Albright-Knox Art Gallery

DECADE Theme Preview: Social Space/Private Ritual
Work 5: Gillian Wearing’s “Album” Series 

Artists sometimes use masks to address the interplay between public and private realms. In her series “Album,” Gillian Wearing literally dons masks of her teenage self and her family members—including her mother, father, sister, brother, and uncle—to recreate family portraits, thereby turning private photos into public works. While family members share genetic commonalities, they are ultimately individuals, as illustrated by Wearing, whose own eyes can be seen peering out from underneath each mask.

DECADE: Contemporary Collecting 2002–2012 is on view through Sunday, January 6, 2013. Catch it now before it’s gone!

IMAGE: Gillian Wearing (British, born 1963). Self Portrait at 17 years old from the series “Album,” 2003. Digital color print, edition 4/6, 45 1/2 x 36 1/4 inches (115.6 x 92.1 cm), framed. Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Charles Clifton Fund, 2004. Courtesy Regen Projects, Los Angeles and Maureen Paley, London. © Gillian Wearing.

DECADE Theme Preview: Social Space/Private Ritual
Work 4: Lisa Yuskavage’s “Bad Habits” Suite

Lisa Yuskavage seeks to alter public notions of women in the works in her “Bad Habits” suite, featured in DECADE: Contemporary Collecting 2002–2012. Referencing classic portraiture styles, Yuskavage creates exaggerated depictions of women in intimate, highly sexualized moments and propels these acts into the public realm. As a result, the viewer is forced to rethink the truth about women, their behavior, and how they have been presented to the public throughout art history.

IMAGE: Lisa Yuskavage (American, born 1962). Socialclimber from the suite “Bad Habits,” 1998. Spit bite and dry point on paper, printer’s proof 1, 15 x 11 inches (38.1 x 27.9 cm). Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Castellani Family Fund, 2004.

DECADE Theme Preview: Social Space/Private Ritual
Work 3: Rineke Dijkstra’s Coney Island, N.Y., USA, June 20, 1993, 1993; printed 1998

Artists often use portraiture to explore notions of public and private identities, as can be seen in Rineke Dijkstra’s Coney Island, N.Y., USA, June 20, 1993, featured in DECADE: Contemporary Collecting 2002–2012. Photographing boys and girls from various countries against the background of the ocean, Dijkstra presents the awkward moments of adolescence before one’s public identity is fully formed.

Image courtesy the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York.

DECADE Theme Preview: Social Space/Private Ritual
Work 2: Kara Walker’s Emancipation Approximation, 2000

Notions of race and the history of slavery are explored in the twenty-seven screen prints that compose Kara Walker’s Emancipation Approximation, featured in DECADE: Contemporary Collecting 2002–2012. Referencing the earliest form of portraiture, Walker used silhouettes to create this series of works, which brings the private horrors of slavery into the public realm.

Image © 2000 Kara Walker

DECADE Theme Preview: Social Space/Private Ritual
Work 1: Janine Antoni’s Umbilical, 2000

The DECADE exhibition theme Social Space/Private Ritual explores the balance between public and private realms and how some contemporary artists depict private, intimate rituals—relating to identity, domesticity, and sexuality—in the public sphere. These types of works offer artistic proof that what happens in private is no more or less truthful than what happens in public.

Janine Antoni often projects private, feminine moments in the public sphere through her conceptual, sculptural, and performative works. In Umbilical, a silver cast of the inside of the artist’s mouth surrounds a spoon that is held in the silver cast of her mother’s palm. This sculptural work explores both the intimate relationship between mother and child and larger, more public notions of domesticity and the societal roles of women.

Image © 2000 Janine Antoni

Happy Hanukkah!

Sending warm, bright wishes to everyone who begins celebrating Hanukkah tonight.

