Steve Kaufman (aka SAK) Biography and Artwork

Born 1960, Bronx, New York City, USA.

Also Known As SAK,

Steve Kaufman was a former assistant to renowned Pop Artist Andy Warhol, Steve Kaufman, a.k.a. SAK, is considered one of the most important and talked-about Pop artists or our time. Steve Kaufman's first one-man show was at a bank in the Bronx. The paintings were donated to the Jewish Holocaust Museum of Art in Brooklyn. In 1972, Kaufman was chosen along with nine other students from NYC to participate in a cultural exchange between Japan and the U.S., and was soon awarded a scholarship at Parson's School of Design for fine art and design. Kaufman later enrolled in the School of Visual Arts in New York and soon met Andy Warhol. Kaufman became Warhol's assistant at The Factory - Warhol's famed fine art publishing studio - Warhol was to have a profound influence over the artist's later work.

The impact of celebrity on contemporary culture intrigues Steve Kaufman. Famed faces of art, music and film are often the subject of his artwork. Kaufman seeks to discover society's common denominators in his artwork - the elements and individuals who generate an immediate response from the viewer. Kaufman is an artistic journalist commenting on history, both past and present. His dynamic style often combines images of the world's icons with visual tapestries woven out of landmarks or other related references to their celebrity.

Steve Kaufman delivers his perspectives in highly refined, fine art serigraphs, allowing for greater fluidity and definition in his images. Kaufman returns to each silk-screened canvas to add painted embellishments, making each serigraph in the edition a unique work of art.

Steve Kaufman has always reflected his concern for the world around him in his work, benefiting such causes as AIDS, gang violence and homelessness. Instead of hiring actors or other illuminati as Warhol did, Steve Kaufman hires gang members from the streets of LA to work in his studio as assistants.

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1968 - Sponsored by a Jewish temple in the Bronx
1975 - Participates in a group graffiti show at the Whitney Museum.
1978 - To 1981 - Meets Andy Warhol, becomes his assistant at the Factory
1982 - Creates graphics for Saturday Night Live on NBC.
1986 - To 1988 - Forms SAK Studio
1991 - To 1992 - Completes 55 Racial Harmony Murals in the New York City area with Malcolm X images.

Select Exhibitions

Select Artwork

Marilyn Series I (Red), 1995
The greatest, pl.II, 1996
Marilyn Monroe, 1996

Quotes

"I'm truly blessed to be doing what I've always wanted - CREATE. I have found a freedom that is hard to put into words. I always wondered about my projects - which artists are working on what, and which directions should I take? I don't even think of those things now. I passionately go into my studio and ask myself, what would I like to create today?"
"America is a melting pot of the world, every race & creed comes to America, we are all equal & protected in our rights with a piece of paper that our founder father wrote titled "We The People." This is very special time period in America history, some people might have doubts of America, but we are one family, under one roof called America"
"Andy Warhol says everyone will be famous for 15 minutes in the future but even he couldn't have imagine today's fame is due to whom you sleep with."

Publications

Quick Facts

Steve Kaufman hires gang members from the streets of LA to work in his studio as assistants.
Steve Kaufman delivers his perspectives in highly refined, fine art serigraphs.
Steve Kaufman's first one-man show was at a bank in the Bronx.

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