HERB ALPERT RECEIVES NATIONAL MEDAL OF ARTS
FROM PRESIDENT OBAMA
The highest honor bestowed by the President upon twelve
individuals in the arts annually

Los Angeles, CA — At the White House today, President Barack Obama awarded noted musician and philanthropist Herb Alpert with the National Medal of Arts for his lifetime of contribution to the arts.

Herb Alpert is not only a music icon and philanthropist, but also an accomplished sculptor, painter who through his creativity and inspiration, has significantly enriched and influenced our cultural life. The National Medal of Arts awards were established by Congress in 1984 to honor artists and patrons of the arts. It is the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the United States government. The National Council of the Arts and the Arts Endowment’s advisory council recommends individuals and organizations to the President.
“My dreams of being a professional artist never included the Medal of Arts Award. I am deeply touched.” Herb Alpert

Herb Alpert continues his life–long passion to push the boundaries of his own art. As a multi–disciplinary artist, he has never stopped being a musician. Alpert not only has sold over 72 million albums over the course of his career, but he and partner Jerry Moss changed the music industry forever when they founded the legendary A&M Records. As an eight–time Grammy winner, Alpert is just releasing his 34th studio album “Steppin’ Out,“ and with his wife, Grammy–award winning singer Lani Hall, will perform at the Hollywood Bowl on July 17, 2013.

As a sculptor and painter, Alpert’s show, In·ter·course, is currently at the Robert Berman Gallery, Bergamot Station in Santa Monica, California.

Together Herb Alpert and Lani Hall are mutually involved in the work of The Herb Alpert Foundation, which was formed in the early 1980’s. The Foundation’s significant commitments support music & arts education, jazz studies and organizations that work toward creating a compassionate and empathetic society and has given over $125 million in grants.

In 2012 Herb Alpert was awarded the Harlem School of the Arts inaugural leadership award in recognition of the life–saving $6 million grant to the school. Journalist Bill Moyers said at the ceremony: “Herb Alpert is a creative genius. His career continues to flourish, and he continues to use his gifts as an artist and philanthropist to make our world a better place.”
For more information please visit herbalpertpresents.com
For media information, contact:
Caroline Graham, C4 Global Communications
caroline@c4global.com | 310–899–2727 | www.c4global.com

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HERB ALPERT
"in•ter•course" paintings and sculptures


EXHIBITION EXTENDED THROUGH JULY 20, 2013

ROBERT BERMAN GALLERY MAY 4 – JULY 20, 2013
Bergamot Station Arts Center, Santa Monica


"in•ter•course" is a collection of Herb Alpert's newest paintings and sculptures on view at the ROBERT BERMAN GALLERY in the Bergamot Station Arts Center from May 4 – June 8, 2013. A video and catalogue will accompany the exhibit. 

In addition to his musical accomplishments, Herb Alpert has spent more than half his life as a respected abstract expressionist painter and sculptor, whose work has been exhibited all over the world, from New York to Berlin. Since he began painting in 1969, Alpert has experimented with a number of different styles and materials, perhaps none more unusual than his current medium of choice: organic coffee. Alpert's sculptures, particularly his towering Black Totems series, continue to draw interest with their freedom of form and massive size, with some pieces reaching 18 feet in height.  The totems were inspired by indigenous sculptural forms from the Pacific Northwest. What begin as hand-sized forms are scaled up and cast as ten to 18 foot high monoliths. Acknowledging totemic explorations by fellow sculptors Henry Moore, Augusts Rodin, Constantin Brancusi and others, Alpert's soaring forms appear as frozen smoke, or jazz given physical form. 

Just as the origins of Herb Alpert's music with the Tijuana Brass can be traced back to a Tijuana bullfight, his start as a painter likewise began with a trip south of the border. Though Alpert's work as an abstract expressionist painter has been inspired by a number of different sources over the years, he cites his single greatest influence as artist Rufino Tamayo, whose work first sparked his interest in painting in 1963.
 
Alpert’s paintings and sculptures have been exhibited at numerous galleries and museums: including the Tennessee State Museum, Pasadena Museum of California Art, Art Cologne, Art Fair Basel, Molly Barnes Gallery, Santa Monica and Ace Gallery Beverly Hills. 

Herb Alpert’s philosophy as an artist has generally been to create from a purely internal place; “the feel,” as he calls it. External considerations, such as social or political commentary, rarely factor into the work. “For art to appear,” Alpert likes to say, “the artist must disappear.”
 
Creativity is Alpert's staff of life, his daily bread. Whether its music, or painting, or sculpture, he launches in headfirst, like a soloist coming out of the chorus, rolling to a rhythm he feels inside, searching for a sound that gets at that feeling, that mysterious thing. "When I paint or sculpt," he says, "I don't have anything in mind. I don't have a goal in mind other than form. I'm looking for that form that touches me and when I find it I stop." 

www.herbalpert.com

For interviews and more information, contact:
Caroline Graham, C4 Global Communications
caroline@c4global.com | 310-899-2727 | www.c4global.com