THE SEDUCTION OF DUCHAMP
BAY AREA ARTISTS’ RESPONSE
THE SEDUCTION OF DUCHAMP
BAY AREA ARTISTS’ RESPONSE
ART MUSEUM OF LOS GATOS, Los Gatos, CA
September 11 - October 22, 2010
The Museums of Los Gatos in collaboration with ArtZone 461 Gallery present our groundbreaking exhibition, The Seduction of Duchamp: Bay Area Artists' Response. Discover the ingenuity and innovation of the Dada movement as 35 Bay Area artists interpret the work of Marcel Duchamp.
The exhibition is further enhanced by two original works by Marcel Duchamp on loan to the Museums of Los Gatos by the Anderson Collection in Menlo Park, California.
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
In 2009, over thirty Bay Area artists were invited to present new works by independent curator Hanna Regev. The exhibition represents their response to the influence and importance of Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968), considered the most important artistic figure of the 20th Century.
First presented at the SlaughterhouseSpace in Healdsburg, The Seduction of Duchamp was reprised in 2010 at ArtZone 461 in San Francisco, co-curated by Hanna Regev and Steven Lopez of ArtZone 461. The Museums of Los Gatos is the latest venue for the continuing discussion of The Seduction of Duchamp.
The exhibition continues to engage artists in the dialog with both the original artwork created for SlaughterhouseSpace & ArtZone 461 Gallery and newly developed work by Michael Bartalos, Sandra Ortiz Taylor Theodora Varnay Jones and Scott Kildall on the themes introduced by Marcel Duchamp.
EXHIBITION’S REMARKS by Hanna Regev
I am interested in ideas - not merely the visual products.
I want to put painting once again to the service of the
mind. Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968)
Marcel Duchamp has emerged as one of the most important voices in visual art of the last century and his influence on American art is undisputed. His ideas about what art can be and how art functions continue to revolutionize contemporary art practices; his influence has reached a variety of disciplines, including makers and thinkers alike. For this Exhibition, a talented group of Bay Area artists accepted an invitation to open an artistic dialogue about Duchamp's legacy and his numerous contributions to Post World War II art in California. The result of this invitational is witnessed through the variety of individual artworks contributed to this exhibition.
The Seduction of Duchamp: Bay Area Artists' Response 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. Duchamp was the main speaker along with nine cultural icons. Among them, Alfred Frankenstein, music and art editor of San Francisco Chronicle, Mark Tobey, painter, Draius Mlhaud, composer and Frank Lloyd Wright, architect. Six decades after this historic gathering, artists continue to delve into Duchamp's ideas and are inspired by his work.
The questions Duchamp asked are still relevant: "What makes something art? How can a found object be called a work of art? Is it something inherent to the object? Is it when an artist declares it as art? Is art defined by an object's placement in a collection or institution, like a gallery or museum?" Or, timeless power of his provocation by stating “Unless a picture shocks, it is nothing."
Artists invited to participate in The Seduction of Duchamp, though small in number, demonstrate a wide range of Duchamp's interests, ideas and attitudes. These Bay Area artists highlight and amplify Duchamp's break with painting by introducing mass-produced "readymade" objects as artworks. They also explore his in-depth interest in the advances of science and technology; his life-long experiments with chance; his total immersion and devotion to chess, his eroticism and his championing irreverence in art.
Several artists turned the notion of the readymade inside-out, handcrafting objects that are usually mass-produced. Some expounded on Duchamp's play with sexuality and gender, while still others produced exact copies of his provocative works, his concept of appropriation, a mimicry that the Duchamp considered complimentary.
The results of this invitation are twofold. It is both a rich visual experience as well as a contemporary record providing a deeper understanding of the issues and ideas espoused by Duchamp and his influence on Bay Area artists.
In a world that had come to rely too much on reason, Duchamp emphasized the intuitive side of our brain in all of his artistic explorations. In his own words:
“The creative act is not performed by the artists alone;
the spectator brings the work in contact with the eternal
world by deciphering and interpreting its inner
qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the
creative act.”
It is particularly appropriate to recognize the hard work of those who have made this exhibition possible. I offer my gratitude to Pat Lenz and Peter Lenz from the SlaughterhouseSpace and the Duchamp Winery in Healdsburg, California for making available the first venue for the exhibition in 2009. To Steven Lopez, Eric Koehler and Antonio Cortez from ArtZone 461 Gallery, San Francisco, I am forever grateful for providing the highest standards of organizational support toward the 2010 successful run of The Seduction of Duchamp in early 2010. ArtZone's passion and unwavering commitment to this exhibition has made it possible for The Seduction of Duchamp to become a traveling Museum exhibition. To Catherine Politopoulos and The Museums of Los Gatos, I extend many thanks for their vision and desire to bring Duchamp's legacy to the South Bay. And finally, to Harry W. and Mary Margaret Anderson, we send much gratitude for making this catalogue possible.
In closing, on behalf of these partners, and all the individuals who will enjoy the exhibition and its catalogue, we salute the talented Bay Area artists in this exhibition for moving us closer to understanding the brilliance and enigma, of Marcel Duchamp.
THE MUSEUM OF LOS GATOS
4 Tait Avenue, Los Gatos, CA
Hours: 12 Noon to 4 PM, Wed. - Sun.
The Museums of Los Gatos is a 501(c) 3 non-profit educational institution that promotes and encourages a greater understanding of our rich local history and the fine arts through its exhibitions, collections, lectures and programs for the benefit of both residents and visitors to Los Gatos. The Museums of Los Gatos is supported by memberships, sponsorships, donations, the Town of Los Gatos, Arts Council of Silicon Valley and the Valley Foundation. The Museums of Los Gatos is an associate of the California Exhibition Resource Alliance. For more information call (408) 395-7386 or visit:
TEL: 415.441.8680
Contents Copyright © 2003-2010
LIST OF ARTISTS
Diane Rosenblum
Tessie Barrera-Scharaga
Ray Beldner
Richard Berger
Milton Bowens
Gary Brewer
David Broom
Adam Cahoon
Susan Danis
Luis Delgado
John DeMerritt
Laura Greig
Ken Goldberg
Rebecca Goldfarb
Charles Hobson
Mary Daniel Hobson
Reuven Itelman
Zehava Itelman
David King
Naomie Kremer
Pat Lenz
José Ramón Lerma
Bernie Lubell
Malcolm Lubliner
Charlie Milgrim
Jann Nunn
Luke Ogrydziak
Zoë Prillinger
Nora Pauwels
Charles Shere
Brian Tepper
Terry Thompson
& Jan Wurm
with new works by:
Michael Bartalos
Theodora Varnay Jones
Sandra Ortiz Taylor
& Scott Kildall
& original works by:
Marcel Duchamp
Curated by: Steven Lopez & Catherine Politopolous
ArtZone’s Steven Lopez with Hanna Regev,
Marcel Duchamp, Museum Director Meg Nelson,
and Curator Catherine Politopolous
Fundraising Festivities at the Hotel Los Gatos
Opening Day at the Art Museum of Los Gatos
Original Duchamp Drawings (Anderson Collection)
Shere’s Duchmap Opera maquette &
letters from Duchamp
New works by Ortiz Taylor & Scott Kildall
Attendees to the Museum
Rebecca Goldfarb’s artwork installation
New works by Michael Bartalos and Theodora Jones
Poster and Catalogue Cover Art