Contemporary - Pulitzer

The Pulitzer: Chelsea Girls

It's almost here -- tomorrow night, we're finally kicking off our film program with Chelsea Girls.  We're all pretty excited about it -- it's the first time we've ever screened a film at the Pulitzer, much less outside.  We're also all crossing our fingers that it doesn't rain....

Cliff and Chris (from Cinema St. Louis, our collaborators on the event) and Brett (the projectionist) will be here early tomorrow as we go through all the set-up plans and double-check that everything's a-ok.  We're projecting the film on the side of the Contemporary's wall (the one that faces the middle landing in our courtyard) and chairs will be set up on the landing.  Someone mentioned that projecting Chelsea Girls on the concrete seems especially perfect-- it will give the film an even grittier look. 

Here's some background on the film on Wikipedia if you want to prep before coming.  And if you're in NYC instead of StL, you're in luck -- it looks like MoMA will be screening Chelsea Girls the following month! (Rachel)

UPDATE:  It looks like rain might be happening this afternoon.  If so, our amazing neighbors at the Contemporary are letting us use their performance space as the rain location.  The screening will still take place at 7:30pm and our galleries will still be open.  Come to the Pulitzer's main entrance, and we'll escort you through the courtyard and to the Contemporary! 

Contemporary: On Flickr

With our new blog site, we're incorporating our Flickr accounts into serving as an photo album.  The Pulitzer set up one quite awhile ago, and I've had the duty of setting one up on my to-do list for longer than I care to admit.  So, some say the first step is the hardest; however, Flickr really demolishes this notion by providing a fairly easy way of uploading photos to their site.  Some of our architectural photos have been added, which you can view here, and I hope to sneak a few minutes away from my other tasks and upload some more.  I'm doing all this work to a background hum of sanding machines which are working on the wall which housed Hodges' mural piece.  It's been a pretty noisy place during install and it's almost all I can do from sneaking over to the Pulitzer to enjoy some peaceful meditation time in their gallery space.  (Jennifer)

The Pulitzer: Video! Artist and her Work

                 

Here's the promised video from last week's student event (I actually got it to work!).  As the culmination of a program with the Pulitzer, Washington University students in Jill Downen's studio class created works of art in response to portraiture.  The works were exhibited across the street from the Pulitzer in the Bruno David Gallery.  Their exhibition was incredible -- I wish it had been up for a longer period of time! 

Enjoy a video of artist Lainie Turkish talking about her work, Katrina.  It's hard to get a good look at it in the video (we'll be posting still photographs of each artist's work to the Wash U program section of our website soon), but it consists of portraits of people who were affected by Hurricane Katrina.  She submerged these portraits and then sealed each one in a plastic zip lock bag, where each eventually molded over.  (Rachel)

Contemporary: Great Rivers

Summer is fast approaching and bringing with it some great local artist opportunities. The deadline to apply for the Great Rivers Biennial exhibition/grant is just over a month away, and I am really excited. St. Louis has a lot of talent, and I can hardly wait for the submissions to start coming in! To keep Great Rivers impartial and prestigious, the Contemporary has arranged for three exceptional museum professionals to serve as our jurors. Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson, Cheryl Brutvan, and Lilian Tone are all experts in contemporary art. So, for all you artists working diligently to put together your submissions (or for anyone who wants to read a little about three incredible women working in the art world) here's the low down on our three jurors.

Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson is the Director and Chief Curator of the Aspen Art Museum and has also held positions at the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive and The Jewish Museum, in New York. She has curated well over forty solo exhibitions of international contemporary artists and has also taught at UC Berkeley, CUNY Hunter College, and CCA.

Cheryl Brutvan is the Beal Curator of Contemporary Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and has also held positions at the Albright-Knox Gallery and the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston. In addition, Brutvan initiated a series called RSVP:mfa which acknowledges that art can extend beyond traditional gallery spaces and supports the creation of such work.

