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Art Dealer, publisher, curator and art historian, FRED HOFFMAN offers art advisory, curatorial and consultant services to select clients and institutions.
Fred Hoffman worked closely with Jean-Michel Basquiat from 1982-1984 in Venice, California. During that period Basquiat and Hoffman produced six, now highly recognized silk screen limited editions. In addition Hoffman facilitated the production of the artist’s 1984 silk screen paintings. Hoffman arranged for Basquiat’s first European museum exhibition at the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland (1984); and placed the first work by Jean-Michel Basquiat into a major museum collection (The Museum of Modern Art, 1984). For several years Fred Hoffman served on the Authentication Committee for the Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat.
Having curated the last American retrospective of Jean-Michel Basquiat for the Brooklyn Museum, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and the Museum of Fine Art, Houston (2005-2006). Fred Hoffman has dedicated the last four years to the realization of The Art of Jean-Michel Basquiat. This major undertaking represents the first full-scale, single-author study of Basquiat’s art. The book focuses on all major themes and subjects of both paintings and works on paper. Having been intimately familiar with Basquiat’s work for over 35 years, Fred Hoffman has now undertaken in-depth analysis and interpretation of over 150 works by the artist. The author brings to light many historical and cultural sources and traditions informing Basquiat’s work; as well as the artist’s relationship to important modernist painters including Picasso, Matisse, De Kooning, Rauschenberg and Warhol. This book introduces significant new information on Basquiat’s life and art. For the first time, the author shares many previously unknown facts and stories about the artist.
Having begun his professional career in Academia, Fred Hoffman taught at several universities during the 1970s, including Mills College, University of Southern California, Cal Arts, Otis Art Institute, Claremont Graduate School and North Texas University. In 1982 Fred Hoffman started New City Editions in Venice, California where he produced both unique and editioned works of art with Jean-Michel Basquiat, Frank O. Gehry, Chris Burden, Charles Arnoldi, Manuel Ocampo, Lita Albuquerque, Peter Schuyff and Glenn Goldberg. At New City Editions he presented exhibitions of Richard Serra, Frank Gehry, Charles Arnoldi and “A New Abstraction.” In 1986 Fred Hoffman opened HoffmanBorman Gallery with major sculpture by Richard Serra. Selected Exhibitions included “The New Who’s Who,” Jenny Holzer, Cindy Sherman, Barbara Kruger, Sophie Calle, Moira Dryer, Chris Burden, John McCracken, Bruce Nauman, Robert Rauschenberg, Dennis Hopper, Eric Orr, Alex Katz, George Segal, Hiro Yamagata, Doug Wheeler, Tom Wesselman, the Starn Twins and Allen Ginsberg.