Pictorial: Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven @ The Renaissance Society

"Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven’s artistic output includes...painting, drawing, collage, computer animation, installation, and zines.[...]Her illustrational technique favors hard-edged flat planes in a neon RGB palette,[...]She appropriates text from a range of discourses, including philosophy, science, poetry, theology.[...]The Renaissance Society will present four new bodies of work, including numerous new works on paper;[...]an interactive computer animation; and a related series of computer generated prints.[...]The new work will be supplemented with selections of work from throughout her career."[1]























Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven
In A Saturnian World
September 25 – December 18, 2011
The Renaissance Society
Bergman Gallery
Cobb Hall 418
5811 S. Ellis Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60637

[1] http://www.renaissancesociety.org

See also Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven interviewed by The Renaissance Society Associate Curator Hamza Walker:

http://vimeo.com/29728607

- Paul Germanos

Editorial: After Minimalism in Chicago the Summer of 2011

Early in the calendar year, on the ninth day of January, 2011, Gerard Byrne's "A thing is a hole in a thing it is not" opened to the public at The University of Chicago's Renaissance Society.[1]


Above: Gerard Byrne's "A thing is a hole in a thing it is not"

There, the art historical moment which seemed to be addressed by Byrne's exhibition was yet more clearly defined by the first words of Hamza Walker's companion essay: "In the decade spanning 1958 to 1968, developments in American visual art moved at a fast clip. In the wake of a triumphal Abstract Expressionism came Pop Art, Minimalism and Conceptual Art."[2]

Minimalism particularly was the explicit subject of "A thing is a hole in a thing it is not," whether one might argue that Byrne's carefully orchestrated reenactments of new-media history effectively wound together all three post-AbEx threads cited by Walker, above, in a Postmodern metanarrative.


Above: Gerard Byrne's "A thing is a hole in a thing it is not"

Most relevant to the present undertaking was that one reenactment (described by Walker as being a "vignette" in Byrne's "multi-channel video installation") of "...a 1964 interview with Frank Stella, Donald Judd, and Dan Flavin conducted by Bruce Glaser for WBAI radio, New York."[3]

Following the (1964) interview which interested Byrne and within the decade (1958 to 1968) numbered by Walker: Donald Judd introduced his "stacks" in 1965;[4] Frank Stella introduced his "Protractor" series in 1967.[5]

Outside of Byrne's installation, even here, in a city so strongly associated with provincial attachments to graphic, decorative, and surreal renditions of the human figure, the echoes of Stella and Judd continue to reverberate.[6]

Whether by coincidence or coordination, four months after the close of "A thing is a hole in a thing it is not" the Summer of 2011 has yielded up many works indebted to the Minimalist dialogue.

To her credit, Time Out Chicago's Lauren Weinberg appears to have been the first person, in print, to employ the Minimalist reference. In her review of Kendell Carter at moniquemeloche gallery, Weinberg wrote: "'DJ (2010),' a column of copper-plated Timberland boots anchored to a wall, refers to a Donald Judd sculpture."[7]

 
Above: Kendell Carter's "DJ"

The modular component of Judd's early "stack" works had been the galvanized, or plated, metallic box. Carter simply swapped the boot for the box: maintaining the unit in repetition along a vertical axis, fixed to the gallery wall. The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, at the Smithsonian, in Washington, DC, contains one of Judd's untitled "stacks," from 1969, which exhibits a cupric surface closely approximated by Carter in "DJ."[8]

Maybe like our national psyche, or a now middle-aged male born of the same generation, the hard-edged figure, as exercised by Judd and Stella in the '60s, has, for better and for worse, broken, and softened a bit. But the mode--the rhythm of the unit in repetition--is as strong as ever. Mark, mark, marky, mark: Carter works with a conceptual refrain.[9]

Atop the Art Institute of Chicago's Modern Wing, on the Bluhm Family Terrace, colorful concentric rings are the things repeated. Pae White's "Restless Rainbow,"[10] cut at regular intervals by the Terrace's white picket fence, hearkens back to the semi-circular motif of Frank Stella's "Protractor" series. Not at the Art Institute of Chicago but rather at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, New York, Stella's "Harran II," from 1967, seems good to compare.[11]


