"Made You Look!"
2000-03-25 until 2000-05-28
Austin Museum of Art - Laguna Gloria
Austin, TX, USA United States of America

Made You Look! The Nineteenth Annual Family Exhibition (through May 28, 2000), presented by Van Kampen Funds Inc., at AMOA-Laguna Gloria, 3809 West 35th Street. Nothing is more central to visual art than the way in which artists direct the viewer s eye to see the world in a new way. For the nineteenth in its series of annual Family Exhibitions, the Austin Museum of Art will present the work of seven internationally, nationally, and regionally recognized artists whose works challenge viewers of all ages to learn to look more carefully. Photography, as a medium or model, plays a central role in the exhibition, but the works presented here reveal that serious looking takes longer than the click of a camera s shutter. Full appreciation of an object, space, or image comes through careful scrutiny--looking around, looking in, looking through, looking deeper.

Visual challenges and surprises abound in the work of the artists in this exhibition. New York artist Spencer Finch creates pale, glimmering mosaics that only over time reveal their photographic imagery of snow and clouds in locations that few humans ever see, like Mount Everest. Houston multi-media artist Mark Wade has created a series of wall-mounted boxes whose photographic vistas of the natural world must be accessed through peepholes in their commercially inspired exteriors. On closer inspection, the glamorous hats, dresses, and shoes in the black-and-white photographs of Michiko Kon of Japan turn out to be made entirely of sushi.

The exhibition will also explore the way artists make intangible elements such as time, space, and thought visible. British-born, California-based artist David Hockney, known primarily as a painter, builds multi-layered photocollages that reflect the movement of the artists eye across the scene he is recording, while condensing the passage of time. Houston painter Charles Mary Kubricht s own time-intensive process becomes a key feature of her work. Dividing her image into multiple panels, she paints each one individually, then recomposes them into a final whole. San Antonio installation artist Rebecca Holland encourages viewers to consider the Museum building s distinctive architecture by exposing a long-hidden window behind the gallery and using expanses of gossamer dental floss to delineate light and space. Sculptor Jorge Yázpik of Mexico carves stone sculptures in which positive and negative spaces are integral to the work as a whole. And a group of local Austin artists including Christa Blackwood, Belinda Casey, Jimmy Jalapeeno, Naomi Schlinke, and Philip Wade will extend the exhibition onto the grounds by choosing a view at Laguna Gloria and framing it with a specially designed box. This Eye of the Beholder tour encourages viewers to see what the artist sees as he or she begins to create an image.

Made You Look! The Nineteenth Annual Family Exhibition is organized by the Austin Museum of Art and is curated by Katelena Hernandez-Cowles, the Museum s Head of Education. Made You Look! will be accompanied by the Children s Participatory Gallery designed by Austin artist Nathan Jensen. This gallery will include a number of innovative hands-on activities for children based on the exhibition s themes. The Family Opening will include activities for children and their families and a special performance by the Creeps, Austin s slow-motion performance group. Specially trained youth docents will give interactive tours of the exhibition to the public each week. Made You Look! will be the last exhibition scheduled at Laguna Gloria prior to a major renewal and restoration initiative to begin late 2000. During this period, outdoor sculpture on the Laguna Gloria grounds will remain on view for the public, and the Art School will remain in full operation.

The Austin Museum of Art is funded in part by the City of Austin under the auspices of the Austin Arts Commission, and by the Texas Commission on the Arts. Additional support is generously provided by the Austin Museum of Art Guild and Members of the Museum. American Airlines is the official airline and The Driskill is the official hotel of the Austin Museum of Art. Promotional sponsors include the Austin American-Statesman, The Austin Chronicle, CitySearch, and Pentagram.

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for the State of Texas

Other Important Exhibitions in United States