1972 - 1974
International 500, a work from The Texas Pieces
1972
Chamberlain resides and works on the extensive ranch owned by Stanley Marsh 3, a peculiar supporter of the arts, situated in Amarillo, Texas, for a period of six months. During this time, he initiates his Texas Pieces project, signifying his return to creating artworks with car metal. He also produces the video titled "Toad Hall Gang" (in color, with a duration of 56 minutes and 12 seconds).
Throughout the year 1975, Chamberlain intermittently comes back to the 300-acre complex known as Toad Hall. Within this span, he continues crafting a collection of twelve sculptures, informally named after various locations in Texas and New Mexico. These sculptures encompass pieces like "Falfurrias [Marshmellow], 1972," "Old Anson Impact, 1972," "Panna-Normanna, 1972," "Tapawingo, 1972," "Bushland-Marsh, 1972-73," "Canyon Road Shell, 1972-73" (which was later destroyed), "Chili Terlingua, 1973-74," "Glasscock-Notrees, 1973-74," "Capote Peak, 1974" (also destroyed), "Iraan Crockett, 1974-75," "Papalote Goliad, 1974-75," and "International 500, 1975)."
March: Crafts a proposal named "Amarillo Piece" for the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati. This envisioned environment consists of projected images capturing a Panhandle feedlot's transition from dawn to dusk. It integrates audio recordings of cows and wind, along with the aromas of the feedlot and freshly cut hay. The space is furnished with foam couches and set to the average March temperature of Amarillo (56 degrees Fahrenheit). Unfortunately, the project remains unrealized.
Throughout 1973, Chamberlain remains engaged in producing aluminum sculptures. These sculptures, coated with auto lacquer and polyester resin, take on moundlike shapes varying from the size of a fist to almost 8 feet in diameter. Although some smaller instances were introduced during his 1971 Guggenheim retrospective, he will revisit this material in the mid-1980s and beyond.
He exhibits alongside Peter Alexander at the Taft Museum in Cincinnati and presents "John Chamberlain/F____-g Couches" at the Lo Giudice Gallery in New York, in collaboration with Leo Castelli Gallery. The gallery showcases foam couches, produced in an open edition from 1970 to 1971 by a Milan-based furniture manufacturer and published by Daedalus Concepts in New York. While Chamberlain sent a carved prototype to the Milanese fabricators, allowing them to include pillows, he declined the addition of rolling casters, ensuring the couches remained completely soft.
April 26-June 4: Participates in the "Painting and Sculpture Today 1972" exhibition at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
September-October: Takes part in the "Wreck" exhibition at the Michael C. Rockefeller Arts Center Gallery, State University College, Fredonia, New York. A revised version of this exhibition titled "Wreck: A Tragic-Romantic American Theme" travels to the Canton Art Institute in Ohio and the C. W. Post Center Art Gallery, Long Island University, Greenvale, New York in subsequent years.
September 26-October 21: Thomas B. Hess, the editor in chief of Art News, nominates Chamberlain's Plexiglas sculpture "Oraibi" (created in 1970) for the inaugural Critics' Choice exhibition at the Sculpture Center in New York.
"Chamberlain: An Exhibition of New Works in Foil" takes place at Leo Castelli Gallery in New York
1973
Tragically, Elaine Chamberlain passes away due to a brain aneurysm in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
John Chamberlain brings his three sons to live with him in New York, arranging for them to have their meals at Max's Kansas City. He offers Mickey Ruskin sculptures in exchange for this arrangement.
January 10-March 18: Participates in the inaugural Biennial Exhibition: Contemporary American Art at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, showcasing his artwork "Lovage" from 1972.
May 3: Two sculptures mistakenly taken for scrap, "Parashont Wash" and "Vulcan Rapid" (both from 1969), disappear from Walter Kelly's Chicago warehouse and are never recovered.
August 22-October 14: Participates in the exhibition "American Art: Third Quarter Century" at the Seattle Art Museum Pavilion, presenting his sculpture "Big E" from 1962.
September 28-October 27: "Black Cherry No-Cal" (1971) is screened in "Videotapes by Twelve Artists" at Leo Castelli Gallery in New York, and his sculpture "Skirret" (1973) is displayed alongside artworks by other artists.
October 1: New York Artists on Tour exhibition begins in the North Tower mezzanine of the newly constructed World Trade Center on October 1, featuring Chamberlain's mineral-coated Plexiglas sculpture "Moenkopi" (1970).
October 27-December 2: Participates in the "New York Collection for Stockholm" exhibition at Moderna Museet in Stockholm from October 27 to December 2, where his lithograph contributes to a portfolio of prints produced by Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.).
November 1-3: Screens film "The Secret Life of Hernando Cortez" (1968) is screened in the "Group Film Exhibition: Chamberlain, Jonas, Ruscha, Weiner" at Leo Castelli Gallery in New York
November 1973-March 1974: "John Chamberlain: The Texas Pieces" is showcased at the Dag Hammarskjold Plaza Sculpture Garden in New York, featuring works from his residency at Stanley Marsh 3's ranch.
December 8, 1973-January 12, 1974: His solo exhibition "Chamberlain: An Exhibition of New Works in Foil" takes place at Leo Castelli Gallery in New York from December 8, 1973, to January 12, 1974.
Chamberlain shaping an aluminum sculpture with his car, Oregon International Sculpture Symposium, Eugene, 1974
1974
Chamberlain creates multiple sculptures using painted and compressed oil drums. These sculptures, referred to as "Sockets" for single drums and "Kisses" for double drums, see variations in titling. This theme extends into subsequent years: 1975, 1977, and 1979.
Chamberlain establishes a studio at 67 Vestry Street in New York, which he maintains until 1980.
January-February 7: Holds an exhibition at the Walter Kelly Gallery in Chicago, showcasing six recent works, including paper bags and foils.
January 16-February 8: Participates in the "Large Scale Sculpture Show" at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.
A letter from Susan Lee Fogel in New York City criticizes his omission from a Pop art exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art. She describes how Chamberlain's sculptures lead viewers into recognizable elements and then thrust them out through enigmatic recesses.
June 15-August 1: Takes part in the Oregon International Sculpture Symposium, where he initially aims to build a cubic acre of solid steel. Unable to realize this, he creates a large-scale aluminum piece titled "Hot Great Green Machine" instead.
He screens his film "The Secret Life of Hernando Cortez" (1968) during his symposium lecture in Eugene, Oregon.
August 17-October 13: "Viper's Bugloss" from 1973 is featured in the outdoor sculpture exhibition "Monumenta" organized by Sam Hunter in Newport, Rhode Island.
November 20-December 29: Participates in the exhibition "Poets of the Cities: New York and San Francisco 1950-1965" at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts and Pollock Galleries, which later travels to San Francisco Museum of Art and Wadsworth Atheneum. His works "Zaar" from 1959 and "Sweet William" from 1962 are featured.