• Art Organization: Rachel Craft, The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts

Urban Alchemy/Gordon Matta-Clark

Yesterday I got a sneak peek of the finished exhibition at the Pulitzer, Urban Alchemy/Gordon Matta-Clark, and I still can’t get over the fact that these are actual BUILDINGS in our galleries. Not some artistic re-creation of what this building might have looked like.  But the actual four corners of a family’s home in New Jersey, or a section of a pier from New York City.   Be sure to look closely at the many layers of flooring that went into a home in the Bronx.  And you won’t be able to miss the house from Love Canal in our Main Gallery called Bingo.

Gordon Matta-Clark, "Splitting: Four Corners", 1974 Four building fragments: wood, plaster, asphalt shingles, saturated felt building paper, tar, asbestos shingles, iron pipe, steel nails, masonite, drywall, paint The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; purchased through a gift of Phyllis Wattis, the Art Supporting Foundation to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Shirley Ross Davis fund, and the Accessions Committee Fund: gift of Mimi and Peter Haas, Niko and Steve Mayer, Christine and Michael Murray, Helen and Charles Schwab, Norah and Norman Stone, and Danielle and Brooks Walker, Jr. © Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

In case you’re unfamiliar with his work, Matta-Clark used neglected structures - primarily in New York in the 1970s - as the raw material for his art.   Using a power saw, he literally carved out sections of the buildings, none of which still survive.  A few of the sections he removed from these structures  - the “cuts” - still exist.  A number of these are on view in the exhibition, along with his photography, film and drawings.

It’s hard to describe how incredibly complementary Ando’s architecture is with Matta-Clark’s works.  The roughness of Matta-Clark’s cuts are an interesting constrast to the slick smooth lines of Ando’s concrete.  Both sliced into architecture, allowing light to penetrate the spaces in unexpected ways.  Come see what I’m talking about in person - the opening is tonight, from 5pm - 9pm.

We’re also hoping we can carry Matta-Clark’s legacy and spirit into our own community, to try and inspire social activism through creative acts.  The programming component of the exhibition will get going in January - here’s the website in the meantime with more information: http://mattaclark.pulitzerarts.org/transformation/

• Art Organization: Rachel Gagnon, The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts

Conservation In Action

I’m definitely marking my calendar for this one - Reviving Antiquity at the Saint Louis Art Museum sounds fantastic (there’s also a brief article about it here).

I think it’s great when museums open up the door to the “behind-the-scenes”.  I feel like I get a fuller understanding of the institution I’m visiting, and all that goes into making it work.  Plus, I’m always amazed at the attention to detail  that goes into the conservation and registrarial professions - plus, they usually have the best stories, especially around install time.

Here’s hoping some documentation of this exhibit will also find it’s way to the web for those who aren’t in town -  MoMA did a great job of this a few years ago with the site they put up for the conservation of Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.

• Art Organization: Rachel Gagnon, the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts

Old Masters + Natural Lighting

It looks like today will finally be sunny in St. Louis (at least, I’m crossing my fingers…), so I thought I’d highlight a video from the Pulitzer’s director, Matthias Waschek, where he talks about the lighting for our current Old Masters exhibition and why we chose to focus on natural light:

You don’t get a better example of this than in the Cube Gallery, where the gold ground paintings are exhibited.  This video on our web catalogue takes you through the whole range of lighting situations, by taking you down the hallway next to the watercourt and towards the paintings in the dark Cube Gallery.

Also be sure to check out the videos from the rest of the exhibition curators- Stephan Wolohojian from Harvard, Judy Mann from the Saint Louis Art Museum, and Francesca Herndon Consagra from the Pulitzer.  If they leave you wanting more, you can also submit a question to each curator (my favorite part!).  Their answer will be posted on their video page.

“Hello”

Welcome to a new blog initiative, started by a group of non-profit visual arts institutions in St. Louis, Missouri. We hope this becomes your favorite site for information and critical discussion about the arts in our city. You should bookmark it now.

This is just the beginning, and we’d love to hear suggestions from you. Is there something you want to hear about? Someone you want to hear from? Want to be a guest blogger and write posts yourself? Leave your ideas in the comments!