Julian Schnabel, (born Oct. 26, 1951, New York, N.Y., U.S.), U.S. painter. He studied at the University of Houston and the Whitney Museum of American Art. In the 1980s he was a leading exponent of Neo-Expressionism. His works exhibit an ambivalent emotional tone, jarring colour harmonies, and a rough-hewn style; his best-known works incorporate shards of broken plates. Though he has enjoyed considerable success, there has been controversy regarding both the quality of his art and his aggressive self-promotion. Starting in the 1990s, Schnabel began to pursue film. He received widespread critical acclaim for his direction of Before Night Falls (2000), a film about Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas.
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