Above: Pae White's "Restless Rainbow"

Closer to home, the ninety-degree vertical-to-horizontal transition made by White's supple, polychromatic bands was foreshadowed by Andrea Myers' "Soft Concentrics" in the 2010 exhibition "Ps & Qs," curated by Jeff Ward and Shannon Stratton, at the Hyde Park Art Center.[12]


Above: Andrea Myers' "Soft Concentrics"

And White's curvilinear application of vinyl tape to a glass surface for the expressed purpose of creating a potentially immersive optical effect was prefigured by Carla Arocha and Stephane Schraenen's 2010 installation "As if," found, again, at moniquemeloche gallery.[13]


Above: Carla Arocha and Stephane Schraenen's "As if"

Contemporary with the aforementioned works of Donald Judd and Frank Stella, noteworthy for a high-contrast, curvilinear unit in repetition, and productive of an "op" effect, might be a piece such as the 1963 "Fall" by Bridget Riley, from the Tate Collection.[16]

But it isn't only Pae White's "Restless Rainbow" which in the Summer of 2011 recalls both Op Art and also "Ps & Qs" from 2010 at the HPAC. At threewalls gallery, in "Either/Or/Both," curated, again, by Shannon Stratton,[14] Samantha Bittman's painted textiles rely upon the same formal devices as Todd Chilton's thickly painted black and white canvas from the previous year's Hyde Park show.[15]


Above: One painting from Samantha Bittman's "Zebra" series, at threewalls
 

Above: Todd Chilton's "Buzzy Diamonds" from Hyde Park Art Center

Confounding the effort to tell a good story about the development of abstract art (painting) after the period described by Walker in the second paragraph, above, is the persistence of Expressionism.

The rhetoric of geometry, and all of the "Classical" devices of the Apollonian camp, just go to Hell when confronted with the aggressive, intuitive, asymmetrical brushwork of André Butzer at Rhona Hoffman.[17]


Above: André Butzer's "Nicht Furchten!" from Rhona Hoffman Gallery

It is abstract art. It is on display, over the Summer of 2011, in Chicago. And it is possible to describe the piece (above) as employing, in a painterly manner, a palette of vivid near-primary hues.

But Butzer gives little evidence of having any use for the "triumphal" post-war American stories of either Minimalism or AbEx. Rather, Butzer's oeuvre resembles the offspring of a union between what is cruel in George Grosz and what is dark in Paul Klee. The nightmarish "big black blob" at the center of ("Nicht Furchten!" above) the painting's action reminds one of Wesley Kimler's local position; there isn't much light between Butzer and Kimler. Nevertheless, as a painting, on its own terms, "Nicht Furchten!" works.

"Painterly" less well describes the more "lyrical" non-objective abstract work by Patrick Berran at Thomas Robertello,[18] and Jasmine Justice at 65GRAND.[19] Berran gives the impression of relying heavily (maybe like Helen Frankenthaler) on a stain painting technique: building successive layers of relatively muted color. Justice, in addition to her visible brushwork and washes, shows (occasional) evidence of masking--among other means, not being committed to any one technique.


Above: Patrick Berran from Thomas Robertello Gallery
 

Above: Jasmine Justice from 65GRAND
 
Where this leads is anyone's guess. But the formal re-engagement is difficult to miss--if only in contradistinction to the partisanship, social activism, and conceptual bent, which have for so many years impoverished our "visual" culture.

Notes:

[1] http://www.renaissancesociety.org/site/Exhibitions/Intro.Gerard-Byrne-A-thing-is-a-hole-in-a-thing-it-is-not.618.html

[2] http://www.renaissancesociety.org/site/Exhibitions/Essay.Gerard-Byrne-A-thing-is-a-hole-in-a-thing-it-is-not.618.html

[3] Ibid.

