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Tony Shafrazi (born May 8, 1943) is an American art dealer, gallery owner, and artist. He is the owner of the Tony Shafrazi Gallery in New York City who deals in artwork by artists such as Francis Bacon, Keith Haring, and David LaChapelle.
He moved to New York City in 1969,Carol Vogel (October 12, 1998), Another Look at Bacon; Newfound Canvases Shed More Light on a Master New York Times. where he lectured at several universities, including the School of Visual Arts.
The paint was easily removed as the painting was heavily varnished. It is believed that Shafrazi was protesting the announcement, the day before, of the release on bail of U.S. lieutenant William Calley. Calley, then under house arrest following his conviction, in 1971, for his part in the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, had petitioned for habeas corpus; he had initially been sentenced to life imprisonment. Although his appeal was overturned in June, he was finally released from U.S. Army custody later in the year after having received a limited pardon from Richard Nixon.
Shafrazi was a member of the Art Workers' Coalition, which in 1970 had staged a protest at MoMA by unfurling a copy of the famous My Lai protest poster And babies in front of the Guernica painting, which itself depicts the tragedies of war and the suffering it inflicts upon innocent civilians. Shafrazi was later given five years' probation, without a trial.
In 1978, Shafrazi briefly opened his own commercial gallery in a small Tehran shopfront but closed it because of conditions in the country leading up to the 1979 Revolution. He lost much of his art during that time but safely returned to New York City.
Shafrazi converted his rented apartment into a makeshift gallery where he slept on a small loft bed at night. In 1979, he opened his first New York City gallery, and within a few years he had made his reputation handling talents like Donald Baechler and then-hot graffiti artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, and Kenny Scharf. Throughout the 1980s he exhibited numerous artists of various tendencies including William S. Burroughs, Patrick Caulfield, Mark Dagley, Gerard Hemsworth, Michael Heizer, Olivier Mosset and Keith Sonnier along with European artists like Brian Clarke, Enzo Cucchi, Hervé Di Rosa, and Jean-Charles Blais. In 1985 the Tony Shafrazi Gallery showed "Warhol, TKO in 16 rounds." The show's poster featured the Basquiat and Warhol dressed as boxers, ready to fight. In 1990, he opened a new 13,000-square-foot gallery at 119 Wooster Street, with an exhibition entitled "American Masters of the 60's" and including Carl Andre, Tom Wesselmann, Jasper Johns, Donald Judd, Frank Stella, and Andy Warhol.Roberta Smith (May 11, 1990), So Big and So Dressed Up, New Galleries Bloom in SoHo New York Times.
In 1999, the Francis Bacon estate chose Shafrazi as its United States representative.Sarah Thornton (August 29, 2008), Francis Bacon claims his place at the top of the market The Art Newspaper. In 2004, the gallery opened another space on 26th Street with a large show of paintings by Picasso, Francis Bacon and Jean-Michel Basquiat.Roberta Smith (November 28, 2004), Chelsea Enters Its High Baroque Period New York Times.
Shafrazi's gallery closed in 2014. His clients have included Donald Trump and Larry Silverstein.
Tony Shafrazi is also actively involved in supporting Children of Armenia Fund, a charitable organization that aims to advance rural communities in Armenia. He is the Honorary Chair of COAF Honorary Board.
In 2020, Shafrazi publicly supported Donald Trump for president.
Personal life
In 1995, Stephanie Seymour and Peter Brant had Shafrazi serve as the best man at their wedding at an estate outside Paris.
See also
External links
Categories: 1943 Births, American Art Dealers, American Artists, American People Of Armenian Descent, Living People, Art Crime, Iranian People Of Armenian Descent, People From Abadan, Iran, Alumni Of The Royal College Of Art, Iranian Emigrants To The United States, Art Gallery Owners, Iranian Art Dealers
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