THE INDEPENDENT VOICE OF THE VISUAL ARTS Volume 31 No. 6 July/August 2017 $6.00 US/ $7.75 Canada/ £4 UK/ C=6.50 Europe THREE TOP SUMMER ART READS Established 1973 The Dream Colony: A Life in Art by Deborah Treisman& Anne Doran Identity Unknown: Theaster Gates Rediscovering Seven Phaidon Press American Women Artists Monograph, 2015 by Donna Seaman What’s This Social Practice Art Thing? An Interview with Artist Paul Druecke Page 11 The Changing World of Alternative Art Spaces in Chicago Page 15 Reviews of Jim Dine, Robert Frank and Arlene Shechet NEW ART EXAMINER STATEMENT OF PURPOSE New Art Examiner The New Art Examiner is a publication The New Art Examiner is published by Art Message whose purpose is to examine the definition International. The name “New Art Examiner” and the logo are trademarks of Art Message Interna- and transmission of culture in our society; tional. Copyright 2017 by Art Message Internation- the decision-making processes within al; all rights reserved. Authors retain the copyright museums and schools and the agencies of to their essays. patronage which determine the manner in Editor in Chief—Michel Ségard which culture shall be transmitted; the value Senior Editor—Tom Mullaney systems which presently influence the Social Media Editor—Thomas Feldhacker making of art as well as its study in Copy Editor—Anne Ségard exhibitions and books; and, in particular, Design and Layout—Michel Ségard the interaction of these factors with the visual art milieu. Contributing Editors: Jorge Benitez Bruce Thorn EDITORIAL POLICY Web Site: www.newartexaminer.org As the New Art Examiner has consistently raised the issues of conflict of interest and cen- Cover Image: sorship, we think it appropriate that we make Michel Ségard clear to our readers the editorial policy we have evolved since our inception: The New Art Examiner is indexed in : Art Bibliographies Modern, Art Full Text & 1. No writer may review an exhibition origi- Art Index Retrospective and Zetoc nated or curated by a fellow faculty member or another employee, or any past or present stu- Office: dent, from the institution in which they are 5542 N. Paulina St., Chicago, IL 60640. USA. currently employed. The New Art Examiner Inquiries: welcomes enthusiastic and sincere representa- [email protected] tion, so the editor can assign such an exhibi- All Letters to the editor are printed. Send to: tion to other writers without the burden of con- [email protected] flict of interest. 2. There shall be no editorial favor in re- sponse to the puchase of advertisements. WANTED: WRITERS 3. The New Art Examiner welcomes all let- ters to the Editor and guarantees publishing. The New Art Examiner is looking for writers Very occasionally letters may be slightly edited interested in the visual arts in any major for spelling or grammar or if the content is metropolitan area in the U.S. You would start considered to be libellous. with short reviews of exhibition in your area. Later, longer essays on contemporary visual art 4. The New Art Examiner does not have an affiliation with any particular style or ideology, issues could be accepted. or social commitment that may be expressed or represented in any art form. All political, Please send a sample of your writing (no more ethical and social commentary are welcome. than a few pages) to: The New Art Examiner has actively sought di- versity. All opinions are solely of the writer. Michel Ségard This applies equally to editorial staff when Editor-in-Chief they pen articles under their own name. New Art Examiner at 5. The general mandate of the New Art [email protected] Examiner is well defined in the statement of purpose above. CONTENTS CONTENTS 2 THREE TOP SUMMER ART READS 3 Remarkable Curator’s Life Begets Sparkling Memoir TOM MULLANEY reviews the book “The Dream Colony: A Life in Art,” about the life of noted contemporary art curator and museum director Walter Hopps 5 Seven Artists Who Languished in the Shadows ELIZABETH HATTON reviews “Identity Unknown: Rediscovering Seven American Women Artists” by Donna Seaman 8 Theaster Gates, Today’s Superstar BRUCE THORN critically examines the 2015 Phaidon Press book “Theaster Gates” about the artist’s career and influences 11 What’s This Social Practice Art Thing? An Interview with Artist Paul Druecke TOM MULLANEY interviews the artist 15 The Changing World of Alternative Art Spaces in Chicago MICHEL SÉGARD examines the current state of alternative art spaces in Chiciago and how they have changed from years past. REVIEWS 19 Jim Dine, “Looking at the Present,” at Richard Gray Gallery by BRUCE THORN 21 Robert Frank: Photos at the Art Institute of Chicago by AMANDA LANCOUR 23 Arlene Shechet, “In the Meantime,” at Corbett vs. Dempsey by BRUCE THORN COVER IMAGE: From left, Donna Seaman, Photo by David Siegfried; Walter Hopps, Photo by John Gossage; Theaster Gates, Photo courtesy of Phaidon Press. 