[4] http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=7770&searchid=9690&roomid=false&tabview=text&texttype=8
Above: "With the exception of the first of these arrangements, a large galvanized iron ‘stack’ comprising seven five-sided boxes, completed in June 1965 (DSS 65), each ‘stack’ is composed of a minimum of ten units."

See also: http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5261476

[5] http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=5640
Above: "The Protractor series (1967–9, with additional works until 1971) is characterized by monumental scale, potentially garish colour juxtapositions and, for the first time, curvilinear forms derived from the drawing tools referred to in the title."

Note: The text above is attributed to Constance W. Glenn, Grove Art Online, 2009, Oxford University Press, and employed on-line by The Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 Street, New York, NY, at URL listed.

[6] Chicago's connection to the Bauhaus school has been proven much stronger in architecture than in visual art.

See also: http://art.newcity.com/2011/07/25/review-go-figuresmart-museum-of-art/
Above: Jason Foumberg's July 25, 2011, review of "Go Figure" at the Smart Museum of Art.

[7] http://timeoutchicago.com/arts-culture/art-design/14805147/kendell-carter-weaves-references-to-hip-hop-into-abstract-works

[8] http://hirshhorn.si.edu/visit/collection_object.asp?key=32&subkey=8625

[9] http://moniquemeloche.com
Above: "Liberation Summer," featuring Kendell Carter, May 21–July 30, 2011, moniquemeloche gallery, 2154 W. Division, Chicago, IL

Mark, mark, marky, mark:


Compare, also, Carter's offset text ("mark mark," above) to Kay Rosen's "Go Do Good," below:
http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/blog/post/2011/05/24/Go-Do-Good-Chicago!-Kay-Rosene28099s-New-Installation-Unveiled.aspx

[10] http://www.artic.edu/aic/exhibitions/exhibition/paewhite
Above: Pae White, "Restless Rainbow," May 21–September 20, 2011, Bluhm Family Terrace, Art Institute of Chicago

See also, below, it is at best an exaggeration to claim that the city skyline has been wholly obscured by the installation:


[11] http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/show-full/piece/?search=Frank%20Stella&page=1&f=People&cr=1

[12] http://www.hydeparkart.org/exhibitions/2010/02/ps_qs_1.php
Above: "Ps & Qs," featuring Todd Chilton, Pete Fagundo, Carrie Gundersdorf, Katy Heinlein, Jessica Labatte, Andrea Myers and Tessa Windt; curated by Jeff Ward and Shannon Stratton; February 28-June 6, 2010; Hyde Park Art Center, 5020 South Cornell Avenue, Chicago, Il

[13] http://paulgermanos.blogspot.com/2010/09/review-carla-arocha-stephane-schraenen.html
Above: "As if," featuring Carla Arocha & Stephane Schraenen; September 16–November 6, 2010; moniquemeloche gallery, 2154 W. Division, Chicago, IL

[14] http://www.three-walls.org
Above: "Either/Or/Both," featuring Samantha Bittman, Stephanie Brooks, Casey Droege, Michael Milano, Hans Peter Sundquist; curated by Shannon R. Stratton; July 1-30th, 2011, threewalls, 119 N Peoria St # 2D, Chicago, IL

[15] Todd Chilton, September 4-October 2, 2010, Slow Gallery, 2153 W. 21st St, Chicago, IL:


Samantha Bittman, July 1-30th, 2011, threewalls, 119 N Peoria St # 2D, Chicago, IL:


Note: Exhibited in 2011, the bulk of Bittman's work (at threewalls) is contemporary with Chilton's work, i.e., it dates from 2009-2010.

