Allen Memorial Art '£ Museum Bulletin Social St Oberlin College XLIV, 1,1990 m 4 + 4 M*^VfVi Young Americans ••• •• ••• * • • • • • • • <B* c • • • 0 £. 4* I i. I > s © 9 I C (0 0) -> -;- -•?«. -If Social Studies: 4 + 4 Young Americans Elizabeth A. Brown Allen Memorial October 26, 1990- Art Museum, January 13, 1991 Oberlin College 24 T «38| 01/35 01-415-00 «>- m Vivienne Koorland. Terezin: Eva, 1990. Oil on paper attached to linen, 52x62!' Collection of the artist; courtesy of Sandra Gering Gallery. Foreword Allen by William J. Chiego Memorial Acknowledgements Art Social Studies: 4 + 4 Young Americans Museum by Elizabeth A. Brown Bulletin Interviews Willie Cole 14 Oberlin College Renee Green 22 Vivienne Koorland 28 XLIV, 1, 1990 Jeanne Silverthorne 36 Group Material 42 Checklist 49 Artist Biographies 50 This project is partly supported by funds from the Ohio Arts Council. Allen Memorial Art Museum Bulletin: Editors: William J. Chiego, Larry J. Feinberg. Designer: Richard Sarian. Printed by Ideal Reproductions, Cleveland, Ohio. Typesetting by LIVE Publishing. Published twice a year by the Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio. $10.00 a year, this issue $5.00; mailed free to members of the Oberlin Friends of Art. Back issues available from the Museum. Indexed in The Art Index and abstracted by RILA (Inter­ national Repertory of the Literature of Art) and ARTbibliographies. Reproduced on Uni­ versity Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Mich. (Copyright ° Oberlin College, 1990) ISSN: 0002-5739 Foreword In each instance such group exhibi­ tions necessarily require a great deal of looking and thinking to discern the sig­ nificant work being done today and to decide what is important to exhibit at this time. This has certainly been true for the Museum's present Curator of Modern Art, Elizabeth A. Brown, who joined our staff last year. Her first group exhibition for Oberlin is the result of visits with dozens of artists, conversa­ tions with many colleagues, and much thought. The selection made focuses on a number of artists with related concerns about contemporary society, signified by the exhibition title, although their responses take many different forms. As always, the act of selection is really an act of faith in the artists cho­ sen. I am grateful to Elizabeth Brown for the energy and passion with which she has tackled this project. I wish also to thank all of the Museum staff mem­ The opening of this exhibition, "Social bers, and particularly Chief Curator Studies: 4 + 4 Young Americans," is an Larry J. Feinberg, who have helped her important occasion in the life of the accomplish this exhibition and its cata­ Allen Memorial Art Museum. It revives a logue. With a look back at the past and a tradition established nearly forty years commitment to help define the future, ago, in 1951, when Director Charles she has organized an exhibition that Parkhurst organized the first Young should delight our senses and provoke Americans exhibition to bring to Oberlin discussion and debate about the course exemplary contemporary works that of art in our time. would show what young American art­ Readers of this catalogue will note ists were doing at that time. Moreover, it that it is a regular number of the Allen is the first such exhibition to be organ­ Memorial Art Museum Bulletin, follow­ ized since William dander's' 'New Voices ing the tradition of earlier ' 'Young 4: Women & The Media, New Video" of Americans'' publications. A new design 1984, and reaffirms the Museum's com­ for our bulletin is inaugurated with this mitment to contemporary art in our issue, and it seems particularly appro­ exhibition program. priate that we adopt a new look for a The Museum's group exhibitions of study of new work. new talent, organized over the following Lastly, I would like to express the years by Forbes Whiteside, Ellen H. Museum's gratitude to the Horace W Johnson, Athena Tacha Spear, and Goldsmith Foundation for its continued William Olander, have brought a remark­ support of our program in photography able array of new work to Oberlin. In and contemporary art, and to the Ohio many cases these exhibitions helped to Arts Council for a generous project bring young artists to national attention, grant which has helped us to make this including many now acknowledged as exhibition a reality. major figures of post-war American art, William J. Chiego, Director such as Richard Diebenkorn, Claes Olden­ burg, Jackie Winsor, and Jenny Holzer. Acknowledgements the contributions of May Castleberry, Russell Ferguson, Tom Finkelpearl, Peter Frank, Amy Hauft, Paul H.O., Caroline Jackson, Greg Little, Ned Rifkin, Andres Serrano, Marilyn Minter, and Eugenie Tsai. Susan Cooke and Shirley R. Brown read and commented on ver­ sions of the essay. I am also indebted to the faculty of the Art Department for their intellectual input, their enthusi­ asm, and their encouragement. I espe­ cially note the contributions of Ellen Johnson, Honorary Curator of Modern Art and