Friday

Sheldon Figoten, Painter

Filed under Art, Features, LA Iconoclasts

It is certainly pleasant to step into Sheldon Figoten’s 1920’s upstairs studio in Mid-Wilshire and be bathed in light flooding in through windows on two sides, but it’s more than exciting to view paintings which emit a powerful light of their own—paintings using pure color and forms created by oil paint poured on stretched canvas rolled with acrylic emulsion. Figoten has honed his own painterly vision to an elegant minimalism. As a dedicated abstract painter for 39 years, Sheldon Figoten’s knowledge of the LA art scene is encyclopedic. He studied art at UCLA and The Art Institute in San Francisco. And when he met Ed Moses of the Ferus Group, he was persuaded to move to Los Angeles where he has created a huge body of work. Intrigued by his work and history, I wanted to talk further with Sheldon and we met at his home in Venice to find out about his journey as an artist: including key influences and how his painting challenges the viewer.

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