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September 7–November 17, 1996 |
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This exhibition of contemporary art by Chicano, Irish, and Mexican artists
examined the common ground shared by Mexico and Ireland, countries with
notable differences as well as profound commonalities. Both countries have
developed economically in the shadow of their more powerful neighbors (the
U.S. and England); both are characterized by widespread migration; both
share a strong tradition of Catholicism as well as deep roots in their
ancient mythologies. Distant Relations revealed a rich, artistic dialogue
about exile, invisibility, the loss of language and culture, a confrontation
with the past, and the emergence of new hybrid cultures. This multimedia
exhibition included the work of twelve internationally recognized Mexican,
Irish, and Chicano artists: Willie Doherty, David Fox, Javier de la Garza,
Silvia Gruner, Frances Hegarty, John Kindness, Alice Maher, Daniel J.
Martinez, Amalia Mesa-Bains, Philip Napier, Rubén Ortiz Torres, and John
Valadez. Curated by independent curator Trisha Ziff, Distant Relations was
organized by the Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, England, and the Santa Monica
Museum of Art. The accompanying catalog was published by Smart Art Press,
Santa Monica. |
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June 15–August 25, 1996 |
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An epic body of work by Los Angeles photographic artist Allan Sekula, Fish
Story was created over a five-year period of research that included travel
to industrial ports all over the world. This project explored the
historical, sociopolitical, aesthetic, and literary connections among such
far-flung port cities as New York, Rotterdam, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and
Seoul. Consisting of a sequence of 105 large-scale, color photographs
interspersed with narrative panels authored by Sekula, as well as two slide
projections, Fish Story wove an intricate web of visual and verbal
associations among panoramic views of the sea, detailed close-ups of
nautical devices, cargo containers, and warehouses, and sailors and shipyard
workers, locating the individual elements in an ever-shifting cross-current
of global exchange; of goods, money, knowledge, and power. This exhibition
was organized by Chris Dercon for the Witte de With Center for Contemporary
Art, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and was accompanied by a full-color
catalog.
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June 15–August 25, 1996
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A video, sculpture, and sound installation by Native American artist James
Luna, The Dream Hat Ritual represented a ceremonial site, replete with
willow branches and a "bonfire" created from stacked video monitors. Luna, a
self-described "high-tech Indian storyteller," created an environment using
slide projections, pop music, bird sounds, videos, and theatrical lighting
effects that contrasted romantic and historical perceptions of Native
American culture with modern-day, "real-life" sounds and images. Within this
environment, life-sized figures made from cowboy hats, crutches, hairpieces,
and boots suggested the physical hardships faced by Native American
communities whose populations are ravaged by infirmities related to diabetes
and alcoholism. |
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March 9–May 26, 1996 |
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Nearly sixty works by Los Angeles artist Karen Carson were included in this
mid-career survey. The works spanned the preceding twenty-five years and
encompassed her artistic production in all media—including painting,
drawing, and mixed-media works—and traced her stylistic journey from
abstraction through pop. The Santa Monica Museum's exhibition was part of a
citywide project entitled But Enough About Me, which included presentations
of Carson's work at two other venues: Otis College of Art and Design, Los
Angeles, and Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE). |
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March 9–May 26, 1996 |
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Behind the Mask, an installation created for the Museum's Focus Gallery by
New York artist Luca Buvoli, was the tenth installment in Buvoli's ongoing
series, Not a Superhero. The artist's infatuation with American superheroes
began when he was a child living in Italy, and it continues in the form of
his exploration of the relationship between human aspirations and the
larger-than-life capabilities of superheroes. Composed of an artist's book,
drawings, collages, and sculpture made from urban detritus (candy wrappers,
bits of plastic, wire, and rags), Behind the Mask considered issues of
individual, national, and universal identity in relation to the moral
struggles of our time—struggles that are characterized less by the conflict
of good and evil than by ambiguity and guilt. |
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December 9, 1995–February 25, 1996 |
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Los Angeles artist Kim Dingle served as curator for this unique presentation
of Eileen and Peter Norton's contemporary art collection, exploring issues
of collecting, museology, and contemporary artistic practices. The
exhibition displayed works of art among crates and packing material,
provoking questions about what it means—in philosophical as well as
strictly physical terms—to build and maintain an art collection. The art
presented a diverse cross-section of contemporary approaches to individual
and cultural identity, reflecting a major thrust of the Nortons' interests.
Among the artists represented were Carlos Almaraz, Matthew Barney, Uta
Barth, Nicole Eisenman, Robert Gober, Michael Gonzalez, David Hammons, Byron
Kim, Annie Leibovitz, Glenn Ligon, Charles Ray, Lorna Simpson, Fred
Tomaselli, and Carrie Mae Weems. |
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December 9, 1995–February 25, 1996 |
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Induction, a video-and-sound installation created by the collaborative team
of Bender and Funicelli, addressed the viewer's interpretation of
sensory-based information (images, spoken texts, and music) as it informs,
and is informed by, the viewer's own memories, dreams, fantasies, and
history. This work, employing as a metaphor the medieval musical technique
of organum—whereby a fundamental tune is distorted by the dissonant
polyphony laid over it—challenged the notion that a coherent reality can
exist in a time and a culture characterized by contradiction and chaos.
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