[16] http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=12600&searchid=9648
Above: "Fall," a painting from 1963, by Bridget Riley, in the Tate Collection

[17] http://www.rhoffmangallery.com
Above: "Never Let Me Go," featuring André Butzer, Folkert de Jong, Lari Pittman, Rona Pondick, Jeni Spota, Nicola Tyson, and John Wesley; curated by Terry R. Myers; May 20-July 29, 2011, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, 118 N Peoria St # 1A, Chicago, IL

[18] http://www.thomasrobertello.com
Above: "One Must Eat the Other," featuring Patrick Berran, May 27-August 14, 2011, Thomas Robertello Gallery, 27 N Morgan St, Chicago, IL

[19] http://www.65grand.com
Above: "You'll Love Them All for Giving You the Swellest Time You've Ever Had!" featuring Jasmine Justice, May 20-June 25, 2011, 65GRAND, 1369 W Grand Ave, Chicago, IL

Related Posts:

http://paulgermanos.blogspot.com/2012/02/editorial-todd-chilton-vis-vis-scott.html "Editorial: Todd Chilton vis-a-vis Scott Stack," February 23, 2012

- Paul Germanos

Review: William J. O'Brien @ The Renaissance Society

Seven months ago, Rebecca Warren was pilloried in the local press after her exhibition at the University of Chicago's Renaissance Society.[1] Foresight, at least, was lacking in that criticism.

Given the benefit of hindsight, it's now possible to argue that Warren's whole spatial exercise was evidence of her superiority to the clay sculptor, namely William J. O'Brien, who succeeded her in the aforementioned space. More ironically, given her personal investment in the primal modelling of a plastic material, Warren can now be seen as having psychologically prepared the Chicago audience for O'Brien.


Above: William J. O'Brien @ The Renaissance Society

And it's a great mystery why no one has thought to reappraise Warren, even as O'Brien is now praised.[2]

Warren, like a sculptor, concerned herself with the formal qualities of shape, line, scale, texture, and mass; her choice and handling of material varied from piece-to-piece. Notably, Warren's objects were not in any case so heavily pigmented that an essential substance was obscured; nor did she ever employ a vivid hue. Color, simply, was not a strong visual element in Warren's compositions; color was weak, though not conspicuous in its weakness.

Too, conceptually, it's good to remember that Rebecca Warren's action against historical sculptural modes and forms necessitated at least some understanding thereof.[3]


Above: William J. O'Brien @ The Renaissance Society

William J. O'Brien's work at the Renaissance Society is altogether different: color is often strong; gloss is often thick; and not much else is exciting--in a formal sense. Whatever the pieces might mean in relation to the history of painting or ceramics, when one considers O'Brien's production as "sculpture," it's difficult to be satisfied. What is it--other than surface treatment and firing--which accounts for the variance between the receptions of Warren and O'Brien? Is O'Brien's work (at the Renaissance Society) something other than statuary, i.e., free-standing, three-dimensional, art which a viewer encounters in the round?

Was Warren an "easy target" for local critics by virtue of her foreign residence? Had she attended SAIC rather than Goldsmiths would Warren have received the same treatment? It does seem good to acknowledge that while his (O'Brien's) work looks like Art Brut, in Chicago O'Brien is anything but an outsider.[4] In fact, that which the local "art community" is able to give--it has given to O'Brien very quickly.[5] One is made to wonder: Why?


Above: William J. O'Brien @ The Renaissance Society

It seems to be the case that (roughly) eighteen months ago, at Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York, William J. O'Brien presented modestly-scaled, polychromatic, ceramic pieces upon an elegant, rectangular tabletop.[6] And the current display at the Renaissance Society differs chiefly (only) in that it involves the gathering of an even larger number of clay lumps, all of which have been shifted to a custom-fabricated, heavy-plywood, T-form, multi-tiered plinth.[7]


Above: William J. O'Brien @ The Renaissance Society

A spectator in Chicago (or New York) might be hard-pressed to identify any one work sitting on that plywood as a "virtuoso piece." O'Brien's output is strikingly regular, and crude; it evidences no "higher" academic or technical training. Is it precisely that "democratic" manifestation, that "community of objects," which is found to be praiseworthy? Would a people hostile to the idea of distinction, even in appearance, want, or need, art like O'Brien's art?


