Painting the Glass House: Artists Revisit Modern Architecture
March 9–July 27, 2008
Exhibition Reception: March 9, 2008; 3 to 5 pm
Sleek modern houses that float on icebergs, nestle into idealized painted landscapes, or become the backdrop for surreal emotional dramas are some of the images to be seen in a sixteen-artist group exhibition that invites viewers to reconsider modern architecture and what it has come to represent for a new generation.
Painting the Glass House: Artists Revisit Modern Architecture–curated by Jessica Hough and Mónica Ramírez-Montagut—will be presented by The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum with the Yale School of Architecture Gallery. It will open at Yale on February 11, 2008, and at The Aldrich on March 9, 2008.
Modern architecture is generally identified with buildings by Le Corbusier, Philip Johnson, Mies van der Rohe, and Frank Lloyd Wright, which represent a period driven by developments in technology, engineering, and the introduction of industrial materials such as iron, steel, concrete, and glass. Architects at this time engaged in a practice that not only incorporated structural innovations, but also encouraged social change.
additional images | click to enlarge
Lucy Williams, Alton Estate West, 2006 Enoc Perez, Havana Riviera, 2004 Angela Dufresne, The Double Decker Random Play Residence T3000 Barklay by Roland Mutantes somewhere in would be Bavaria June 2006, 2006 Christine Erhard, Die Gartenterrasse (Garden Terrace), 2004 Cyprien Gaillard, Belief in the Age of Disbelief, Les deux chemins au ruisseau/étape VIII, 2005 David Claerbout, Bordeaux Piece, 2004 Gordon Cheung, Above the Mist, 2004 Angelina Gualdoni, Letter from the Generations, 2006 Dorit Margreiter, 10104 Angelo View Drive, 2004
Private Collection
Courtesy McKee Gallery, New York
Collection of Moises and Diana Berezdivin, Puerto Rico
Courtesy Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York
Collection of Mariela and Roger Tovar
Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Adler, Frankfurt / New York ©Christine Erhard, VG-Bild Kunst, Bonn
Courtesy Galerie Cosmic, Paris
Courtesy of the artist and Yvon Lambert, Paris/New York
Collection of Martin Hale, Jr.
Courtesy of Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago Collection of Doreen and Gilbert Bassin, New York
Collection of Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien
This exhibition has been made possible, in part, thanks to the support of the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism.
The artists featured in the exhibition are interested not only in the potential of utopian ideas, but also the sense of a passing idealism that modern architecture now embodies. Hough comments, “The artists are less interested in the built structures themselves and what it might feel like to be inside one, and more interested in the philosophy and idealism they represent. The way in which the buildings signal a possibility of utopia is essential—a future that could have been. Sentimentality runs through much of the work.”
Ramírez-Montagut adds, “This melancholic remembrance comes at a time when great works of modern architecture are at risk due to neglect, deterioration, and demolition. Underlying all the artworks is a feeling of deep admiration for the architects who sought to elevate culture and bring it to the broad masses, yet their sense of failure is also prevalent; the artists’ knowledge of modern architecture’s crisis and demise tints their works with some kind of nostalgia.”
Painting the Glass House: Artists Revisit Modern Architecture brings together two-dimensional works of various media (including video) that explore an interest among emerging artists in architecture of the modern period. The exhibition includes work by Alexander Apóstol, Daniel Arsham, Gordon Cheung, David Claerbout, Angela Dufresne, Mark Dziewulski, Christine Erhard, Cyprien Gaillard, Terence Gower, Angelina Gualdoni, Natasha Kissell, Luisa Lambri, Dorit Margreiter, Russell Nachman, Enoc Perez, and Lucy Williams.
Both The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum and the Yale School of Architecture Gallery will present a portion of the exhibition in their galleries. In order to fully appreciate the project, viewers will be encouraged to visit both venues.
