Joan Mitchell: 2007

Friday, September 7, 2007

Essay: The Fame Factor

T H E F A M E F A C T O R

by Wim Roefs

Worldwide, Karel Appel is probably the most famous artist in this exhibition, to which many would respond: “Karel who?” Joan Mitchell likely is the most famous among an American audience, but, no, she didn’t sing about paving paradise to put up a parking lot. That would be Joni.

Tons of books on Appel, and a few less on Mitchell, don’t change the fact that among people attending this show, Laura Spong is probably better known – and she makes due with one 32-page catalogue. Leo Twiggs is much better known in South Carolina than Appel and Mitchell, and his catalogue contains only 72 pages, though there’s a book on the way.

Fame is relative, in other words. Few people, artists or otherwise, are universally famous. Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Picasso – very few have their name recognition. Don’t think Michael Jordan ever was a household name in Europe.

There are, of course, locally, regionally, nationally and internationally famous artists. Spong has local and some statewide fame. Edward Rice is in many regional museums. Twiggs has different degrees of regional and national fame. Bram van Velde is internationally famous – the French have his work on a stamp – but in the United States he is obscure. Lynn Chadwick is of a revered generation of mid-century British sculptors, but who can name any of them, aside from Henry Moore and perhaps Barbara Hepworth?

Some artists were famous in a certain era. Paul Reed was among the original Washington Color Field painters in the 1960s, but of them, only Kenneth Noland and Morris Louis are really famous – and had you ever heard of them? Ibram Lassaw was one of the premier sculptors of the 1940s and 1950s New York School. Alas, Abstract Expressionist sculptors, except for David Smith, played fourth fiddle after first-, second- and third-tier painters.

Other artists are famous within a certain medium or among specific audiences. Virginia Scotchie has substantial local and regional fame, but nationally and internationally mostly in the world of ceramics. Benny Andrews and Richard Hunt have long been “famous African-American artists,” though by now their reputations have widened substantially. Sam Middleton first became big in the Netherlands, where he has lived for 40-plus years, before becoming a well-known African-American artist.

Appel is the most famous member of CoBrA, a groundbreaking Northern European group from around 1950 with a big international reputation. CoBrA member Corneille makes surveys of 20th-century art, too. With Jacques Doucet, Reinhoud and Lucebert, you still have famous artists, but beyond France, Belgium and the Netherlands they are mostly known through their CoBrA connection. You’ll be happy to know, though, that Lucebert also is one of the most famous 20th-century poets in the Dutch language, spoken by some 28 million people, a few million more people than live in Texas.

Monday, August 27, 2007

The Fame Factor: September 7-18, 2007

Champs, 1990

Lithograph, 117/125

30 x 22 in.

$ 1,700

if ART PRESENTS AT GALLERY 80808/VISTA STUDIOS:

THE FAME FACTOR

Featuring art by:

Benny Andrews (American, 1930-2006) – Karel Appel (Dutch, 1921-2006) – Lynn Chadwick (British, 1914-2003) – Corneille (Dutch, b. 1922) – Jacques Doucet (French, 1924-1994) – John Hultberg (American, 1922-2005) – Richard Hunt (American, b. 1935) – Wilfredo Lam (Cuban, 1902-1982) – Ibram Lassaw (American, 1913-2003) – Ger Lataster (Dutch, b. 1920) – Lucebert (Dutch, 1924-1994) – Sam Middleton (American, b. 1927) ¬– Joan Mitchell (American, 1925-1992) – Hannes Postma (Dutch, b. 1933) – Reinhoud (Belgian, 1928-2007) – Paul Reed (American, b. 1919) – Edward Rice (American, b. 1953) – Kees Salentijn (Dutch, b. 1947) – Virginia Scotchie (American, b. 1959) – Leo Twiggs (American, b. 1934) – Bram van Velde (Dutch, 1895-1981)

September 7 – 18, 2007

Opening Reception: Friday, Sept. 7, 2007, 5:00 – 10:00 PM

Opening Hours: Weekdays, 11:00 AM – 7:00 PM; Sat., 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM;

Sun, 1:00 – 5:00 PM

In September, work by world-famous artists such as Joan Mitchell, Karel Appel, Lynn Chadwick, Wilfredo Lam and Bram van Velde will be in The Fame Factor, a group show at Gallery 80808/Vista Studios in Columbia organized by if ART Gallery. The exhibition also will include if ART Gallery artists Leo Twiggs, Edward Rice, Kees Salentijn,Virginia Scotchie, Laura Spong and Paul Reed. The Fame Factor will explore the concept of fame, especially the relativity of fame.

