Asma Kazmi
November 13 - December 18, 2009
The Hunt Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new work by local artist Asma Kazmi. A performance artist and sculptor, she is not limited to any one media but maintains an approach of building an unrestrained community of objects, images, and bodies, all in a dialogue with each other. During a recent cultural research trip to New Delhi, India, Kazmi documented the inventions and contraptions that allow the handicapped and homeless people of city to walk, move or navigate for themselves. Kazmi was taken with the heroics, resourcefulness and creativity of these amazing people in their plight for self-reliance. Through a series of large photographs, each device is observed and photographed as a singular object, and set in the studio as if props for a family portrait, these inventions for mobility have a sentimental, yet isolated sculptural presence. Through separation from its owner/creator, the photographs provide the viewer a close examination and to imagine their utility. In addition, Kazmi continues her theme about the questions of one’s condition and “how they surface through exposure to perceptual and situational irregularities.” This personal understanding is an outcome of a work that creates room for the association of ideas and for the possibility of alternative interpretations. In the video, Kazmi is in conversation with the owner’s of these strangely beautiful apparatus. One sees only the talking head of her collaborators as they tell their story through a very animated and emotional dialogue. This approach continues on the subject of communication and what she hopes: “has the ability to generate an esthetic of socially shared meaning through open-ended and complex interactions among people.”
This exhibition made possible by generous support of the Missouri Arts Council and the Regional Arts Commission.
UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
WORKS ON PAPER
DRAWN FROM THE COLLECTION
January 15 - 29, 2010
Opening Reception: Friday, January 15 6pm-8pm
The Hunt Gallery is pleased to present the exhibition Works on Paper: Drawn from the Webster University Art Collection. Consisting of art works pulled from the collection, the exhibition focuses on the numerous works on paper, including drawings and prints by well-known artists. The collection has grown in recent years with very generous gifts from local collectors and artists. Even though the University displays a large portion of these works around its many campuses, there are still beautiful and interesting works in storage and this particular exhibition allows for these wonderful pieces to be viewed within a lightly themed context. Works on Paper will feature almost thirty drawings and prints by many of the artists who have made their mark during the course of nineteenth- and twentieth-century art, from Susan Rothenberg, David Hockney, Red Grooms, Claes Oldenberg, Mary Cassat, Nicholas Africano, Philip Evergood, Elizabeth Bly, and Ford Beckman among others. This two-week exhibition hopes to focus on the many aspects of the practice of drawing, collage and printmaking, recognizing the fundamental stage that these mediums represent in an artist’s creative process. The core of this exhibition focuses on the human figure and includes a combination of fully realized works and preliminary studies related to painting, sculpture, and printmaking.
Re(SOUND)
February 5 - March 5, 2010
Curated by Dana Turkovic and Adam Watkins
Opening Reception: Friday, February 5, 6pm-8pm
The Hunt Gallery is pleased to present Re(sound), an exhibition that explores the sonic medium by compiling a long list of current musings by sound artists from around the world. Re(sound) hopes to build physically on the concept of the periphery, using one sensory input, and providing an alternative metaphor for demonstrating that the idea of an art center has now become more like an invisible node, connected by infinite tentacles by digital networks, thereby displaying the borderless qualities of the sonic medium. As sound flows through space it has the ability to navigate geographically, placing and displacing, bouncing in all directions and always occupying more than one position. Over the past century, this art form has emerged by extracting from the worlds of visual art and music. Sound art’s foundation can be traced to the innovative work of Italian Futurism, Dadaism, and of composer and artist John Cage, as it gradually began to mature into a movement, artists further explored the interactive possibilities of sound and in turn created entirely new modes of experience and engagement. This cross-pollination has inspired some of the most important art being produced today, including work by Janet Cardiff, Rodney Graham and Christian Marclay, among many others. In his book Background Noise: Perspectives on Sound Art, author Brandon LaBelle beautifully illustrates the purpose of this complex medium: “Sound is intrinsically relational: it emanates, propagates, communicates, vibrates, and agitates; it leaves a body and enters others; it binds and unhinges, harmonizes and traumatizes; it sends the body moving, the mind dreaming, the air oscillating. It seemingly eludes definition, while having a profound effect.” In this exhibition, we hope to reveal these unique properties that sound imparts as an artistic medium, and its relational abilities as a creative practice. Because sound can be both borderless and site-specific and imply immediate involvement upon its reception, the physical construction of the exhibition is a reflection of its universal and relational qualities. Presenting the work as a weather vane of sorts, using St. Louis as the central axis, listening stations will be installed marking the North, South, East and West, a compilation of sound works spanning the globe from artists working locally and in Berlin to Los Angeles to Sydney to Toronto. Ultimately extending the notion of sound’s current location as multiple and expansive, the intention is to play on the structure and diverse nature of sound by setting up an environment where the “visitor” is asked to enter the space and simply listen.
Bring Me A Lion:
An Exhibition of Contemporary Indian Art
March 19 - April 16, 2010
Curated by Jeffrey Hughes and Dana Turkovic
Jaishri Abichandani, Dhruvi Acharya, Rina Banerjee, Chitra Ganesh, Tushar Joag, Jitish Kallat, Reena Kallat,
Bari Kumar, Yamini Nayar, and Rakhi Peswani.
We are indebted to the Arthur and Helen Baer Charitable Foundation for its major financial support for this exhibition. Our thanks also go to the Missouri Arts Council, and the Regional Arts Commission for their generous support.