Lilian Tone is the Assistant Curator in the Department of Painting and Sculpture at The Museum of Modern Art, New York. She was also very involved with coordinating educational programming for the Sao Paulo Bienal for multiple years and worked at the Museu Rodin Bahia, and Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil. (Rachel)

The Pulitzer: Schools Galore

Right now, we're knee-deep in school group visits and tours here at the Pulitzer.  Today, another (adoooorable) group of kids were here from St. Michael.  One of the comments about Keith: "He's got a big fat head! Hi big fat head man!".  Although, it seems that "big fat heads" were a trend -- they thought George Segal's Walking Man had one too. 

Today, Tim was at Shaw school as the students were photographed in Cindy Sherman-esque outfits for the upcoming student night at the end of May.  I know we'll have lots more on this (and photos from this) soon.

Tomorrow morning, we have our first high school -- university French field trip and will have another one at the end of the week (with my old French high school teacher, no less!).  High school students will get exhibition tours from the Lindenwood University students completely in French.  Then they'll have a chance to discuss what it's like to major in French and study abroad in college at the end of their tour. 

And on Wednesday, I will (hopefully) have a video posted (thanks to Chris from Zeke's Gallery for showing me how!) from last week's university student event. 

On a completely unrelated side-note:  David Bonetti wrote an article in yesterday's Post-Dispatch on the use of technology in St. Louis museums, with a nice mention of this blog.  Check it out here.  (Rachel)

Contemporary: The Omnivore's Dilemma

Last night three community-centric people came together to host a discussion centered around Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. Artist Katie Holten arrived yesterday afternoon by plane and worked around the office for a few hours before taking a seat on stage to talk about her upcoming exhibition Paths of Desire and her environmental experiences and concerns.  Terrene's Chef Dave Owens joined Holten in the discussion and spoke about the importance of sustainability and how he tries to incorporate and support the local and regional farmers, in addition to striving to incorporate recycled materials into his restaurant.  Note: I recently enjoyed lunch at Terrene and loved a little quip on the menu detailing the use of their vegetable oil - it ends up with a neighbor who uses it for her bio-diesel motorcycle (or was it a truck?).  Anyway, an energetic Jean Ponzi from EarthWays Center was also part of this discussion on art, food and the environment and discussed practical ways to live in closer harmony with our fragile environment. All in all, it was a very lively and important discussion - especially at this time, and it was incredibly interesting to hear three representatives from different fields explore the interconnectedness we share in the environmental system. Today, museum staff was buzzing about helping Katie work on the tree she is constructed for the exhibition.  I snapped a few photos downstairs for your viewing pleasure.  The tree will replicate a Missouri Oak and will be constructed out of recycled materials collected from the museum - cardboard, paper, tape, etc. The entire tree - including the root system - will be suspended in our exhibition space and you'll be able to see it on May 18. This is one of the few trees that doesn't start with a seed - but it still starts small. (Jennifer)

The Pulitzer: A Cast from the Past

Yesterday was a historic day for the Pulitzer.  We hosted our youngest school group ever: twelve pre-kindergarteners from the St. Michael School in Clayton.  Below: four of them standing beneath their favorite portraits in the Lower Corridor. 

I can't imagine they could see any of those works very well--that shelf towers over them!--but they did get a good look at "the mummy": George Segal's Walking Man (which has proven quite a hit with school group after school group).  Later in the day, some students tried to walk like Walking Man, which is to say, "like an Egyptian."  When asked what the figure might be thinking, some said, "I think he's sad because he missed a party."  Why a party?  Hard to say.  But it's really not far-fetched if you see him as a unbroken piñata... (Camran)

The Dark Side Looks Pretty Bright

          Flunker             Martinez                Dubinsky

Greetings everyone, from Umberto, the development intern at the Contemporary.  Well, things are really heating up as we gird our loins and ready ourselves for the gala event of the year -- Arts Desire:  The Art & Wine Auction, which will be held Saturday, May 12th.  I can't tell you how exciting this year has been for me.  One day I'm in class at Webster in a Current Art class and the next I'm on the phone and the Internet corresponding with the very artists I just studied.  As an intern, I had to send out mailings to all the artists in our database asking for donations for the auction.   Imagine my surprise when the first donation confirmation we received back was from Christo & Jean Claude!  We have gotten such a great response, not only from some of the giants in the field, but from some of today's rising stars as well.

