"Theatre of Memory : Photographic Works"
Michelle Stuart
presented by the gallery :
TONKONOW LESLIE |
 |
T. 212 255 8450 F. 212 414 8744 e-mail:
Bronx Museum
1040 Grand Concourse Bronx, New York 10456
T: 718-681-6000
February 3 > June 26, 2016
 from My Still Life, (2015), archival inkjet photographs, 39 units, 12 x 18 inches each. On view at the Bronx Museum. |
 My Still Life, 2015 Archival inkjet photographs 39 units: 12 x 18 inches Courtesy of the artist Photo credit: Christopher Alzapiedi |
 Earth Memory: Seekers, 2011 Archival inkjet and analog photographs 60 units: 51.75” x 106.75” Courtesy of the artist |
The Bronx Museum of the Arts will present an exhibition of photographic works by Michelle Stuart, on view February 3 through June 26. Widely recognized as one of the very few female pioneers of Land Art, Stuart is known for her nature-based art dating to the late 1960s and 1970s. Comparatively lesser-known are her remarkable photographic works, which constitute a crucial part of her oeuvre and have been her primary focus over the past several years.
Organized by guest curator Gregory Volk, Michelle Stuart, Theatre of Memory: Photographic Works consists of twelve recent large-scale works—including a major wall piece created specifically for this exhibition—as well as two important pieces from the early 1980s that can be seen as precursors to Stuart’s later direction. This exhibition is the first museum treatment of Stuart’s photography-based works.
“Michelle Stuart is an innovator, and her turn to photography in the last few years, once again, shows that she is always exploring new ways to create unique perspectives on the world,” said Holly Block, Executive Director of The Bronx Museum of the Arts. “We are excited to present her recent and new work at The Bronx Museum.”
The exhibition will also debut My Still Life (2015-16), a major, large-scale work created for this show—“an autobiographical opus of sorts,” as Volk describes it. Photographs of a series of what might be called ‘sculptural vignettes’ bring together objects and images—including archival and vintage personal photographs, actual things (e.g., a whale bone, a ceramic frog, a pomegranate), maps, celestial landscapes, and fragments of writing on paper, among others—many of which Stuart collected and have been with her for years.
Also included in the exhibition are two works from Stuart’s early 1980s Codex series, with squares of earth-rubbed paper (the earth is from specific sites that Stuart visited, including a New Jersey quarry and the ancient Maya city of Uxmal in Mexico) surrounded by photographs of the same site. Stuart’s Codex pieces, with their incorporation of photos, herald her recent photography-based work.
Michelle Stuart, Theatre of Memory: Photographic Works is generously supported by Anonymous (3) and Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects.
About Michelle Stuart
Since the 1970s, Michelle Stuart has been internationally recognized for innovative works that synthesize Land Art, drawing, sculpture, and photography. Recent traveling exhibitions include: Michelle Stuart: Drawn From Nature at the Djanogly Art Gallery, Nottingham, U.K.; the Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, New York; and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California, 2013–2014; Apparitions: Frottages and Rubbings from 1860 to Now, the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles and the Menil Collection, Houston, 2015–2016. Most recently, Stuart was included in Revolution in the Making: Abstract Sculpture by Women, 1947–2016, Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, Los Angeles, 2016. One of Stuart’s earth-rubbed scrolls was featured in America Is Hard to See, the inaugural exhibition of the new Whitney Museum.
Organized by guest curator Gregory Volk, Michelle Stuart, Theatre of Memory: Photographic Works consists of twelve recent large-scale works—including a major wall piece created specifically for this exhibition—as well as two important pieces from the early 1980s that can be seen as precursors to Stuart’s later direction. This exhibition is the first museum treatment of Stuart’s photography-based works.
“Michelle Stuart is an innovator, and her turn to photography in the last few years, once again, shows that she is always exploring new ways to create unique perspectives on the world,” said Holly Block, Executive Director of The Bronx Museum of the Arts. “We are excited to present her recent and new work at The Bronx Museum.”
The exhibition will also debut My Still Life (2015-16), a major, large-scale work created for this show—“an autobiographical opus of sorts,” as Volk describes it. Photographs of a series of what might be called ‘sculptural vignettes’ bring together objects and images—including archival and vintage personal photographs, actual things (e.g., a whale bone, a ceramic frog, a pomegranate), maps, celestial landscapes, and fragments of writing on paper, among others—many of which Stuart collected and have been with her for years.
Also included in the exhibition are two works from Stuart’s early 1980s Codex series, with squares of earth-rubbed paper (the earth is from specific sites that Stuart visited, including a New Jersey quarry and the ancient Maya city of Uxmal in Mexico) surrounded by photographs of the same site. Stuart’s Codex pieces, with their incorporation of photos, herald her recent photography-based work.
Michelle Stuart, Theatre of Memory: Photographic Works is generously supported by Anonymous (3) and Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects.
About Michelle Stuart
Since the 1970s, Michelle Stuart has been internationally recognized for innovative works that synthesize Land Art, drawing, sculpture, and photography. Recent traveling exhibitions include: Michelle Stuart: Drawn From Nature at the Djanogly Art Gallery, Nottingham, U.K.; the Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, New York; and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California, 2013–2014; Apparitions: Frottages and Rubbings from 1860 to Now, the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles and the Menil Collection, Houston, 2015–2016. Most recently, Stuart was included in Revolution in the Making: Abstract Sculpture by Women, 1947–2016, Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, Los Angeles, 2016. One of Stuart’s earth-rubbed scrolls was featured in America Is Hard to See, the inaugural exhibition of the new Whitney Museum.