1 ARTICLES THREE TOP SUMMER ART READS The art world goes on vacation during July & August. This gives gallery owners, art enthusiasts and editors some need- ed time to relax, perhaps travel and catch up on postponed reading plans. The Examiner has read and, in this section, has chosen three recent noteworthy books sure to give you much reading pleasure this summer. Our first selection is the riveting story of a renowned curator and museum director, Walter Hopps, who, during the Fifties and Sixties, mounted some of that era’s most groundbreak- ing exhibitions. (page 3) Next is an engrossing study of seven 20th century women artists who suffered institutional bias and disparagement for many years by the art world. (page 5) Finally, there’s a needed and detailed critique of the artist of the moment, Theaster Gates, who goes from one muse- um show and honor to another. In May, he was awarded an architecture prize for his housing reclamations by the presti- gious American Academy of Arts and Letters. (page 8) Pick one or all three, settle back in a cozy chair, turn off the iPhone and rediscover the rewarding art of reading! Walter Hopps Donna Seaman Theaster Gates Memoire Author of Phaedon Press The Dream Colony Identity Unknown Monograph 2 NEW ART EXAMINER Remarkable Curator’s Life Begets Sparkling Memoir By Tom Mullaney numerous women were woven throughout his life (beginning with the three girlfriends he had at one time in the 10th grade). He battled an addiction to amphetamines for many years and suffered a brain aneurysm in 1994 but made an amazing recovery and returned to work. Hopps held a series of museum appointments (Pasadena Art Museum, Corcoran Gallery, the Smithsonian Museum of American Art) but pre- ferred being a curator, mounting shows and being close to the art and artists he considered the “Dream Colony” relative to corporate America’s “Plantation Colony.” His deep immersion in art began as a teenager Walter Hopps by John Gossage. at age 15 when he visited the Los Angeles home of Walter and Louise Arensberg, the famed col- t was major art world news when noted con- lectors of Dadaist and Surrealist art. He was so temporary art curator and museum director, taken by what he saw that he repeatedly skipped IWalter Hopps, died in March, 2005. His pass- class to spend days at the house exploring their ing was featured in The New York Times, The collection. Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and Art in Also at age 15, Hopps began visiting the Cop- America. The Post obituary termed him “a sort of ley Gallery where he saw exhibitions of Rene gonzo museum director…outlandish in his range, Magritte, Yves Tanguy, Joseph Cornell, Matta, jagged in his vision, heedless of rules.” Man Ray and Max Ernst. He developed a lifelong He was that but also intuitive about art, friend attachment to the art of Marcel Duchamp and to artists, innovative, and iconoclastic. And per- Cornell with whom he formed a close friendship. petually late for meetings. The Corcoran Gallery Hopps’ first exhibition in 1955 shows the inge- of Art staff, during the brief period Hopps was nuity he displayed throughout his career. He director, created the button “Walter Hopps will rented the merry-go-round at the Santa Monica be here in 20 minutes.” Joshua Taylor, whom Pier, stretched tarp around the poles and hung Hopps worked with at the Smithsonian Museum nearly 100 paintings by 40 artists, including Sonia of American Art, famously said, “I’d fire him if I Gechtoff, Richard Diebenkorn, Clyfford Still and could find him.” Jay DeFeo. None of the works were above $300 We owe a great debt of gratitude to Debo- but nothing sold. Yet the show is considered a rah Treisman and Anne Doran for resurrecting seminal moment in gaining recognition for a new Hopps, his picaresque life and many contributions generation of West Coast artists. to contemporary art. At the time of his death, He founded the Ferus Gallery at age 24 in he had been the founding director of Houston’s partnership with artist Ed Kienholz. Ferus was Menil Collection along with being its curator and the first gallery to show Andy Warhol’s Camp- trustee over the prior 25 years. bell’s Soup Cans. His museum career begins in Hopps was a unique figure who led a charmed 1962 when he takes the curator/registrar position life filled with his share of difficulties, mentioned at the Pasadena Art Museum and becomes its only in passing in the book. Three wives and director a year later. 3 ARTICLES With the Pasadena appointment, Hopps The book is chock full of his encounters with became the youngest museum director in Amer- artists throughout his life.