Above: William J. O'Brien @ The Renaissance Society

There does seem at this moment to be a "rising tide" of young Chicago artists engaged in the business of cobbling found objects, and molding common materials, in a manner which belies the "advanced" degrees (usually) held by the makers. The phenomenon seems not disconnected from Arte Povera in form or (invoked) theory; Art Brut has already been mentioned. In the looming shadow of fine art PhD programs, one is made to wonder quite seriously about the content of existing MFA programs: how are they necessary, or even helpful, for this sort of movement?


Above: William J. O'Brien @ The Renaissance Society

Whether it's found within the artwork, or in some speech or text which exists apart from the artwork, ought not an expression *from the artist* to have the effect of suggesting a refinement, i.e., a subtlety and complexity of thought or insight, which has been cultivated within his or her person? When such evidence is thin, or lacking altogether, one is made to wonder not only about particular exhibitions, or personalities, but about the systems which produce and support them.

The Neo-Povera and Faux Brut get the laurels here and now; it's a time of New Brutes.

+ + +

William J. O'Brien
May 15 – June 26, 2011
Tuesday - Friday: 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
Saturday, Sunday: 12:00 am - 5:00 pm
Closed Mondays
The Renaissance Society
Bergman Gallery, Cobb Hall 418
5811 S. Ellis Avenue
Chicago, Illinois
Exhibitions at The Renaissance Society are free of charge.
http://www.renaissancesociety.org

+ + +

[1] http://art.newcity.com/2010/10/11/review-rebecca-warrenthe-renaissance-society/
Above: "Review: Rebecca Warren/The Renaissance Society," by Jason Foumberg, October 11, 2010

See also: http://blog.art21.org/2010/12/31/center-field-art-in-the-middle-with-bad-at-sports-top-10-chicago-art-events-in-2010/
Above: Claudine Ise and Meg Onli name Foumberg's review above as "Best of 2010" on Decmber 31, 2010:
"Best critical review of an internationally acclaimed artist: Jason Foumberg’s review of Rebecca Warren’s exhibition at The Renaissance Society..."

[2] http://art.newcity.com/2011/05/30/review-william-j-o%E2%80%99brienrenaissance-society/
Above: "Review: William J. O’Brien/Renaissance Society," by Jason Foumberg, May 30, 2011

[3] http://paulgermanos.blogspot.com/2010/11/review-rebecca-warren-renaissance.html

[4] O'Brien's position within Chicago's "art world," as defined by his on-line bio, is characterized by multiple, overlapping points of contact with prominent figures and institutions.

For example:

O'brien's bio lists a solo exhibition in 2010 at Shane Campbell Gallery, Oak Park, IL.[a] Shane Campbell Gallery, Oak Park, IL, provides the same address (125 N. Harvey Avenue Oak Park, Illinois 60302) as Artforum critic Michelle Grabner's "domestic" gallery space (The Suburban) and home.[b] O'brien's bio lists a 2008 review written by Michelle Grabner.[c] O'brien and Michelle Grabner are two of the twenty artists currently listed on the Shane Campbell Gallery roster.[d] Both William J. O'Brien and Michelle Grabner are School of the Art Institute employees.[e]

Again:

O'brien's bio lists his participation in the group exhibition "New Icon," at Loyola University Museum of Art, Chicago, IL, in 2010.[f] The group show "New Icon," at Loyola University Museum of Art, was curated by Britton Bertran.[g] Britton Bertran served as Individual Artists Awards Coordinator for The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation.[h] The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation is a partner organization of Artadia.[i] O'brien's bio lists the 2007 receipt (Artadia lists 2006) of an Artadia grant.[j] The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation lists its 2008 funding of both Artadia and Britton Bertran.[k] Both William J. O'Brien and Britton Bertran are School of the Art Institute employees.[l]

