Dan Christensen (1942-2007) is widely recognized as one of America’s foremost abstract artists. Over the course his lengthy career, Christensen was devoted to exploring and expanding the constantly shifting trends of 20th century abstraction. 

Christensen established his reputation at the end of the 1960s, as began using spray guns to create colorful stacks, loops, and lines in his artworks. This body of work was considered by the legendary art critic Clement Greenberg among the most original abstract paintings of the decade.

Unlike many of his contemporaries who dedicated their practice to a signature style, Christensen was unrelentingly curious and allowed his dynamic version of abstraction to evolve as he tried new techniques and aesthetics.  He worked with spray guns, window-washing squeegees, rakes, blasters and house painting rollers in order to apply paint in new ways. He also used sticks and brush-ends to cut into thickly applied paints. Using these unusual techniques he achieved incredible layered results that produce colors that seems to shimmer and glow.

During the last decade of Christensen's career he elegantly combined the gestural drama of Abstract Expressionism with the stained and layered surface look popularized by the color field artists. This untitled work (aka "Push") epitomizes this duality.  The complex background was created by layering and washing contrasting berry red tones then over-layed with a dynamic platinum white paint that is draped with momentum around the page. Small embellishments in jewel-toned colors feature in the lower half, including details of creamy orange, turquoise, and aqua; each intensifying the rich red background.

Over the course of Christensen's lengthy career, he had numerous solo exhibitions in both galleries and renowned institutions across America and beyond. His works can be found in museums including the Guggenheim, the Whitney, the Met, the MoMA, and the Albright-Knox Gallery, among many others.

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Untitled ("Push")

USA, 2002

Signed and dated by artist

Acrylic and mixed media on paper 

20"H 15"W (work)

Very good condition

Provenance: the Estate of Dan Christensen