Two separate exhibitions over the course of the past week left me with a lot to be desired. At times these shows felt like they were grasping at straws to bring it all together. To be certain there was one artist in each show that stood out as presenting a knock out piece. However, both shows were immature in different and interesting ways. So, perhaps they spoke to a mutual problem.
I present the case of the Wayne State Graduate Thesis Show vs. the Butcher’s Daughter throw together.
Ham Poe
It’s worth noting that there are rumblings that Wayne State is doing away with their final thesis shows, and instead substituting them with intermediate shows where graduates can put up whatever they’re working on. What we were presented with was the beginnings of ideas, which can be genuinely raw and powerful. Instead, we were presented with something that felt like assignments. Patrick Wise, an artist whom I know for making striking self-portraits (and who was recently awarded a Detroit Artist Market scholarship) did not have his more intriguing works up. A small impressionistic cloud painting is perhaps in the top ten list of safe methods for making a decent painting.
Angelo Conti
The other problem, craftsmanship, really sunk that show. The interesting large piece on the window lost its flair to the shimmering of the tape that put it together and a large photo applied to what appeared to be painted foam showed a lack of understanding about how glossy photos can’t blend easily with matte paint. That same artist, Angelo Conti, must be new to photography, as his other piece is also distracting in a similar way: two photos pasted on the wall bridged with haphazard crayon drawings, seemingly non-ironically. Another artist in the show brought together cliche piled onto cliche in his mixed media work by framing it with barbed wire and titling it “Urban Landscape”. If there was a joke, it was lost upon me. Perhaps as Soh Suzuki says, “all student shows are bad”, we shouldn’t expect to see their true voice, but a Master’s thesis show needs to represent two years of serious play.
John Tata and Angelo Conti in the background
I did notice however that the typo we saw on their signage was fixed from the first time we dropped by, so perhaps Wayne State can be nimble about this and think hard about editing.
The other show was called ‘Backroom’ at Monica Bowman’s gallery, the Butcher’s Daughter. Another friend, that I think can take criticism well, so I think this is an inviting place to start a conversation about the relationship between curators and artists. The concept of the show was as follows: The exhibition features new work by Curtis McGuire (b.1985, Traverse City, MI), Hamilton Poe (b. 1986, Raleigh, NC) and Lauren Rice (b. 1979, Atlanta, GA) and focuses on art and issues related to emerging artists’ inventory. The exhibition runs through February 12, 2011. Each artist currently works from a studio space in Detroit and the work on view includes collage, drawing, painting and sculpture.
Did you catch the oxymoron? It’s new work that she picked out from their old work. I’ve been to all of their studios, I know what they’re all working on. We usually warn artists not to let money dictate what we do, but what about curators?
Lauren Rice
If artists don’t know this yet, art historians run a good chunk of the art world. I realized this after my first year at the College Art Association conference in Chicago. There it’s a networking frenzy where people can look at your work and immediately tell you what you should try, artists who are similar to you, and maybe even personally introduce you to the person that could be the biggest break of your career. Curators sometimes tell artists that they’ve got this feeling that it would be the “most fantastic idea if they did this”… and all of a sudden they have some brilliant content, seemingly out of nowhere! If someone knew your work intimately and could see where it was heading, wouldn’t you listen?
Curtis McGuire
I’m bringing this up because I overheard that those young artists from the CAVE had a show there, but that something felt amiss. It wasn’t exactly a step up in the art world. Where were their grand and thoughtful installations like the ones at MONA? My guess was that the work was “gallerized” (I know there’s a better word, but I don’t want to use it). It felt like much more of a product, something you could hold…something you could purchase. I understand that Butcher’s Daughter is a “commercial gallery”. However, their artist roster employs a number of innovative contemporary Detroit artists. I could sense there was some hesitation on the part of the artists in the show to tell me what the theme of the show was about, and to break it down to me what they liked about their new/old work. They went as far as saying that it was indeed their art work.
Which brings us to something that does tie these two shows together, a kind of desperation mixed with playing it dangerously safe. Wayne State likely has to meet a quota for graduate students and needs to show that there’s something going on, even when what’s going on isn’t much. Schools always worry about funding, they need bodies, they need our money. The Butcher’s Daughter needs fresh blood, and nothing is more seductive than Ham Poe, who biked here all the way from Vermont, his opening art piece if you will.
I do understand that when it comes to bringing art to the masses, there’s a kind of evolution that takes place. For example, like how over the years the audience in Grand Rapids that awards the Art Prizes will become more sophisticated. There are studies that prove this progression. I am just noting that we have here two examples of how when we should be celebrating the ability for young artists to afford a separate studio and work their asses off we tend to force something conventional in the end. But on the other hand perhaps I’m conceding after all these years that Rebecca Mazzei was right how young artists should simply be given time to mature; and that means not showing the transitional work) No matter how you frame it, we should be setting higher expectations for ourselves if we truly desire a vibrant, challenging, and critical art community.