[a] http://www.shanecampbellgallery.com/artists/obrien/bio/

[b] http://www.thesuburban.org/

[c] http://www.shanecampbellgallery.com/artists/obrien/bio/

[d] http://www.shanecampbellgallery.com/artists/

[e] http://www.saic.edu/people/O%27Brien_William_John.html?color=ORANGE

[e] http://www.saic.edu/people/Grabner_Michele.html?color=ORANGE?color=ORANGE

[f] http://www.shanecampbellgallery.com/artists/obrien/bio/

[g] http://www.luc.edu/luma/news/051710_new_icon.html

[h] http://www.linkedin.com/pub/britton-bertran/4/751/31

[i] http://www.artadia.org/newspages/newsletter/2007NLWinter.html

[i] http://www.artadia.org/newspages/newsletter/2010NLWinter.html

[j] http://artistregistry.artadia.org/registry/view_artist.php?aid=146

[k] http://www.driehausfoundation.org/node?page=3

[l] http://www.saic.edu/people/Bertran_Britton.html?color=ORANGE

[5] http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-08-01/entertainment/ct-ae-0801-mca-michael-darling-20100801_1_curator-museum-director-seattle-art-museum/3
Above: Chicago Tribune reporter Lauren Viera's interview of MCA Chief Curator Michael Darling, August 01, 2010:

Darling: "...maybe people are looking for a museum to give the stamp of approval on them before they're launched onto the next level. That kind of advocacy for artists is something that I'm really excited about."

Viera: "Do you have anyone in particular in mind?"

Darling: "William J. O'Brien, for instance, is an artist that's kind of come up through Chicago, came through the 12x12 program, is starting to really get some international attention."

[6] http://artnews.org/gallery.php?i=162&exi=17886&Marianne_Boesky&William_J_O_Brien
Above: Image of tabletop installation in New York.

[7] Per Hamza Walker: Walker himself sketched the T-type installation which was then elaborated upon and executed according to the vision of architect John Vinci. O'Brien did not design or build the pedestal.

- Paul Germanos

Pictorial: David Noonan with Carol Bove & Amy Grappell @ The Renaissance Society

David Noonan with Carol Bove & Amy Grappell in:
The Age of Aquarius
March 13 – May 01, 2011
The Renaissance Society
5811 South Ellis Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637-1404
http://www.renaissancesociety.org

- Paul Germanos

Review: Rebecca Warren @ The Renaissance Society

It might be helpful to begin by remembering "L.H.O.O.Q." from 1919, wherein Marcel Duchamp seized a contemporary postcard print of Leonardo da Vinci's 1505 "Mona Lisa," defaced it with a moustache and tiny beard, and situated the titular acronym below the subject's thus modified countenance.

Especially noteworthy in the context of this review is that Duchamp (often) found it expedient to employ a "readymade" artwork, i.e., an object pre-existing for some distinct purpose, subsequently appropriated by the artist, and reintroduced as a beast of burden for his own ideology.  Acknowledging his 1917 "Fountain" as the more common point of reference in such discussions, "L.H.O.O.Q." seems like the best precedent in this case, inasmuch as it involves a gender-conscious mockery of the viewer's attachment to the likeness of one traditional expression of the idea of the beautiful.

Said to have been born out of the perceived failure of European values evident after the tragedy of World War One, the echo of the strategic concern which informed Duchamp's activity (Dada largely) has persisted now for nearly a century.  And, tactical distinctions notwithstanding, nothing other than direct observation of the phenomena surrounding the Rebecca Warren exhibition, which opened at the University of Chicago's Renaissance Society on the third day of October, 2010, is needed to confirm that assertion.



Whether Warren's intent is actually self-evident, the Society's own Hamza Walker published the following teaching within his companion essay: "Her work is marked," Walker offers on her behalf, "by the appropriation (a polite way of saying chewing up and spitting out) of a squarely object-based tradition."[1] The text bounded by parentheses belongs to Walker; the quote is verbatim.  Where that "object-based tradition" is abstract, Walker supposes that it has served "as a means of silencing culturally specific voices, including those of women."[2]  And, looking at the historical representation of the human figure Walker perceives "a tradition in wholesale need of a woman’s deconstructive touch."[3]  What ought one to make of Walker's handling of art history and Warren's relationship to it?