IMAGE: Howard Jones (American, 1922–1991). Bronze Star, 1967. Spun bronze with programmed lights, 36 x 36 x 2 inches (91.4 x 91.4 x 5.1 cm). Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Gift of Seymour H. Knox, Jr., 1968. 

Looking Ahead: 2013

As we near the end of the Albright-Knox’s 150th anniversary year, we are focusing on the future. We have a lot of exciting things planned for 2013, starting with four exhibitions opening in January and February.

Looking Out and Looking In: A Selection of Contemporary Photography, opening January 19, presents a selection of the Gallery’s photography acquisitions from the last three decades. Agnes Martin: The New York–Taos Connection (1947–1957), opening January 26, features rarely seen paintings and drawings created by Agnes Martin in Taos, New Mexico, from 1947, the year of her first exhibition, to 1957, the year she returned to New York. Dennis Maher: House of Collective Repair, also opening January 26, is the culminating exhibition of the 2012–2013 Artist-in-Residence project. Kelly Richardson: Legion, opening February 16, takes an extensive look at Richardson’s stunning audio-visual installations from the past fifteen years.

We are, of course, continuing our popular M&T FIRST FRIDAYS @ THE GALLERY series, presented by M&T Bank, with free admission, art classes, and special events on the first Friday of each month. We are also continuing several programs that were launched or re-launched last year. AK Contemporary has its second installment on Friday, January 4, with a closer look at the art and politics of the outspoken Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. The Art’scool “Inspired” contest, sponsored by Art’scool and BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York, returns for its second year. Our corporate partnership program After Hours @ AK returns for its second year with explorations of contemporary photography, outdoor sculpture, and the works of Robert Therrien and Ken Price. And we’ll continue to offer specialized tours and artmaking workshops through Access AK, a newly formed group of programs and services that respond to a wide variety of special needs.

Our outdoor campus will also continue its transformation, with a new sculpture by Jason Middlebrook joining Jaume Plensa’s Laura—which was just completed last month—and our other outdoor favorites.

We hope to see you soon and often before the New Year, and all throughout 2013. Here’s to our next 150 years!

IMAGE: Kelly Richardson (Canadian, born 1972). Installation view of The Erudition, 2010. Three-screen, high-definition video installation with audio. Running time: 20 minutes. Supported by SAAG. Image courtesy the artist and Birch Libralato. Photograph by Colin Davison.

Universals Albright-Knox 150

Last night, Eric and Heather ChanSchatz celebrated the debut of their work Universals Albright-Knox 150 with the project’s participants. All 150 participants were invited to talk with the artists and enjoy a sneak peak of the work.

Tonight at 7 pm, as part of M&T FIRST FRIDAYS @ THE GALLERY, the artists will be back to discuss the project, including its subject and their process. Tonight’s event is free and open to everyone. Hope to see you there!

IMAGE: Eric and Heather ChanSchatz (American, born 1968). Universals Albright-Knox 150 (UN.0201–UN.0350), 2012. One hundred fifty paintings: Hydrocarbon resin on board and acrylic dome with Cel-Vinyl, polyurethane gasket, and screw covers, 101 x 959 x 6 inches (260 x 2440 x 15 cm) overall. Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Pending Acquisition Funds, 2012. © 2012 Eric and Heather ChanSchatz.

Cornelia Bentley Sage Quinton

The Buffalo Fine Arts Academy may have been founded by a group of men, but strong women have been involved in the Academy’s leadership for more than 100 years.

Cornelia Bentley Sage Quinton (above, seated) was unanimously appointed director of the Albright Art Gallery in 1910, becoming the first woman to lead a major American art museum. During her tenure, she helped organize groundbreaking exhibitions, including the 1910 International Exhibition of Pictorial Photography, with Alfred Stieglitz, and the 1916 Exhibition of Contemporary American Sculpture, whose 700 works extended beyond the Gallery’s campus onto the grounds of Delaware Park. Quinton led the Gallery until 1924, when she became the first director of the California Palace of the Legion of Honor.