When I first chose to attain a degree in Art History, my goal was to study and research the masters -- from Archaic Greece to the Renaissance.  I knew I would have to study Contemporary Art at some point, but I thought of it as something to be endured.  As a neophyte, quite honestly, I just didn't get it.  But as I studied Modern Art, then Contemporary, Current Art, and Conceptual Art, it was as if a light bulb went off in my head.  A curator friend of mine told me, "yeah, we'll bring you over to the dark side."  Then I got the internship at the Contemporary, and as they say, the rest is history!

And so, I have spent the last 6 months working on the auction.  Happily, my job here has been multi-faceted:  from sending out donation letters to artists and galleries to helping to arrange shipment of the artwork to writing artists bios and critiques for the catalog, it has been exasperating and thrilling all at the same time.  I've made a lot of friends and acquaintences, not only here at the Contemporary, but out in the industry as well.  It has been a great internship, and it comes to a close on the evening of the auction.  One thing is for sure, I hope to be invited back again for another term next fall or spring.

And so, I'm sure the art auction will be a huge success.  One of the biggest thrills has been watching the artwork arrive at the museum.  There is so much talent and diversity among the featured artists, sometimes I feel almost drunk with the beauty surrounding me.  Whether its the bright, floral abstracts of Barb Flunker, the colorful and unconventional fruit and vegetable examinations of Yvette Drury Dubinsky, or the almost surreal, futuristic renderings of Max-Carlos Martinez, I never ceased to be delighted, transported, and indeed, changed in some way.  If you ask me, the Dark Side is looking pretty bright to me! 

 

The Pulitzer: 5 Reasons

Here are 5 Reasons to Visit the Pulitzer this Week (as if you needed any further reasons):

1) Have you wanted to ask your professors in-depth questions about portraiture?  Well, you're in luck! From 6-7pm tonight Professors John Klein, Jill Downen, and Fr. Terry Dempsey will be on a panel with the Pulitzer's Director, Matthias Waschek discussing "Portrait: Artists and Sitters in Contemporary Art". 

2)  Afterwards, you can roam the galleries and talk to student docents from Saint Louis University.  So think of really hard questions to ask them about the art work!

3)  Hungry?  We'll have refreshments in the courtyard!  It's supposed to be 70 degrees and (partially) sunny! How delightful!

4)  Across the street at the Bruno David Gallery, check out the art work that Wash U students created in response to the Portrait exhibition.  I hear the works are really interesting -- I am going to try and sneak across the street for a peek this afternoon.

5)  Haven't had enough Pulitzer yet?  Tomorrow is our first ever poetry event at the Pulitzer.  Starting at 7pm, the writers Mary Jo Bang, Peter Campion, Geoff Dyer and Raphael Rubinstein will be discussing the relationship between portraiture, poetry, and the visual arts.  It'll be a rare opportunity to listen to these well-known writers together in the same room, and promises to be an excellent time.

Not convinced?  Check out our website for more info!  (ok, done with the shameless promoting now...)  (Rachel)

Contemporary: Age-Defying at the Contemporary

During lunch we hosted our weekly yoga class in the performance space. It's such a wonderful experience to be surrounded by such beauty while balancing, stretching, and preparing for the week ahead. It sort of allows you to get in the right frame of mind to tackle the week's tasks and appreciate all that is happening. Today, I found myself in such a position that I had a perfect view of a patched up portion of our ceiling. Of course, this particular view led me to reflect on when we cut a hole in the ceiling to install a piece for the performance that opened Larry Krone: Artist/Entertainer last fall. It's strange to have a permanent reminder staring so pointedly at you - especially in a non-collecting institution such as ours. I allowed my mind to wander and consider what we would need to do to erase the markings that were left behind after the exhibition came down. I imagine we'd need to replace a good portion of the ceiling completely.  Or maybe it just needs a new paint job. The options available to cover up such wrinkles are sort of in lines with choosing anti-age defying make-up or plastic surgery. I then considered all the permanent alterations we've made to the building for art.  We've cut ceilings. We've built walls. We've torn down walls. We've drilled a lot of holes. Our building, only a few years old, already bears the wrinkles of having lived life and having lived art. It's sort of a graceful aging. And I think, these laugh lines are good and will be a welcome memory to those who notice them. (Jennifer)

The Pulitzer: Coming Next Week...