Looking around, Warren's past treatment by Tate does seem to corroborate Walker's exegesis, stating that she: "intentionally misappropriates existing images by the accepted masters of figurative sculpture,"[4] and, "explores the degradation of established form."[5]

Too, in a description of Warren's concurrent display upon their own Bluhm Family Terrace, the Art Institute of Chicago provides that: "She knowingly references the work of canonical male artists,"[6] while laboring to "disrupt entrenched notions of the classical ideal."[7]   In fact, the very presence of Warren's sculptures upon said Terrace is given a gendered reading as they (Warren's sculptures) are called: "forceful counterpoints to Chicago’s renowned modernist skyline--itself dominated by works of the city’s greatest, mostly male architectural masters."[8]



If one accepts--provisionally--what has been said to be the stance of the artist, it's good to continue the critical inquiry with a turn towards the formal qualities of the work.  Frustratingly, some of the pieces are nearly formless.  And it's difficult by means of any artwork to identify precisely which "canonical male artist" are her targets.  Curious as well, given its repeated invocation by her interpreters, is that Warren's own gender isn't evident through an examination of the sculpture which is on display.  In fact, the specific intent attributed to Warren (above) seems to be largely external to the visual experience of the exhibition within the gallery space.  That being the case, one is made to wonder from what source/s the unanimous declaration of Warren's purpose has been derived.[9]

It's rather difficult to find (on-line) a clear statement of Rebecca Warren's philosophy of art--made by Rebecca Warren.  Those statements which are available, and attributed to her, deal much more directly with the physical properties of the objects which she produces than with political conflicts between genders, or races, or classes.  And where cleavages such as gender are invoked, she would (if reported correctly) seem to imply that said constructs are mutable (permeable, even) rather than fixed: "The various materials start off contrasting along gender lines––in their qualities of durability, brittleness, rectilinearity, and crumbliness.  But these qualities are never stable for long, and they start to invade one another in ways that I find interesting."[10]

Not everyone shares Warren's interest.  One local Arts Editor, Jason Foumberg of Newcity, quickly made clear that he had grave reservations about the aesthetic nature of Warren's output.  In his review Foumberg posited that: "The unquestioning acceptance of any old piece of shit--here, Warren’s--by The Renaissance Society, which now only produces four exhibitions per year, is a waste of the institution’s good name and resources."[11]  The boldness of Foumberg's insight is laudable.  Though, suggesting that Warren's exhibition is "a waste of the institution’s good name and resources," he seems to presuppose that Walker and the other members of the Society's staff failed to produce the outcome which they desired.  Were it true, that would be odd.  Everyone involved (at the Society) must have known aforehand that Warren's art was not per se beautiful or novel; yet, they went forward with the program.  Why?



By happy coincidence, the contemporary episode of the Chicago-based, arts-focused podcast Bad at Sports features an audio file containing an interview of School of the Art Institute Professor James Elkins by co-host Duncan MacKenzie.  Therein, early in the exchange, Elkins makes reference to "the deepest division" within the arts academy being between those parties whose "ultimate aim is to produce an object," and those parties wishing to practice what "ultimately you might call politics."[12]  With regard to the present undertaking, Elkins' pronouncement is timely and helpful.  Though (as Elkins seems to acknowledge) the application of a strict dichotomy would prove false, his (Elkins') description of the factions (beautiful object producers v. anti-aesthetic political actors) locked in an unresolved conflict probably hints at the truth of the situation.

Tension has been building, notably since the 1960's, as artists, and ever more often curators, have employed the tactic of introducing garbage (sometimes literally) into gallery and museum spaces for the purpose of: (a) contesting the commodity value of art within the economic system of Capitalism; (b) blurring the distinction between the high and the low, the beautiful and the ugly, and so forth; (c) incrementally breaking traditional attachments (to property, family, religion, nation, etc.) in anticipation of the opportunity to introduce new orders.



