Gallery Recap | 'Recent Gifts' (and challenges) at Tufts Art Gallery
Kyle Chayka
Issue date: 5/18/08 Section: Arts
The Tufts University Art Gallery recently hosted an exhibit of work by thesis candidates from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA). The exhibit ran through May 18 - but the show wasn't really on display last Tuesday.
The glass doors of the gallery were still locked half an hour after opening. Eventually, the doors were opened, but they led only to an empty desk standing guard over rooms of dead television monitors and silent projectors. Yaron Dotan's dynamic, op-art influenced drawings were the only work visible.
Sometimes the problem with new media is that it has to be turned on to be seen.
It's been a year of ups and downs for the Tufts University Art Gallery. Never failing to fill its galleries, Tufts has presented shows of SMFA thesis work, fluorescent sculptures and critiques of commercialism. Looking over the past two semesters of shows, a few thoughts come to mind. The gallery has some challenges to work through, which are exemplified by another show on view this month.
Downstairs from the complex of quiet television screens is the Remis Sculpture Court. Presently on view there is a selection of recent gifts of art to the university. With a grand total of six paintings, one can't help but wonder where the rest of our permanent collection is, besides the tepid Andy Warhol screen print by the desk and the Louis Nevelson hidden in the corner by the doors. The paintings in the show barely make more than a whisper in the cavernous space of the Sculpture Court, last seen filled with an enormous box installed by Ivan Navarro.
John Adam Griefen's work here is in a minimalist, monochromatic painting style that features heavy brushstrokes across the surface of the canvases. His three pieces, "Deep Blue" (2007), "Deep Red" (2007) and "Turquoise Teal" (2006), were all created in the past two years. The paintings' label states that they were given to Tufts by one John Griefen Sr. The artist's father? The artist himself? Are we in the habit of accepting and then showing gifts from the family of the artist? Do we show gifts whose paint has just dried out of the studio? One must be careful when showcasing permanent collections. What is the context for this work? Nothing is given. What is our mission in collecting art? Audiences can't tell.
The glass doors of the gallery were still locked half an hour after opening. Eventually, the doors were opened, but they led only to an empty desk standing guard over rooms of dead television monitors and silent projectors. Yaron Dotan's dynamic, op-art influenced drawings were the only work visible.
Sometimes the problem with new media is that it has to be turned on to be seen.
It's been a year of ups and downs for the Tufts University Art Gallery. Never failing to fill its galleries, Tufts has presented shows of SMFA thesis work, fluorescent sculptures and critiques of commercialism. Looking over the past two semesters of shows, a few thoughts come to mind. The gallery has some challenges to work through, which are exemplified by another show on view this month.
Downstairs from the complex of quiet television screens is the Remis Sculpture Court. Presently on view there is a selection of recent gifts of art to the university. With a grand total of six paintings, one can't help but wonder where the rest of our permanent collection is, besides the tepid Andy Warhol screen print by the desk and the Louis Nevelson hidden in the corner by the doors. The paintings in the show barely make more than a whisper in the cavernous space of the Sculpture Court, last seen filled with an enormous box installed by Ivan Navarro.
John Adam Griefen's work here is in a minimalist, monochromatic painting style that features heavy brushstrokes across the surface of the canvases. His three pieces, "Deep Blue" (2007), "Deep Red" (2007) and "Turquoise Teal" (2006), were all created in the past two years. The paintings' label states that they were given to Tufts by one John Griefen Sr. The artist's father? The artist himself? Are we in the habit of accepting and then showing gifts from the family of the artist? Do we show gifts whose paint has just dried out of the studio? One must be careful when showcasing permanent collections. What is the context for this work? Nothing is given. What is our mission in collecting art? Audiences can't tell.
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