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Gene and Nat

Atlanta art lover Gene Hooff (left) and exhibiting artist Nat Andreini (right).
Nat is 1/2 of the collaborative team Sincerely, John Head--whose exhibition in Gallery Four ends this Sunday, June 15th. Scott Porter is the other 1/2.
This fashion photograph was taken when Gene generously delivered tasty hamburgers to the artists for who were in the middle of installing and had no time to waste. The lunch receipt became part of their installation. See if you can find it.

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Scissors and Glue

I have been reviewing some of my curatorial journals--black bound books with images and texts pasted inside--portraits, quotes, websites, obits. These selections that I have culled from newspapers and magazines --are things I keep to think about, be prompted by, enjoy perusing.
They include:


"An article and headline on Saturday about the Staten Island Museum, which is celebrating its 125th anniversary, referred incorrectly to one item in the museum's collection of curiosities. It is a four-legged--not four-headed--chicken.

"Picasso's a master at being able to make a face feel like a foot." Lucian Freud

"The portrait of a loved one should be not only an image at which one smiles, but an oracle one interrogates." Andre Breton

Gavin Brown: Why did you take a year to tell me I was pronouncing your name wrong?"
Rikrit Tiravanija: I didn't think it mattered.

Jimmy Carter had solar panels installed on the roof of the White House in 1979; Ronald Reagan had them torn down in the 1980s.

Recent Exhibition Titles:
Naked Beyond Skin
Here We Dance
This Place Is Close and Unfolded
Emotion Machine

Yves Saint Laurent: Cotton shorts splattered with paint, worn with cashmere sweaters.

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RE:Rauschenberg

Robert Rauschenberg's death on May 12th was a profound event. Since hearing the news, countless people in the arts communities of the world (and by this I mean the visual arts, dance, theatre, film, music, literature) found themselves thinking about his contribution to creative practice: inclusiveness, flow, overlay, collaboration, chance.

I found myself thinking about Rasuchenberg's working in "the gap between art and life" while I opened The New Yorker magazine to find several contemporary artists (Cai Guo-Qiang, Glenn Ligon, Sarah Sze, Chuck Close, etc) posing in their editioned T-shirts for the GAP.

I thought about Joseph Cornell and Marcel Duchamp and Kurt Schwitters and Joseph Albers and John Cage and Jasper Johns and Merce Cunningham. I thought about Bed and Monogram and Canyon and Rebus and DeKooning giving him a drawing that would be hard to erase.

And then I received an email and photos from my friend Marcel Sitcoske in LA, fondly recalling the exhibition we made together at her San Francisco gallery in 1999.
Called RE:Rauschenberg, it featured artists including Jessica Stockholder, Nancy Chunn, James Hyde, Joe Sola, Jack Pierson, David Clarkson, and others. Each sculpture, photograph, video, drawing, and painting in the gallery had its own unique sensibility, and yet they all seemed to offer a wink of tribute to this American master of serious play.

Rauschenberg was in town for his own exhibition of classic works that had been recently purchased by the San Francisco Museum of Art, and when he walked into our opening, you could feel his legendary generosity and humor immediately. He was all smiles and so were we.









Photo: (Left to right) Robert Rauschenberg, me, David Clarkson.
Courtesy Marcel Sitcoske

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How to Look

At the Whitney Biennial in NY recently, I overheard a father say to his son,
"Just walk until you see something you like, then look at it."
This seems like the simplest and best suggestion of what to do at exhibitions.
I would suggest that while looking, you should consider the following:

What is the work made of?
What does it require of you?
Do you have to stand far away or go up close, or both?
How are you rewarded at these different distances?
How do you feel while looking?
What does the work remind you of--other art, experiences you've had?
How long can you look? What do you see after a few seconds, a few minutes?
What is the title of the work? Does the title help you know more?
How might you explain the work to someone else?
What words would you use?

I had an experience at our gallery the other day, when 30 schoolchildren (12-14 year olds) from Tennessee came to visit. They sat in front of Jack Whitten's overwhelming memorial painting 9-11-01. I did not tell them about the work's subject (the bombing of the World Trade Towers) but rather asked them what they saw. They described the dominant black pyramid. I asked them, "where do you see a pyramid each day?" They said, "On the one dollar bill."
I asked them about what the bottom half of the painting looked like? "Debris," they said. They noticed tire treads, dirt, and photographic images. They said that the paint looked burnt. They saw a gray fish shape. "Where is that?,"I said. A young girl responded, "Over there, haven't you looked at this painting?!" I had to laugh. I've seen the work several times but obviously have missed things.

After a few minutes of them describing what they saw and how they felt, I told them what inspired the painting. They all knew about 9/11, and were amazed at how in tune with the work they were. Some kids took out there cameras and photographed themselves in front of their favorite works, or took detail shots of parts they liked. I told them about who the paintings were inspired by and dedicated to-- various artists and musicians, family members, and events.

On their way out, another girl took me aside and said, "I really like this artist."
"What do you like about him?," I asked.
Looking up at me, she answered, "I like the way he cares."

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peripheral pleasures

I've been thinking about some of the peripheral pleasures of curating. When exhibitions are open to the public, the greatest part of my work is seeing and hearing people respond to the art.
What do they think or feel in the gallery? Are they stimulated, confused, curious?
This is the viewer's 50% contribution to the art experience that Marcel Duchamp spoke of.
But there is a hidden aspect to exhibit-making too, and this includes the spirited discussions with artists in studios and restaurants, the opening of crates, hoping for positive reviews, and shooting documentation. What follows is a gallery of images that sheds some light on this part of the process.



Here is Matt Bryans playing with his first Krispy Kreme doughnut in October of 2006.





Here are Anissa Mack and Russell Maltz enjoying some ribs at Fatt Matt's Rib Shack this February.

Soon after these lip-smacking pictures were taken, Russell and I rented a helicopter to document his tandem installations at the Contemporary, and on real estate developer Tim Schrager's construction site at Decatur Street and Hill Street. While we were up there, we flew over Sol Le Witt's 54 Columns, which was an inspiration for the project.




The Contemporary pavillion.



Decatur Street site.



54 Columns




Tim Schrager in the helicopter.
Tim and Perennial Properties were essential to the success of Maltz's installations.
A heartfelt thanks to him for donating materials and the downtown site.

Considering views from above, here is artist Daniel Duford and his daughter Devlin in Portland, Oregon. Daniel will be exhibiting drawings and sculptures in our Main Gallery this summer.

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Two Talks

Here are two provocatve talks that are helping me understand the complexities of desire. I have been thinking about the subject with regard to the diverse Atlanta art audience and our exhibition and educational offerings at the Contemporary.
Watch writer Malcolm Gladwell discuss what we can learn from spaghetti sauce and painter Tom Nozkowski finding inspiration on a hike in upstate New York.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/20

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxi82Ne9yxQ

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