For example, Italian Arte Povera might be described as a coming together of Dada's nonsensical, anti-establishment antics and a left-wing agenda for social change; in 1967 Germano Celant did refer to Marcel Duchamp by name in what's come to be called the Arte Povera manifesto.[13]  Closer to home, one might also consider the tone of the activity even now ongoing within many of Chicago's apartment and not-for-profit galleries.  While treating Lynne Warren and Mary Jane Jacobs' 1984 text "Alternative Spaces in Chicago," another Newcity Arts contributor, Dan Gunn, traced the evolution of those venues with roots in the 1970's which, he wrote: "grew out of a desire to show anti-commercial, ephemeral, or Feminist work."[14]

Ultimately, those three themes "anti-commercial, ephemeral, [...] Feminist" are more clearly evident in the curatorial choices and critical texts which involve Rebecca Warren than they are within the works involved in her exhibition.  It seems ridiculous to accept that Warren has set herself against the Western tradition of making art objects--by making art objects in the West.  The four distinct types of sculpture on display within the Ren's undivided chamber: (1) female figure; (2) abstract steel; (3) bronze cube; and (4) amorphous clay, function as parody only to the degree that the audience recognizes in their form the target of the parody, i.e., sculpture.  In truth, she's engaged in a very conventional--one might even say conservative--enterprise.  She produces sometimes delicate, sometimes costly, things which are shipped around the world for display in prestigious institutions.  Her work is in important collections; she's won awards and critical acclaim.  As ugly and imperfect as it might at times be, the "art world" is "working" for her.  In the end, it's not in her self-interest to truly injure the system; it's only useful to tickle it.

[1] http://www.renaissancesociety.org/site/Exhibitions/Essay.Rebecca-Warren.616.html
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.

[4] http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/turnerprize/2006/rebeccawarren.htm
[5] Ibid.

[6] http://www.artic.edu/aic/exhibitions/exhibition/Warren
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.

[9] http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/mar/22/rebecca-warren-serpentine-gallery-review
Above: Laura Cumming for a more formal and less gendered reading of Warren's work.

[10] http://artforum.com/words/id=26507
Above: "As told to Lauren O’Neill-Butler" in Artforum.

[11] http://art.newcity.com/2010/10/11/review-rebecca-warrenthe-renaissance-society/

[12] http://badatsports.com/2010/episode-267-james-elkins-and-the-stone-summer-theory-institute/
Above: Hear 04:17 - 06:01 within the audio for Episode 267.

[13] http://www.flashartonline.com/interno.php?pagina=articolo_det&id_art=352&det=ok&title=ARTE-POVERA
Above: Archive of Flash Art n.5 - 1967.

[14] http://www.dangunn.com/entries/articles/arc_pr.html
See also: http://proximitymagazine.com/2009/07/artist-run-spaces-a-brief-history-since-1984/

Rebecca Warren
October 3 - December 12, 2010
Tuesday - Friday: 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
Saturday, Sunday: 12:00 am - 5:00 pm
Closed Mondays
The Renaissance Society
Bergman Gallery, Cobb Hall 418
5811 S. Ellis Avenue
Chicago, Illinois
Exhibitions at The Renaissance Society are free of charge.
http://www.renaissancesociety.org

"Rebecca Warren is organized by The Art Institute of Chicago and The Renaissance Society at The University of Chicago. The Renaissance Society presentation is generously funded by the Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation, The Henry Moore Foundation, and The British Council. The presentation at the Art Institute of Chicago is generously funded by the Bluhm Family Endowment Fund, which supports exhibitions of modern and contemporary sculpture on the Art Institute's Bluhm Family Terrace.

Ongoing support for programs at The Renaissance Society is provided by Alphawood Foundation; the CityArts Program of The Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, a municipal agency; Christie’s; The Danielson Foundation; The John R. Halligan Charitable Fund, the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency; The MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at Prince; Chauncey and Marion D. McCormick Family Foundation; Nuveen Investments, the Provost’s Discretionary Fund at The University of Chicago; Pritzker Foundation; The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts;The Siragusa Foundation; and our membership."

Related Posts:

http://paulgermanos.blogspot.com/2011/06/review-william-j-obrien-renaissance.html
"Review: William J. O'Brien @ The Renaissance Society," June 11, 2011

- Paul Germanos