Upcoming Exhibitions
Front Room: Jim Dine
June 11 – October 5, 2008
The BMA’s experimental project space features approximately 22 prints, drawings, and paintings by American artist Jim Dine (born 1935) that reflect his lifelong interest in Jungian questions of the human’s place in the world, particularly his own. Examples include a group of five expressionistic lithographs called The Crash (1963)— the first prints the artist made—which reveal his anguish following the death of a friend in a car accident. Two remarkable etchings Five Paintbrushes and Braid (both 1973) explore the sensuality of human hair, and the illustrated book The Temple of the Flora (1984) weds poetry and botany. Two recent acquisitions to the BMA’s collection shown for the first time are: A Side View in Florida (1986), an enlarged hand-colored image of a skull from Gray’s Anatomy, and Raven on Lebanese Border (2000), a masterful combination of both etching and woodcut techniques. In addition to prints, the exhibition features the drawing Flo Master Hearts (1969), two paintings from the Sonnabend Collection, Black Zipper and Black Shovel (both 1962), and the loan of a self-portrait from a local collection.
This exhibition is curated by Ann Shafer, BMA Assistant Curator of Prints, Drawings & Photographs.
Artscape at the BMA: Sondheim Prize Finalists
June 21 – August 3, 2008
In conjunction with Artscape, Baltimore’s premier arts festival, the BMA presents a special exhibition of the finalists for The Janet & Walter Sondheim Prize, which is organized by the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts. The six finalists for this year's $25,000 prize are artists Becky Alprin, Melissa Dickenson, Dawn Gavin, Geoff Grace, Maren Hassinger and Molly Springfield. They were selected by an independent panel of jurors including Laura Hoptman, Senior Curator at the New Museum in New York, Mickalene Thomas, a New York-based artist, and Darby English, an art historian specializing in postwar and contemporary American art, cultural studies, art theory and criticism. The winner will be announced at a special ceremony and reception held at the BMA on Saturday, July 12. This prestigious award is named after the late Baltimore civic leader Walter Sondheim and his late wife, Janet. Sondheim’s enormous impact on Baltimore included overseeing desegregation of the City schools in 1954, and championing the redevelopment of the Inner Harbor in the 1970s. Another exhibition of semifinalists will take place at the Maryland Institute College of Art’s Decker and Meyerhoff Galleries from July 17 through August 2.
The exhibition is curated by Darsie Alexander, BMA Senior Curator of Contemporary Art. This exhibition is This exhibition is generously supported by The William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund and two anonymous donors. The Sondheim Prize is made possible in part by grants from The Abell Foundation, Anonymous, The Willam G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, The Henry and Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Foundation, and Amy & Chuck Newhall.
Right: Franz West. Swimmer. 2005. Fanny B. Thalheimer Memorial Fund, BMA 2008.16
Franz West
October 12, 2008 – January 4, 2009
The Baltimore Museum of Art presents the first major U.S. retrospective on Franz West (b. 1947), an Austrian artist of international stature whose singular vision has resulted in one of the most remarkable bodies of work produced since the 1960s. The exhibition includes more than 120 objects that reflect his innovations in sculpture, design, and works on paper—ranging from early interactive works from the 1970s to recent giant aluminum and epoxy objects that dramatize their surroundings with bold colors and oversize scale.
For the past three decades, West has played a critical role in redefining the possibilities of sculpture as a social and environmental experience. Coming out of the powerful performance art scene led by the Viennese Actionists during the 1960s, West developed an early interest in the potential of objects to trigger an array of psychological states and experiences. His manipulation of found materials, papier-mâché, and furniture is unlike any other in appearance and application. Though fundamentally sculptural in their construction, his works veer towards the biomorphic and prosthetic and possess an awkward beauty that speaks with equal fluency to the aesthetics of painterly abstraction and trash art.
The exhibition features rarely seen examples of West’s work covering more than 30 years, organized as a series of mini-installations that reflect West’s experimental approach to space and artistic groupings. Visitors encounter, and can occasionally touch, a range of objects, such as a dramatic installation of two oversized sculptural chairs that invite visitors to take a seat amidst the art. The exhibition begins with the most recent objects, including wallpaper that doubles as a series of exhibition posters, simultaneously decorating and advertising the space. Subsequent galleries feature furniture/objects such as cabinets, tables, and chairs that infuse the art environment with the culture of bars, cafés, and domestic life (1990s), a large room of papier-mâché groupings with an installation of free-standing sculptures on suitcase bases (1980-1990s), and a gallery of stand-alone works. In the final Adaptives section (1970s), visitors can handle human-scaled plaster sculptures in a space tinged by the violet hue of West’s floor lamps. The exhibition closes with a space that explores the production of West’s art and the operation of his studio.
The exhibition travels to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (April – June 2009) following its debut in Baltimore. An illustrated catalogue co-published with MIT Press includes essays by BMA Senior Curator of Contemporary Art Darsie Alexander, curator Tom Eccles, and artist Rachel Harrison.
This exhibition is curated by Darsie Alexander, BMA Senior Curator of Contemporary Art.
