Image 4 / 7:
Trevor Paglen.
Four Geostationary Satellites Above the Sierra Nevada.
Image 5 / 7:
John Baldessari.
Legs, Straw, Diver.
Image 6 / 7:
Harold Eugene Edgerton.
Bullet Through the Apple.
Image 7 / 7:
Erik Levine.
Untitled (installation view).
Vortexhibition Polyphonica presents a new and dynamic approach to exhibiting museum collections and kicks off the Henry’s year-long initiative to explore and display the collection in its breadth and depth. Instead of a fixed presentation of works relating to history, style, or subject matter, this exhibition will experiment with a fluid structure. The show will be designed to highlight a fascinating array of interconnections across the spectrum of the Henry’s holdings. Though the Henry is recognized as the region’s preeminent contemporary art museum, its holdings include 19th-century paintings, contemporary art and photography, textiles and costumes, ceramics, and many other art objects that are little known. Vortexhibition Polyphonica will delight and stimulate our audience with the wealth of unexpected associations that can be made in this wonderful, idiosyncratic resource.
Working with this innovative concept, Henry curators will select distinctive objects to act as conceptual “hubs.” These anchoring works will establish topics around which a constellation of other objects will orbit. Over the course of the extended exhibition run, the curatorial team will work with a call-and-response tactic to create new hubs with new supporting pieces. These groups will be integrated into the exhibition gradually: as some objects exit others will enter to reconfigure and re-contextualize the exhibition. The results promise to be visually vibrant and conceptually invigorating.
The initial selections will be made by Henry Associate Curator Sara Krajewski and will include a comprehensive range of works from the contemporary — EV Day’s Cherry Bomb Vortex and Takashi Murakami’s Mr Dob Ussisshi — to design objects and funk ceramics like Clayton Bailey’s Sasquatch skeleton. Other works will include paintings, posters, and prints as well as costumes, shoes, and textiles, all revolving around provocative topics. In early 2010, the exhibition will be reshuffled by Henry Chief Curator Elizabeth Brown.
This exhibition is organized for the Henry by Associate Curator Sara Krajewski and Chief Curator Elizabeth Brown with support from Artsfund, The Boeing Company, the Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, and the Washington Art Consortium.
Featured artists: Guy Irving Anderson, Dieter Appelt, Clayton George Bailey, John Baldessari, Gilles Barbier, Herbert Bayer, Vanessa Beecroft, Joseph Beuys, Nancy Burson, John Cage, Harry Callahan, Robert H. Colescott, Clair Colquitt, Imogen Cunningham, Sean Dack, EV Day, Marcel Dzama, Todd Eberle, Eugene Harold Edgerton, Janieta Eyre, Tony Feher, Robert Samuel Fried, Nan Goldin, Morris Graves, Ann Hamilton, Matthew Higgs, Gary Hill, Stefan Hirsig, William Hogarth, Christian Holstad, Jenny Holzer, Helmi Dagmar Juvonen, Gyorgy Kepes, André Kertész, Paul Kos, Howard William Kottler, Alix Lambert, Annette Lemiuex, Erik Levine, Axel Lieber, Robert Longo, Dan McCarthy, Dave Muller, Takashi Murakami, Trevor Paglen, Florence Pierce, Arnulf Rainer, Robert Rauschenberg, Gerhard Richter, Allen Ruppersberg, Lucas Samaras, Rudolf Schwarzkogler, Richard Serra, Cindy Sherman, Jeffrey Simmons, Sandy Skoglund, Jaune Quick to See Smith, Jay Steensma, Barbara Takenaga, Mark Tobey, James Turrell, Edward Weston, Clarence H. White, David Wojnarowicz
Image 1:
E.V. Day.
Cherry Bomb Vortex (installation view).
2002.
Red sequin dress with monofilament and turnbuckles and stainless steel base.
Henry Art Gallery, gift of William and Ruth True, 2007.66. Photo: Richard Nicol.
Image 2:
Gary Hill.
Wall Piece.
2000.
Single-channel, video/sound installation with strobe light.
Henry Art Gallery, gift of William and Ruth True, 2007.67. Installation view at Oi Futuro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2009. Photo: Daniel Venosa.
Image 3:
Jeffrey Simmons.
Pontian.
1997.
Oil and alkyd on canvas.
Henry Art Gallery, gift of Kim Richter, 2007.14.
Image 4:
Trevor Paglen.
Four Geostationary Satellites Above the Sierra Nevada.
2007.
Chromogenic color print.
Henry Art Gallery, Henry Contemporaries Acquisition Fund purchase, 2009.2.
Image 5:
John Baldessari.
Legs, Straw, Diver.
1986.
Photogravure and aquatint on BFK Rives paper.
Henry Art Gallery, gift from the Collection of Steven Johnson and Walter Sudol, 97.316.5. Courtesy of John Baldessari.
Image 7:
Erik Levine.
Untitled (installation view).
1990.
Unique plywood sculpture.
Henry Art Gallery, gift of Ruth and Jacob Bloom, California, 2006.26. Photo: Richard Nicol.
The Gift Shop
Happy 100th Birthday, Milton Rogovin!
Isabelle Pauwels Incredibly, unbelievably/The complete ordered field.
Vortexhibition Polyphonica
Light Reign, James Turrell Skyspace