Curated by Hanna Regev, The Seduction of Duchamp: Bay Area Artists’ Response, investigates the influence and legacy of Marcel Duchamp on San Francisco Bay Area artists. The exhibition is held at the SlaughterhouseSpace in Healdsburg, CA, from October 3 to November 7, 2009.  ArtZone 461 Gallery is the exclusive sales agent for the exhibit.

THE EXHIBITION

Thirty-five artists delve into many of Duchamp’s interests, preoccupations, styles and media representing a wide variety of artistic practices and media themes. Their experiments in the field of optical illusions, cinema, moving constructions and ready-mades link Duchamp to new artistic forms such as op-art, kinetic art and installation. The Seduction of Duchamp unveils, by and large, newly created works for this occasion.

Today, approximately 50 years since Duchamp came to San Francisco, artists continue to reference Duchamp’s ideas and work. Duchamp was introduced to the bay area through Frederick C. Torrey, the art and antique dealer, who bought the ground breaking painting, Nude Descending a Staircase, after its rejection at the Armory Show in 1913.  The Seduction of Duchamp draws its inspiration from the historic West Coast Roundtable on Modern Art discussion held at the old San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 1949, which featured Duchamp as the main speaker joined by prominent invited guests.

According to Hanna Regev, the exhibition examines Duchamp's long lasting fascination and influence on today’s Bay Area artists who continue to grapple with critical questions he raised about the conditions under which art is created and marketed setting a trend that has not abated.  Duchamp’s influence on Bay Area artists is seen through merged and new imagery in a diversity of artworks that evokes Duchamp’s masterpieces and provocative works.

List of artists include: 

Diane Althoff, Jerry Ross Barrish, Ray Beldner, Richard Berger, Milton Bowens, David Broom, Luis Delgado, John DeMerritt, Laura Britt Greig, Ken Goldberg, Rebecca Goldfarb, German Herrera, Gregangelo Herrera, Charles Hobson, Mary Daniel Hobson, Reuven Itelman, Zehava Itelman Theodora Varnay Jones, David King, Naomie Kremer, Pat Lenz, Jose Ramon Lerma, Charles Linder, Bernie Lubell, Malcolm Lubliner, Charlie Milgrim, Jann Nunn,  Zoe Ogrydziak,  Nora Pauwels, Luke Prillinger, Tessie Barrera-Scharaga, Charles Shere, Sandra Ortiz Taylor , Luther Thie, and Jan Wurm

THE SLAUGHTERHOUSESPACE

SlaughterhouseSpace is open by appointment
(please call 707.431.1514) and is located at:

280 Chiquita Road

Healdsburg, CA 95448

Approximately nine years ago, Pat & Peter Lenz opened Duchamp Winery, the home of SlaughterhouseSpace, as well as Duchamp Hotel, both in Healdsburg, California. At the same time, Pat Lenz, a sculptor, was building a 10ft high head of Marcel Duchamp that contains a small room dedicated to his final enigmatic work, known as Étant donnés.  The SlaughterhouseSpace at Duchamp Winery, once the home of one of Northern California’s largest abattoirs has been reborn as a space for site-specific installations, performance, and exhibitions.