With a few weeks sans events, next week we have a double whammy -- a student event Tuesday and poetry night Wednesday. 

The student event, "People Watching at the Pulitzer", is the culmination of two programs  -- one with Saint Louis University and one with Washington University.  Here's a post that Lauren, one of the SLU students, wrote about the coming event:

Over the past few months, my art history class, Pulitzer, Art, and the Public, has been working intensely, researching and brainstorming, for Saint Louis University’s evening, “People Watching at the Pulitzer”. Our class has really enjoyed collaborating with the helpful and generous staff at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts. Our hard work is coming together nicely, as the April 17th event quickly approaches. We have successfully completed a brochure and promotional materials for the evening by utilizing the many talents of our class. We hope that the evening is a great success for both the Pulitzer and Saint Louis University, establishing a tradition between the institutions. The experience has been rewarding and memorable.

More to come next week on both of these events!  Have a good weekend!  (Rachel)

Contemporary: Tilipia

While I was visiting the Foundry Arts Center in St. Charles for the first time (it's a beautiful space), my coworkers jetted off for a tasting for our upcoming fundraiser. Apparently, tilipia is on the menu, and it will be delicious. While I was craving a nice dose of chocolate, they were complaining about the two full desserts they had to test after having appetizers, two salad samples and quite a few entrees.  They have all gained 20 pounds. Anyway, on a more serious and art-related note, Nicholas Baume, a curator at ICA Boston is in town.  He'll be talking about the ICA's new home on the waterfront (also beautiful) and his curatorial practice. Tomorrow, he'll be making visits to artists who he selected from our Visiting Critics and Curators program.  Please join us tonight (6:00 Reception, 7:00 Free public talk) for the lecture if you're interested in hearing him speak regarding "Art, Architecture and the Aesthetic Experience: The New ICA Boston", and if you are unable, we should be recoding the lecture and you can watch it later in our Education Center. (Jennifer)

The Pulitzer: New Title

So for months now, we've struggled at the Pulitzer to come up with a title that really works with our next exhibition, which opens in July.  We started with one option, changed our minds, brainstormed for weeks, came back to the original title again, and then found our answer.  Here's the description of what our next exhibition will be about:

This exhibition addresses the range of responses that water has elicited from modern and contemporary artists.  Works fall into a variety of categories, ranging from material aspects of water, narrations about water, abstract forms which become associated with water via their title, and artwork permanently on view at the Pulitzer that, within the context of this exhibition, develop characteristics that are relevant to the subject matter.  Featured artists include Max Beckmann, Bryan Hunt, Ellsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein, Richard Long, Henri Matisse, Claes Oldenburg, Richard Tuttle, Cy Twombly, and more.

A key component will also be the architecture of the Pulitzer building, wherein water is a defining feature.  In addition to the prominent watercourt, which floods the galleries with reflected light, there is the space itself, conceived in Japanese tradition as a flowing substance directed by walls.

And here's the title of our exhibition:  Water.  Pretty simple, right?  Though it seems obvious now, it took a long time to come to that conclusion.  The title needs to capture what the exhibition is about, but still be catchy.  Should we try to describe the types of works in the exhibition?  Should we try and highlight the era of artwork being exhibited?  A couple of water-related puns were tossed around (these usually received a lot of groans -- "Deep Waters" anyone?).

There's really no scientific method that we use to come up with exhibition titles.  Usually it includes spontaneously naming possible titles in the kitchen while drinking coffee, or a spree of looking through the thesaurus for synonyms that work better than "Reflection".

In the end, it seems the best to leave the title open-ended, so the visitor can have their own interpretations of the art.  Which is the Pulitzer way of doing things anyway.   (Rachel)

Contemporary: The Movement of Systematic Landscapes

As some of you may know, the Contemporary is extremely excited about our fall exhibition Maya Lin: Systematic Landscapes, which will open in St. Louis in early September.  The exhibition is organized by the Henry Art Gallery, by Director Richard Andrews. Hankblog, the Henry Art Gallery's blog, recently suggested taking a walk while listening to a recent podcast related to Systematic Landscapes, but I'm still shivering from the confrontational gust of freezing weather that greeted me when I came back from Jamaica. St. Louis seems to be anything but sunbathed, but I still recommend downloading the podcast, which features a walk through the exhibition with the Director. (Jennifer)

The Pulitzer: Holiday Party

Tim, the Visitors Services Manager at the Pulitzer, wrote today's post about our recent staff "Holiday" party...

