11
Oct
2005
To the average museum-goer, the exhibit 41˚/90˚: Contemporary Landscape at the Figge is an art show and little more.
But its importance is far greater. It's a show that recognizes the Midwest as a fertile ground for artists and art, and proof that the Figge Art Museum understands that. Even more importantly, it's a coming-out party for the Artists Advisory Council, a group of working artists that curated the show and finally has the ear of Davenport's art museum.
The party's high point will come this weekend, with a roundtable discussion bringing together the artists of 41˚/90˚ along with curators Leslie Bell and Pete Schulte and art critic John Yau. The event, which will also serve as a reception for the artists, will be held at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, October 15, in the Figge's John Deere Auditorium. A video documentary (by Kara Toal) on the exhibit is also scheduled to debut that night and will be shown throughout the remainder of 41˚/90˚'s run. And on October 29, 41˚/90˚ artist Sam Prekop (also a leader of the band The Sea & Cake) will be performing at the Rocket Brew & View in Rock Island.
Such artist-driven events at the Davenport museum were unimaginable just a few short years ago. For years, Bell had considered himself akin to Martin Luther, nailing the demands of the artistic community on the door of the Davenport Museum of Art, begging to be heard. "'Shut up.' That's how it used to feel," he said.
When Linda Downs was hired as the museum's director in 2002, however, she opened that door to local artists. The Artists Advisory Council (AAC) was the result and had its first meeting in August 2003.
The creation of the AAC was hardly a token concession by the museum. The Figge gave the artists the new building's second major show to co-curate (with the museum's Michelle Robinson). "41˚/90˚ is a real testament" to the museum's commitment, Schulte said. "I don't think any of us [in the AAC] would have done it [41˚/90˚]" if the Figge's interest in the participation of the artists weren't genuine. "There's a sincerity and an intensity to the way they've embraced our efforts," Bell said.
The AAC generated five or six ideas for its exhibit, Bell said, including a show on the contemporary use of color and one on the work of Kerry James Marshall and David Dunlap. But the group settled on a landscape show, which in literally grounded conceit seems a perfect match for an institution trying to establish itself as a statement of Midwestern artistic sophistication.
"The landscape is a traditional medium," Bell said. "We can bring the 21st Century version of that." Bell said it was Schulte who came up with the "first plank in the platform" of 41˚/90˚, with the idea of "an atypical landscape show," one "looking more at the margins."
The exhibit's title refers to the geographic coordinates of the Quad Cities, and Bell said the name is meant to be ironic. 41˚/90˚, he said, is "the only scientific thing in the show."
Although it's a landscape show, much of the work deals in abstraction, from Heather Mekkelson's pressed soil slabs to Katy Fischer's highly detailed but de-contextualized studies of roadside minutiae. (In all, the work of nine artists is represented, including the Quad Cities' Kristin Quinn.) Kathleen Eaton's peaceful depictions of residential streets are the most fully representational works in the whole exhibit, yet they're bathed in an almost supernatural glow that radiates a discomforting warmth. Particularly striking is Mekkelson's collection of overhead views of roadway intersections and interchanges, rendered in a way that makes them look more like glyphs than transportation facilitators. The exhibit's diversity, Bell said, shows "how complex our relationship is with the earth." In their own ways, he said, all the artists' work is an example of "worshipping" the planet.
Schulte said Mekkelson and Fischer (along with Jeremy Boyle, whose sound-and-liquid installation was being repaired when I saw the show) were the cornerstone artists of the exhibit, in the way that their work suggested both "everywhere" (in their universality) and "nowhere" (with their unusual perspectives or lack of context).
The show leaves it for viewers to make connections between the works. Although there is a 41˚/90˚ catalog for sale (for $12.95 in the museum store), the Figge's print gallery offers no material giving background, explanation, or even a thesis to the show as a whole. Schulte said that was intentional; the curators wanted the exhibit itself to match the artwork in its lack of context. "That plays into the overall theme," he said. The organizers wanted to "let the work do more of the talking."
Schulte said he doesn't believe that makes the show difficult. "There's a real balance of work," from the experimental to the more traditional, he said. "There's something there for almost everybody to grab on to." And that's a starting point from which the audience can begin to make their own links.
In a typical survey show, Bell said, the works of different artists would intermingle, forcing the audience to compare and contrast adjacent items; the blunt arrangement imposes meaning. But that's not the case with 41˚/90˚; each artist's work is given its own space, forcing the audience to work harder to make connections. "We wanted anything but a conventional hang," Bell said. "It gave us an opportunity to have their works dialogue with each other. ... We really wanted to activate the whole room."
Bell said the AAC, which now comprises roughly 15 artists, never intended to curate exhibits, and he said he doesn't want curatorial functions to detract from the group's core advisory mission. "We want [the Figge] to be stronger and stronger and stronger representatives of our region," he said.
He added that the group is presently working on a handful of projects, including regional art commissions and redesigning the museum's bi-state show. Overall, he said, the AAC wants to encourage the Figge to bolster its contemorary-art presence - through its permanent collection, through locally curated exhibits, and through a stronger relationship with the local arts community.
And if 41˚/90˚ can be seen as the first fruit of a newly fertile relationship, Mekkelson's square soil works stand as a ripe metaphor. The piece includes samples from the old Davenport Museum of Art site and from the Figge. And from the former, a small, fragile plant broke through the surface.