Professor Emeritus, Patricia Mathews, Associate Professor of Art, Sarah Schuster, Assistant Professor of Art, and Athena Tacha, Professor of Art. For their assistance in obtaining loans and reproductions, I thank the Christine Burgin Gallery, the Sandra Gering Gallery, Cosimo di Leo Ricatto, Dennis Derryck, and Hans Littmann; Susan Meaders of the Coca-Cola Company, kindly provided This exhibition identifies a new ten­ photographs of Coke cans. New photog­ dency in contemporary art, of socially raphy of many works in the exhibition responsive approaches, by demonstrat­ was ably done by Eddie Watkins. I am ing the range of work created by several deeply indebted to Richard Sarian for emerging artists. To tackle such a project his striking design, as well as for his help requires a great deal of help: logistical, with the production of the catalogue. emotional, and intellectual support. I Throughout this project I have have been very fortunate in my associ­ enjoyed the support and assistance of ates, on whom I depended throughout the entire staff of the Allen Memorial the conception and execution of this Art Museum. I particularly wish to showing. My greatest thanks go to the thank the Director, William J. Chiego; artists: Doug Ashford, Julie Ault, Willie Anne Moore, Curator of Education, and Cole, Renee Green, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Corinne Fryle, NEA Intern in Educa­ Vivienne Koorland, Karen Ramspacher, tion; Scott Carpenter, Preparator, and and Jeanne Silverthorne, for their Elizabeth Wolfe, Intern/Assistant to the effort, their patience, and their warmth. Preparator; Joan-Elisabeth Reid, Regis­ Throughout the preparation of the exhi­ trar; Leslie Miller, Special Events and bition, the artists have been extremely Membership Administrator; Marjorie L. generous with their time and knowl­ Burton, Museum Security Supervisor, edge, working unstintingly to explore and Beatrice Clapp, Administrative their motivation and intentions and Assistant. My deepest gratitude is to reveal the hidden layers of their work. Larry J. Feinberg, Chief Curator, who During the preparation of the exhibi­ helped me to determine the original tion I depended on colleagues and friends composition of the exhibition, consulted for advice, feedback, and suggestions— on its organization, read and edited particularly about studios to visit and several versions of the essay and the shows to see. Among the many friends interview transcripts, and provided a and colleagues who provided advice and sense of lucidity and focus at every encouragement, I wish to acknowledge stage of this project. E.A.B. Social Studies: 4+4 Ifoung Americans Elizabeth A. Brown Diverse in iconography, form, and with history painting or religious icons. method, the works exhibited in "Social Through research and through a sys­ Studies: 4+4 Young Americans" share a tematic refining process they create common definition of contemporary art. effective and challenging works that Art today, these works suggest, should manifest their individual concerns seduce viewers in order to engage their within the larger contexts of history minds as well as their emotions. As in and of current events. the past, art today can modify the It is difficult to name a method, a viewers' experience or alter the way subject, or a medium that was not cur­ they think. To function effectively, this rent during the eighties. But the over­ work must enlist wide viewer attention whelming effect of the art of the decade or participation. Each object or project was theoretical, distanced, and cool. in this exhibition amuses, or charms, or Building on that practice, the artists in startles; each provokes a strong reaction this exhibition make studious work, but to ensure that it is accessible to all seg­ they employ theory to approach—not to ments of its audience. The five partici­ recoil from—personal issues. Despite or pants in' 'Social Studies" —four individual through their conceptual rigor, they artists, Willie Cole, Renee Green, embrace subjectivity and passion, Vivienne Koorland, and Jeanne Silver- excavating internal resources, such as thorne, plus the four members of Group intuition or memory; they uncover the Material, Doug Ashford, Julie Ault, data that have shaped their experiences Felix Gonzalez-Torres, and Karen and their histories. Although there is Ramspacher—address diverse social always a clear and visible link between issues. They tackle weighty subjects, their subjects and the artists' selves, the subjects with the seriousness, complex­ work is not intended as autobiography. ity, and stature traditionally associated Rather than to narrow meaning, each wound even more acutely than would a artist's goal is to open up her or his sub­ harsher epithet. She adopted this harsh ject, to suggest new relationships, to simile for language because she was recast a theme with new interpreta­ deeply aware of its power to hurt. tions, and to draw associations across Silverthorne, who works as a teacher categories or genres.