Chance Operation Lecture

Brad earned several points by spending an additional hour in an art lecture, presented by Meredith Malone on the Kemper Art Museum's "Chance Aesthetics" exhibition. The show is really incredible- the first show at the Kemper that is nearly loaned in its entirety. The discussion Malone lead was a learning experience for me, although I was familiar with most of the artists involved, I was unaware of the connections between them.My lack of love for art biography reared its head, and made me appreciate the storytelling of an art historian. I am not as interested in the network of personalities as I am the actual artwork.

Highlights: Duchamp's "Hat Rack", Dieter Roth's "Sunset" (Friend Chris Wood made me notice this artist quite a few years ago. I couldn't help thinking about Chris's new show "Recomposition" that opened Dec 4 at Antena Gallery in Chicago. in part inspired by Roth's sausage and paper prints.), a Max Ernst decalcomania painting (from the Kemper's collection), and the video set of Gutai Group performances, Niki de Sainte-Phalle shooting at her canvases with attached everyday objects and paintbags, and Pollock.

Part of Chris Wood's Recomposition Project.

But several of the lectures from NIU given by Barbara Jaffee and a few guest lecturers, especially Hannah Hoch on Fluxus rushed back to me. There were only two others at the lecture, and I ended up being familiar with both of them. One gentleman, who came to the Material Studies artist talk at Good Citizen, even brought up my lace doilies, but not my name or recognizing me, as an example of an artist letting the audience destroy a work- and not rushing in to fix it. Brad pointed me out- and the discussion continued. I was really impressed by the educational materials at the Kemper, and plan on bringing my students there next semester if possible. The curator for Metabolic City did not show, so we looked at the exhibition I was already drawn to- I would have appreciated a walk-thru of the exhibition that didn't really capture my interest. A conversation about that exhibit would have vastly changed how much I absorbed from it.