Register was 33 when he quit his job as an art director at a high-powered New York advertising agency and decided to become a painter. However, unlike these painters, Register used photographs merely as a starting point for his work. Based in Los Angeles, Register created finely-executed realist paintings documenting the contemporary American scene which both fascinated and appalled him. His compositions were often derived from or enhanced by photocopies of photographs that reduced the pictures to bold, simplified shapes of dark and light. Often Register would eliminate larger details such as barber stools, wall coverings, cars and people.
Every painting starts with a pure vision.
Every brushstroke leads you further away from the vision. A Retrospective is the first major museum exhibition of the artist's work. In addition to the more than 50 paintings included in the show, a small group of works on paper will also be on view. After graduating from The Lawrenceville School in New Jersey in 1957, he enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, where he majored in English despite a strong interest in art. Before embarking on a career in advertising, Register studied at the Art Center School of Design in Los Angeles and at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York.