Carolina and Missouri. In 1947 – 48 he studied painting at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he continued to live and paint until 1956. He admired the work of Henri Matisse and the purity and discipline of Piet Mondrian’s paintings.
By 1954 he had developed strong positive and negative forms, frequently organic, that exploded from a nuclear area in the center or side of the frame. His shapes subsequently became diagonal or fanlike, and colors were used as electric accents or in brilliant combinations. Youngerman later worked with black as if it were color. The sharp edges and clean contours make the shapes look like Matisse cutouts, although there is a uniformity of concept suggesting a dynamic shifting of space.
After a number of exhibitions in Paris and designing a stage set for the French actor/director Jean-Louis Barrault, Youngerman returned to New York City. His paintings were first exhibited in New York in 1958 and have been included in major international exhibitions. In the early 1970s Youngerman also began to exhibit his stainless-steel sculpture and wooden cutouts.
(From the Smithsonian American Art Museum)
Youngerman's sculpture Swirl (1979) is located southeast of the ISC Building, near Ryerson Walk. Hokusai’s Wave (1981) is located east of the ISC Building, near Ryerson Walk. And Blade (1971) is located east of the ISC Building, near where Ryerson Walk and Willoughby Ave. meet.
Raphael Zollinger is a South African born, Swiss, American artist based in Brooklyn, NY. Zollinger works across multiple media investigating systems of representation that break down the distinctions between image and object, expression and documentation, icon and index, art and technology. This process enables him to question how objects and images build and shed meaning over time within a screen-based culture. With these works, Zollinger seeks to bridge the every day and the political, connect history with the present, and in turn, blur the border between personal and collective memory.
Zollinger received his BFA in sculpture from Pratt Institute, a Masters degree from ITP, NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, attended Skowhegan and the Atlantic Center for the Arts. He has recently exhibited work at Lesley Heller Projects, Margret Thatcher Projects, Station Independent Projects, Danese Corey Galley and Denny Gallery in NYC, Gray Contemporary in Houston, TX, Satellite Art Fair, Miami, Ballroom Marfa, TX, Grounds For Sculpture and The Jersey City Museum in NJ, and the LimLip Art Museum, South Korea. Zollinger's work has been reviewed and published in the New York Times, Houston Press, Art Forum, and Sculpture Magazine. He currently teaches at SUNY Purchase College and the Maryland Institute College of Art. (Adapted from RaphaelZollinger.com)
Zollinger’s sculpture Welcome II (2006) is located to the northeast of Stabile Hall, where Willoughby Ave. and Classon Ave. meet.