Well the holidays are upon us again............what holidays you ask? Why whatever holidays you like, this is simply an excuse for a party Pulitzer style. It never seems possible to assemble enough of us at one time; Pulitzer people lead complex lives and rarely have schedules that interface. Since we weren't able to all get together around the holidays and when I discovered that a great many of us had the evening of March 29th open, I leapt on the opportunity as the time for our annual holiday gathering.

We met at the Schlafly Tap Room and took over the little, somewhat private area just off the bar so as not to involve too many innocent customers in our chicanery. The early group arrived about 5:15 and immediately set the tone for the evening, partaking of the fine Schafly brews and appetizer offerings.

As more and more of us arrived, we managed to fill the space nicely. One table of gentlemen were the only interlopers, but I think they really just wanted to be a part of the highly spirited get-together. Eventually, the merriment drove even these kibitzers away. I suspect it was the singing. 

The emotionally charged and spontaneous rendition of Gwen Stefani's "Sweet Escape" resounded throughout the bar while Sila's soulful version of the Carpenters "Close to You" brought a moment of sweet reflection (especially for Elise).

The party continued with people coming and going, eating and drinking, until just after 9 p.m. when choices had to be made. Some went off to other venues, some went home for much needed rest, but about 6 of us went to The Way Out Club to hear one of our gallery assistants, Lindsay, and her group " That's My Daughter" perform. The club was sparsely populated on this Thursday evening, but when the group began to play, the energy changed completely. We danced and yelled and screamed and had a rock and roll time. Lindsay's drumming powered it all. 

Seems the only negative aspect has been that it's over and that it will be a whole year until we do this again....... maybe it's time to get back to the cultural enrichment program of last year where we "experienced" different venues around town. Hmm, the kickball season is fast approaching, maybe CAMSTL still thinks they could actually take us.  (Tim)

Contemporary: How touching...

A group of us were standing around yesterday looking at some new pieces of art. Several of the paintings caught our attention because of their unique and engaging textures. We all agreed that certain surfaces on artwork make us want to run our hands all over the art to feel the texture. Of course, being the professionals we are and always respectful of the work put into creating art, we did NOT touch them. Touching the art is a big no-no in the museum world. Museums post signs and even people to make sure that visitors stay a respectful distance from the art. Touching leads to damage and we want to ensure the art we show will be preserved in its original splendor.

That being said, the desire to touch seems like a natural human instinct. Thank goodness there is some art that is meant to be touched. Whenever children come in the Contemporary, they immediately fall in love with the silver clouds. There is something really special about art that you can interact with on more than one level.

I remember when I was young my favorite art exhibit included an installation by Kim Abeles that was made up of giant leaf-shaped pillows. Visitors were allowed to play in the pillows the same way a child might play in a leaf pile in fall. Another personal favorite is the work of Erwin Wurm who puts out props and instructions such as seeing how many people can fit inside one large sweater. It is then up to the visitor to become the artwork. So, I encourage everyone to keep an eye out for touchable art, not be afraid to interact when you’re supposed to, and come enjoy the silver clouds while they're still here. The rest of the time, though, hands off!       (Rachel)

The Pulitzer: First Grade Visit

George Segal's Walking Man.  How does it make you feel?  If you say, "hungry," I'll say, "heard it!"  A bunch of the first-graders who have been visiting the Pulitzer as a result of our partnership with the St. Michael School, said just that.  As they explained to me: the hollow cast of a man "looks like a giant, candy-filled pinata!" Now that you know, you'll never see it with the same eyes again.