41˚/90˚: Contemporary Landscape at the Figge continues through December 11. For more information, visit (http://www.figgeartmuseum.org).
The party's high point will come this weekend, with a roundtable discussion bringing together the artists of 41˚/90˚ along with curators Leslie Bell and Pete Schulte and art critic John Yau. The event, which will also serve as a reception for the artists, will be held at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, October 15, in the Figge's John Deere Auditorium. A video documentary (by Kara Toal) on the exhibit is also scheduled to debut that night and will be shown throughout the remainder of 41˚/90˚'s run. And on October 29, 41˚/90˚ artist Sam Prekop (also a leader of the band The Sea & Cake) will be performing at the Rocket Brew & View in Rock Island.
Such artist-driven events at the Davenport museum were unimaginable just a few short years ago. For years, Bell had considered himself akin to Martin Luther, nailing the demands of the artistic community on the door of the Davenport Museum of Art, begging to be heard. "'Shut up.' That's how it used to feel," he said.
When Linda Downs was hired as the museum's director in 2002, however, she opened that door to local artists. The Artists Advisory Council (AAC) was the result and had its first meeting in August 2003.
The creation of the AAC was hardly a token concession by the museum. The Figge gave the artists the new building's second major show to co-curate (with the museum's Michelle Robinson). "41˚/90˚ is a real testament" to the museum's commitment, Schulte said. "I don't think any of us [in the AAC] would have done it [41˚/90˚]" if the Figge's interest in the participation of the artists weren't genuine. "There's a sincerity and an intensity to the way they've embraced our efforts," Bell said.
The AAC generated five or six ideas for its exhibit, Bell said, including a show on the contemporary use of color and one on the work of Kerry James Marshall and David Dunlap. But the group settled on a landscape show, which in literally grounded conceit seems a perfect match for an institution trying to establish itself as a statement of Midwestern artistic sophistication.
"The landscape is a traditional medium," Bell said. "We can bring the 21st Century version of that." Bell said it was Schulte who came up with the "first plank in the platform" of 41˚/90˚, with the idea of "an atypical landscape show," one "looking more at the margins."
The exhibit's title refers to the geographic coordinates of the Quad Cities, and Bell said the name is meant to be ironic. 41˚/90˚, he said, is "the only scientific thing in the show."
Although it's a landscape show, much of the work deals in abstraction, from Heather Mekkelson's pressed soil slabs to Katy Fischer's highly detailed but de-contextualized studies of roadside minutiae. (In all, the work of nine artists is represented, including the Quad Cities' Kristin Quinn.) Kathleen Eaton's peaceful depictions of residential streets are the most fully representational works in the whole exhibit, yet they're bathed in an almost supernatural glow that radiates a discomforting warmth. Particularly striking is Mekkelson's collection of overhead views of roadway intersections and interchanges, rendered in a way that makes them look more like glyphs than transportation facilitators. The exhibit's diversity, Bell said, shows "how complex our relationship is with the earth." In their own ways, he said, all the artists' work is an example of "worshipping" the planet.
Schulte said Mekkelson and Fischer (along with Jeremy Boyle, whose sound-and-liquid installation was being repaired when I saw the show) were the cornerstone artists of the exhibit, in the way that their work suggested both "everywhere" (in their universality) and "nowhere" (with their unusual perspectives or lack of context).
The show leaves it for viewers to make connections between the works. Although there is a 41˚/90˚ catalog for sale (for $12.95 in the museum store), the Figge's print gallery offers no material giving background, explanation, or even a thesis to the show as a whole. Schulte said that was intentional; the curators wanted the exhibit itself to match the artwork in its lack of context. "That plays into the overall theme," he said. The organizers wanted to "let the work do more of the talking."
Schulte said he doesn't believe that makes the show difficult. "There's a real balance of work," from the experimental to the more traditional, he said. "There's something there for almost everybody to grab on to." And that's a starting point from which the audience can begin to make their own links.
In a typical survey show, Bell said, the works of different artists would intermingle, forcing the audience to compare and contrast adjacent items; the blunt arrangement imposes meaning. But that's not the case with 41˚/90˚; each artist's work is given its own space, forcing the audience to work harder to make connections. "We wanted anything but a conventional hang," Bell said. "It gave us an opportunity to have their works dialogue with each other. ... We really wanted to activate the whole room."
Bell said the AAC, which now comprises roughly 15 artists, never intended to curate exhibits, and he said he doesn't want curatorial functions to detract from the group's core advisory mission. "We want [the Figge] to be stronger and stronger and stronger representatives of our region," he said.
He added that the group is presently working on a handful of projects, including regional art commissions and redesigning the museum's bi-state show. Overall, he said, the AAC wants to encourage the Figge to bolster its contemorary-art presence - through its permanent collection, through locally curated exhibits, and through a stronger relationship with the local arts community.
And if 41˚/90˚ can be seen as the first fruit of a newly fertile relationship, Mekkelson's square soil works stand as a ripe metaphor. The piece includes samples from the old Davenport Museum of Art site and from the Figge. And from the former, a small, fragile plant broke through the surface.
41˚/90˚: Contemporary Landscape at the Figge continues through December 11. For more information, visit (http://www.figgeartmuseum.org).