The exhibition opens September 7 with a reception from 5:00 – 10:00 p.m. and runs through September 18. Opening hours for Gallery 80808/Vista Studios will be expanded during the if ART exhibition. They will be weekdays, 11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.; Sat., 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.; Sun, 1:00 – 5:00 p.m.

Other American artists with national and even international reputations in the show are Richard Hunt, Benny Andrews, Ibram Lassaw, Paul Reed, John Hultberg and Sam Middleton, an American artist who has lived in the Netherlands since the early 1960s. Dutch artists with international fame in addition to Appel and Van Velde will be Corneille, Ger Lataster, Hannes Postma, Kees Salentijn and Lucebert. Furthermore, the show will present French artist Jacques Doucet and Belgian artist Reinhoud.

Reinhoud and Doucet both were part of the legendary CoBrA group of Northern European artists from the late 1940s and 1950s, which also included Appel, Corneille and Lucebert. “CoBrA” stands for Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam, the cities or origin of most of the major figures in the group. Another artist in the show, Wilfredo Lam, a Cuban artist who had a vast international reach, exhibited once with CoBrA, in the early 1950s, though he was not a member. All of these artists are in the collections of major American museums. Dutchman Salentijn works in a post-CoBrA style.

Hunt, Lassaw, Chadwick and Reinhoud are sculptors. All will be represented in the exhibition with limited-edition lithographs. Hunt, from Chicago, is one of the country’s most famous living sculptors, in part for his many public sculptures. Lassaw was one of the main sculptors in the New York School and a core figure on the city’s 1940s-1950s Abstract Expressionist scene. Chadwick is one of the most prominent figures among British sculptors of the generation of Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth.

Sam Middleton, born in Harlem, NY, but living in the Netherlands, is known for his collages inspired by jazz; the exhibition will show some of his silkscreens. Lataster is one of the Netherlands’ most prominent Abstract-Expressionist painters; his work is in several major American museums. Postma established a big reputation in Europe in the 1960s with his etchings and aquatints, some of which will be in the show. Bram van Velde, who spent most of life and career in Paris, is a legendary figure among mid-20th-century European abstractionists.

Hultberg was part of the New York School scene but subsequently moved to California. Andrews was from Georgia but built his career in New York City, becoming one of the country’s most prominent African-American artists, who increasingly gained traction in the wider art community. Reed was with Kenneth Noland, Morris Louis and Gene Davis among the original Washington Color Field painters of the 1960s. Mitchell is simply one of the most famous Abstract-Expressionist painters.

Twiggs, from Orangeburg, S.C., most likely is the country’s most prominent pioneer with batik as a contemporary art medium. Scotchie is a ceramist with an international reputation who teaches at the University of South Carolina. Rice, from North Augusta, S.C., is represented in many museums in the Southeast. Spong’s reputation has grown by leaps in recent years and is now among South Carolina’s best-known abstract painters.

“The idea of the show is to explore how relative fame is,” if ART Wim Roefs said. “Several feet worth of books and catalogues on Appel, and a few feet on Mitchell, don’t change the fact that among people attending this show, Laura Spong is probably better known – and she makes do with a single 32-page catalogue. Leo Twiggs also is better known here than Appel and Mitchell. Someone like Van Velde is legendary in Europe. Though he had New York gallery shows in the United States, and though his work is in many major American museums, he is at best obscure around here. In general, of course, a lot of famous European artists aren’t well-known in the United States.”

“Lassaw really was one of the major sculptors among Abstract Expressionists, but, of course, sculptors, except for David Smith, played third fiddle in the movement compared to the painters. Reed was one of six artists in the first nationally traveling exhibition of Washington Color Field painters, with Kenneth Noland and Morris Louis, and he makes the art-history books. Still, he’s mainly known among art insiders, though the renewed recent appreciation of color-field painting has giving him new exposure, too.”