Students from the St. Michael School, from all grades, have been visiting us for several months now, and we're having a great time.  They say things like this all the time.  Check it out at our Pulitzer-SMS blog.  You'll hear about the visits from all perspectives: teacher, parent, student...and the best part?  Lots of new  pictures! (Camran)

Contemporary: The Virtual World

I am still in sunny Jamaica! And though I made it down to Belmond again today (in part to visit Peter Tosh's mausoleum. . .they are in the process of building a new gift shop and museum), I was unable to stop by the small art studio I saw earlier in the week because it was closed.  I then came back to our guest house and signed on to the Internet to receive my emails for the day (and see what's happening at my dear museum in St. Louis).  As I was making my way down the blogs we have listed on our blog site (visit these if you haven't yet - they are on the right-hand side and highlight many art-centric blogs here in St. Louis and across the country) I stumbled upon an interesting post on Eye-Level here talking about Second Life.  Obviously, I have fallen behind the times sometime over the past six months and the first I heard of Second Life was last week when our Education Director was talking about all things technological and online. At the time, I had no idea what she was talking about - and now am in shock that my reading will never, ever be manageable considering the amount of new art, writing, and critical writing might be published considering the new outlet. However, reason seems to say that more cannot be created because those creating the online work might often be those creating in real life, so they are merely changing the venue in which they produce.  But certainly this paves the way for complexity.  Who knows? Anyway, I thought it was very interesting that a new art publication has arisen to respond to the art made in Second Life.  Slart can be found online here.  Happy online travels! (Jennifer)

The Pulitzer: Varia

Tyler Green wrote a post today about the Nelson-Atkin's new addition and the announcement that it will open on June 9th.  I recently wrote about how much I enjoy their blog, and especially the header featuring an image with both the old building and new.  I can't WAIT to see it in person.  Follow the progress on their blog here.  There was also a really great article recently in Metropolis about the new building -- check it out here.

In other news, the Pultizer has a lot of events coming up, which are now featured on our website.  Our programming and events always relate to the exhibition we currently have on view.  With the Portrait exhibition, there are tons of connections to be made.  So coming up soon we have...

--A student event and panel discussion called "People Watching at the Pulitzer" (get it?).
--A night of poetry and discussion with the writers Mary Jo Bang, Peter Campion, Geoff Dyer, & Rapahel Rubinstein
--An outdoor screening of Andy Warhol's film Chelsea Girls

...and that's just through the beginning of May.  (Rachel)

Contemporary: Art Aboard

As our staff often mentions, when we travel, we see art. It's a bit of work mixed with pleasure. I took off at the end of last week for a quick vacation to Jamaica.  This is my first visit and I'm amazed by the beauty, grateful for the ocean, and loving the food.  I was expecting all this.  What I was not expecting was to stumble onto a very non-conventional art gallery (non conventional in my experience anyway). Let me explain to you why - We're staying in Mearnsville, which is barely located on a map, and quite frankly, I'm surprised I have an Internet connection. There are no stores closer than a 30 minutes drive, besides a couple small one-room buildings that are sprinkled along the highway (which roadway resembles a very rocky paved road in which traffic flies by going more than 60 miles per hour and you jump into the bush to avoid certain injury!). Anyway, the sales offered at one particular store is limited to a few cans of oil, a couple air fresheners and perhaps a few beers if the beer truck has just made its weekly delivery.  We can buy breadfruit and nezberries at another small building down the road.  Outside of those two vendors, there is nothing for miles. So, of course, being curious and having nothing else to really do, we walked down the road a good few miles, perhaps 5 or 6 in total (we don't have a car), having no idea where we were going. We eventually walked straight into Belmond, which is quite larger by comparison to Mearnsville with more houses and 15 or so stores, ranging from pastry shops to restaurants offering jerk chicken. (Side note: Peter Tosh's mausoleum is somewhere amongst these buildings, but we didn't find it. . .) One of these three sided buildings was an arts and craft gallery. It was quite different to see a gallery that welcomed the sun and air - when back in St. Louis the phrase "light restrictions" come up in almost-daily conversation. There was not a guard or gallery attendant in sight, but I'm hoping for one to be there tomorrow so I can explore this little gallery and learn a bit about the business and the art. And now that we've been able to exchange our American dollars for a few more Jamaican (this is our constant battle), I can buy some nezberries to eat along the way there.  They are unbelievable.

Jamaica: Travel time 3.5 hours by flight (Jennifer)