primitivism revisited
Primitivism Revisited:
After the End of an Idea
December 16, 2006 – January
27, 2007
Sean
Kelly Gallery
528 West 29th Street
New York, NY 10001
Tei Carpenter mailto:teiATskny.com
Tel: 212.239.1181
Fax: 212.239.2467
MAP-1447 Grace Jones 1984
Courtesy: Sean Kelly Gallery, New York.
Sean
Kelly Gallery is delighted to announce Primitivism
Revisited: After the End of an Idea, the first significant exhibition in
over twenty years to re-examine the idea of Primitivism. Classical African art
from Mali, the Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, and Nigeria, amongst other regions,
will be juxtaposed with a broad range of influential contemporary artists such
as Robert Mapplethorpe, Felix Gonzales-Torres, Marina Abramović, Carolee
Schneeman, Los Carpinteros, Alfredo Jaar, and Thomas Ruff.
DRC Songye Figure
Courtesy: Sean Kelly Gallery, New York.
This
unique exhibition is curated by eighteen Columbia University graduate students
of Susan Vogel, Professor of African Art, and founding Director of the Museum
for African Art in New York. The opening of Primitivism
Revisited: After the End of an Idea will take place on Friday, December 15th
from 6pm-8pm and the exhibition will be on view through January 27, 2007.
Primitivism
Revisited: After the End of an Idea provides
a 21st century view of the notion of Primitivism, which, in the 20th century,
traced formal relationships between modern western art and the “primitive”
(not only African art but Pre-Columbian, Native American and Oceanic art).
Historical connections between the two, commonly ascribed to the work of such
artists as Gaugin and Picasso, were extensively studied in 1938 by Robert
Goldwater, and were the subject of a 1984 exhibition curated by William Rubin at
the Museum of Modern Art, entitled “Primitivism”
in Modern Art. Whilst highly critiqued, Rubin’s point of view has not
subsequently been directly addressed in an exhibition setting.
AH-body-object # 5
Courtesy: Sean Kelly Gallery, New York.
Primitivism
Revisited: After the End of an Idea
considers Primitivism in light of art and attitudes formed since Rubin’s 1984
exhibition. It is now apparent that Primitivism
belongs to a historical period of modern art that was already ending in 1984.
Since that time, post-colonial thinking, globalization, and an awareness of our
own cultural hybridity have deepened ideas about African culture; the
exoticizing and demeaning implications of Primitivism have made it untenable.
Artists of the 21st century are engaged in a different kind of dialogue with the
arts of Africa.
Please
contact Tei Carpenter at the gallery (212.239.1181) or teiATskny.com
for more information. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 11am until
6pm.
related article: Imitating the Primitive Art.
Whatever you do with "primitive" art will get you in trouble, and
putting the word in quotes won't help.
