Don’t Miss – Your History Is Not Our History at Haunch of Venison, New York through May 1, 2010
April 26th, 2010
L: Barbara Kruger, Untitled (He entered shop after shop…), 2008 R: Eric Fischl, Rebirth I: (The Last View of Camiliano Cien Fuegos), 1986. All images courtesy of Haunch of Venison, New York.
On view at Haunch of Venison New York, until May 1, 2010, is “Your History Is Not Our History.” Organized by artists David Salle and Richard Phillips, this group show presents works produced in 1980s New York City.
Including works by Donald Baechler, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Ross Bleckner, Francesco Clemente, Carroll Dunham, Eric Fischl, Robert Gober, Jeff Koons, Barbara Kruger,Louise Lawler, Sherrie Levine, Malcolm Morley, Richard Prince, David Salle, Julian Schnabel, Cindy Sherman, Laurie Simmons, Jenny Holzer, Phillip Taaffe, Terry Winters and Christopher Wool, this exhibition seeks to convey “a more accurate portrayal of the energy and experimentation that was permeating the city during that time,” says Phillips.
L: Christopher Wool, Untitled, 1988 C: Jeff Koons, Buster Keaton, 1988 R: Eric Fischl, The Old Man’s Boat & The Old Man’s Dog, 1981.
More text and images after the jump…
According to Salle and Phillips, the work of the time came out of “a shared feeling for life ‘in extremis’” and “strives to help us better understand the web of influences that conjoined in the 1980s to produce a strikingly original and inventive new artistic environment.”
Installation view, Your History is Not Our History: New York in the 1980s
“The purpose of the show,” they relate, “is to place these works side by side and let them speak to each other (and to us) in ways that have previously been denied. ’Your History is Not Our History’ is not an overview of the decade but rather a meditation on the commonalities shared by artists responding to a specific cultural situation.” Not only does the gallery not represent any of the artists in the show, but they are a young gallery with no ties to this era; Haunch of Venison presents a welcoming platform for an unbiased look at this period.
As for a general thread that bind together the work on view, Salle states,”The emotional current that runs through much of the best work of that time and is in some way its real subject is loneliness. The heroic or the abjectly un-heroic – the improvisational and the directorial – all resulted from a situation of dissipation that had to be upended: nowhere to go and no one much to go with.”
A fully illustrated catalogue has been published to accompany the show, which runs until May 1, 2010.
L: Julian Schnabel, Rebirth I: (The Last View of Camiliano Cien Fuegos), 1986. R: Jenny Holzer, 10 INFLAMMATORY ESSAYS 1979-82.
L: Robert Gober: Right Angle Sink. C: David Salle, Fooling with your Hair, 1985. R: Sherrie Levine, Untitled (After Walker Evans: negative) #8, 1989.
L: Barbara Kruger, Untitled, 1987, photographic silkscreen on vinyl. R: Robert Gober: Right Angle Sink, plaster, wood, wire, and lacquer paint.
L: Eric Fischl, The Old Man’s Boat & The Old Man’s Dog, 1981, oil on linen. R: Louise Lawler, Arranged by Avid Marron, Susan Brundage, Cheryl Bishop at Paine Webber, 1982, black and white photograph.
Francesco Clemente, Untitled, 1983, fresco in two panels.
L: Malcolm Morley, Landscape with Bullocks, 1981, oil on canvas. R: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled, 1982, oilstick and paper collage on paper.
L: Phillip Taaffe, Queen of the Night, 1985, mixed media on canvas. C: Richard Prince, Do I Seem Insecure?, 1989, acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas. R: Terry Winters, Flush, 1989, oil on linen. Front: Jeff Koons, Aqualung, 1985, bronze.
L: Robert Gober, Sleeping Man/Hanging Man, 1989, silkscreen on wallpaper. C: Jeff Koons, Aqualung, 1985, bronze. R: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Trunk, 1982, acrylic and oilstick on canvas.
L: Francesco Clemente, Untitled (Henry Geldzahler), 1983, oil on canvas. C: Carroll Dunham, Untitled, 1987, mixed media on veneer. R: Nan Goldin, Me on top of my lover, Boston, 1973, cidachrome.
Jeff Koons, New Hoover Convertible, New Shelton Wet/Dry 10 Gallon Doubledecker, 1981, Hoover Convertible, Shelton Wet/Dry, plexiglass, and fluorescent lights.
L: David Salle, Cold Child (George trow), 1986, oil on canvas. C: Louise Lawler, Who Says Who Shows Who Counts, 1989, cibachrome. R: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Crocodile), 1984, oil and collage on canvas.
L: Julian Schnabel, The Jute Grower, oil paint, bondo, and broken china on wood. LC: Francesco Clemente, Naso, 1983, pastel on paper. RC: Ross Bleckner, Fence, 1985, oil on linen. R: Richard Prince, Untitled (Kool Aid), 1983, Ektacolor photograph.
- J. Lindblad
Related Links:
Exhibition Website [Haunch of Venison]
Artifacts: ’80s Repro Men [T Magazine]
Revision Quest [Critics Notebook: The New Yorker]
New York Picks [ArtForum]
Word Of Mouth [Paper Mag]
The Scene: Opening of “Your History Is Not Our History [Art in America]
The End of the ’80s [V Magazine]
Richard Phillips – Studio Visit [TimeOut NY]