The Aldrich will host an Exhibition Reception on Sunday, March 9, 2008, from 3 to 5 pm. Prior to the opening there will be a 2 pm Panel Discussion: Painting the Glass House: Artists Revisit Modern Architecture, with curators Jessica Hough and Mónica Ramírez-Montagut, along with artists Daniel Arsham, Angela Dufresne, and Terence Gower. The reception is FREE for members. Refreshments will be served. Round-trip transportation from New York City is available; please call the Museum at 203.438.4519 for reservations. Please note that the bus will not arrive in time for the panel discussion. The reception and panel will take place at the Museum located at 258 Main Street, Ridgefield.
Yale will debut their component of the exhibition on Monday, February 11, 2008, with a 6:30 pm Panel Discussion: Painting toward Architecture, Architecture toward Painting. This will feature moderator Joan Ockman along with Peter Halley, Robert Storr, and Anthony Vidler. The discussion will be held at McNeil Lecture Hall at the Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel Street, New Haven (entrance on High Street). This will be followed by the opening reception, at the Architecture Gallery, 32 Edgewood Avenue, New Haven. Both the panel and reception are FREE. The installation at Yale is designed by Dean Sakamoto, director of exhibitions.
Additionally, a book related to the exhibition is being co-published by The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Mills College Art Museum, and Yale University Press, and is scheduled for a fall 2008 release.
Painting the Glass House: Artists Revisit Modern Architecture is curated by Jessica Hough and Mónica Ramírez-Montagut. The exhibition has been organized by The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum with the Yale School of Architecture Gallery. Both The Aldrich and Yale will present a portion of the exhibition in their galleries. The exhibition will travel to Mills College Art Museum in California following its Connecticut debut. Exhibition dates: Yale School of Architecture Gallery (New Haven, CT): February 11 to May 9, 2008; The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum (Ridgefield, CT): March 9 to July 27, 2008; Mills College Art Museum (Oakland, CA): January 14 to March 22, 2009.
ABOUT THE CURATORS:
Jessica Hough is director of the Mills College Art Museum where she recently curated Don’t Let the Boys Win: Kinke Kooi, Carrie Moyer, and Lara Schnitger.Hough was previously curatorial director at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, where she organized exhibitions including Glee: Painting Now; Into My World: Recent British Sculpture; Karkhana: A Contemporary Collaboration; and Alyson Shotz: Light, Sound, Space. She earned her Master’s from the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College.
Mónica Ramírez-Montagut is assistant curator of Architecture and Design at the Guggenheim. She most recently co-curated Zaha Hadid (2006), which received the second place award for Best Architecture or Design Show from Restoring a Masterpiece: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum (2007); and is currently part of the working on the retrospective of Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang slated to open in February 2008. Her curatorial interests focus on the blurring of boundaries between art, architecture, and design; young emerging Latino artists; and installations. She is an architect, with a Master’s degree in Art and Architecture and Ph.D. in Theory and History of Architecture.
ABOUT THE INSTITUTIONS:
The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum is one of the few non-collecting contemporary art museums in the United States. Founded on Ridgefield’s historic Main Street in 1964, the Museum enjoys the curatorial independence of an alternative space while maintaining the registrarial and art-handling standards of a national institution. Exhibitions feature work by emerging and mid-career artists, and education programs help adults and children to connect to today’s world through contemporary art. The Museum is located at 258 Main Street, Ridgefield, CT 06877. For more information visit www.aldrichart.org or call 203.438.4519.
Yale School of Architecture Gallery is a significant component of the School’s active public programs and which includes the Yale University Art Gallery, Yale Center for British Art, and Yale Repertory Theater. renovation of the Art & Architecture Building, the School of Architecture Gallery is temporarily housed School of Art Sculpture Gallery, 32 Edgewood Avenue, New Haven, CT. The Architecture Gallery is renowned of important exhibitions on contemporary and historical architectural topics of international scope.
Image: Angelina Gualdoni, Letter from the Generations, 2006
