John Altoon (1925-1969)

Walter Hopps and Ed Keinholz opened their new Ferus Gallery in March 1957 with a group show bearing the Duchampian title, Objects on the New Landscape Demanding of the Eye. Included in this survey of West Coast abstraction were paintings by Richard Diebenkorn, Hassel Smith, Clyfford Still, Jay DeFeo, Ed Kienholz, Frank Lobdell, John Altoon and others. Robert Irwin, who had known John Altoon since their days together in high school, recalls Altoon as"bigger than life and incredibly seductive. Nobody ever met John that didn't fall in love with John and think he was one of the most interesting artists they'd ever met-and he was. He had incredible ability" (K. McKenna, The Ferus Gallery, A Place to Begin, Göttingen, 2009, p. 20).