Interesting post Cedric, although I found it hard to follow you in some parts, you seemed to weave in and out of the two main shows being discussed and loosely mention two more. You also mention that you ‘overheard’ that the artist from the CAVE space had a show at Butchers and that it wasn’t as grand as a show at MONA. Are you speaking of the Paycheck to Paycheck show at Butchers and the Breeding Ground show at MONA?
Yes, Yes and Yes, dang I still need to get some better editing.
Hey Cedric, I recently read your review of the Wayne State graduate exhibition in The Detroiter, and although I have no problem with your assessment of the show, you make a number of assumptions about the Wayne State graduate program that are false.
* The Duffy Department of Art and Art History is NOT considering eliminating the final thesis exhibition. There was an open space in the exhibition schedule of the Art Department Gallery and its director, Tom Pryzenski, thought a grad group show would be an excellent opportunity for students who are just beginning their tenure in graduate school. The vast majority of the students in the show have just finished their first semester in a 3 year program, and are deeply in the throws of the creative crisis that defines the first year of a rigorous MFA program. Most of the work in the show was done during their first semester here.
* Perhaps it is not an ideal time for many of them to be exhibiting, but a key pedagogical goal of our program is to challenge students to understand and participate in the larger mechanics and institutional expectations of the contemporary art world, both locally and globally.
* “Wayne State likely has to meet a quota for graduate students and needs to show that there’s something going on” This assumption could not be further from the truth. Because of our commitment to quality, most applicants to Wayne’s graduate program are not admitted. No quota exists and no students are ever admitted to “boost numbers”. The decision on admission is made by the professors at Wayne, who have nothing to gain by elevated numbers. Many of the successful Wayne grads: Kristin Beaver, Topher Crowder, Alana Bartol etc. all went through difficult transitions while in school and during these periods produced work that wasn’t always great.
* Although we have a lot of young artists who, to a greater extent than normal perhaps, have yet to find their voice, it is a committed and passionate group. They are involved, hard working and driven to improve. Given the time they have ahead of them (not to mention the recent huge boost to our visiting artist program) I expect you will see good things out of them in the next couple of years. In short, even if their work hasn’t yet arrived, there is a lot going on!
* Finally, the typo in the signage was entirely the fault of the printer. Upon seeing their mistake, Tom demanded that they come out and reinstall one with correct spelling, which they did.
Alright, keep up the critiques. Just check your facts next time!
Take care,
A
It’s important to recognize the fumbles, and to critique the failures. It’s those who keep peeling the layers that eventually get to the good stuff. The journey is almost as intersting as the work itself. It’s just not always as fun to look at.
after reading this post I am not sure what your point is. but I do commend you for tackling it head on. I get an impression that both shows were not entirely successful in your view, which is totally fine, but I could not really pin down from one read why.
of the shows mentioned, I only saw one, the one at TBD’s…… pronounced teebeedees
one of the things you sort of broached, I think, was the notion that art sometimes can look like homework…. there was a cute essay on that from the mid to late 90s at the New York Times… whether or not that is the case, the issue of curators assigning “tasks” to artists is an interesting one, but I do not think it is a new one; nor do I think it is problematic. it might seem so because we all have more access to MB and the artists her gallery presents – this could have been all along a behind-the-scenes common place event….
(as an aside, art historians and curators are two different things, and in my view suggestions from either group to artists comes from excitement out of their work rather than an imposition – the artist needs to learn how to assert him/herself)
a very commonplace practice these days center around artists seeking opportunities and making their work fit into a need and/or context (as in the so many “calls for submission” out there)… even if an artist is represented by a gallery, s/he usually still submits show proposals, which then are negotiated with the venue to different extents… this is analogue to a book being accepted for publication and then edited before printing; a collaboration between author and editor takes place.
the issue you might be wanting to express might be, perhaps, the lack of clear mission from both venues/institutions. one thing that I have felt in regards to TBD’s is the identity crisis I perceive, of attempting to create curatorial experiences more akin to a museum setting than a commercial art gallery (consider the wonderful salons that have been hosted as well). as you know I have written about exhibitions there as well, but my focus was on the work and not the framework…. (I personally think that the solo shows have been more successful there than the group ones, but that is another story)… the crisis I mention in my view is not necessarily a negative one, because I feel that a lot of categories are, again, up for grabs (paging 1980s)….
so perhaps the figuring out of what it is that they do, both private gallery and educational institution, might actually be a better reflection of the flux our current culture, and economy, find themselves in… and the issue really is not their approach itself, but how this approach is articulated and made public to everyone else (or not)… of course this could also be a binding measure that will also stifle them greatly…
but then again, they should have the freedom to change their mind as they go… as many times as they see fit…
Adrian, thanks for clarifying some of those facts about the WSU program. However, I do agree with Cedric regarding the quality of the WSU show and feel it would have likely been in the best interest of the artists to refrain from exhibiting these works. While I am not an art instructor myself, I am under the impression that artists entering a graduate degree program should have some experience with exhibitions; not learning or having their first showings during grad school. There have been a number of fantastic artists whom I really respect emerge from Wayne’s grad program, and I just felt this seriously lacking. Although, what do I know? Keep pushing this group and I hope to be eating my words in a couple of years.
-ian