| I C A N E W S R E L E A S E | ||
|
Contact: Jill Katz Director of Marketing & Communications (215) 573-9975 publicity@icaphila.org |
Institute of Contemporary Art University of Pennsylvania 118 South 36th Street Philadelphia, PA 19104-3289 |
Tel. (215) 898-7108/5911 Fax: (215) 898-5050 info@icaphila.org www.icaphila.org |
Richard Pettibone: A Retrospective
April 30 - July 31, 2005
Exhibition Walkthrough: Friday, April 29, 5-6pm, ICA Members Only, join on-site
Opening Reception: Friday, April 29, 6 - 8pm
February 18, 2005
Richard Pettibone, Roy Lichtenstein, 'Trigger Finger'; Frank Stella, 'Yozd II'; 'Yozd II, 1969, acrylic on shaped canvas, 9 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches. On extended loan to the Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery from a Private Collection.
Richard Pettibone's small construction/paintings of the 1960s–appropriations of work by Warhol, Stella, and Lichtenstein–were a defining aspect of a peculiarly West Coast current of "Conceptual Pop." His earliest works were shadow-box assemblages addressing his interest in model making, especially toy trains and airplanes. In the 1960s he found his voice in diminutive "copies" of newly famous New York pop artists. Always framed and constructed upon miniature stretcher bars, they are usually presented in single-image replication.
By the 1970s, Pettibone was combining and juxtaposing different images, introducing monochrome areas and gestural scribbles into these combinations, and experimenting with the simulation of photo-realist techniques. The Brancusi sculptures from the 1980s are various sized versions of such iconic works as Bird in Space and Endless Column. In a conflation of modernism and modernist "taste," the Brancusi simulations are often presented in combination with his beautifully crafted homages to the pared-down forms of Shaker furniture. Pettibone's visual punning and aesthetic elegance is evident in his simple juxtaposition of an elegant Shaker table with a minimalist, industrial I-beam.
In the late 1980s to the present, Pettibone pursued an obsession for the poetry and criticism of modernist Ezra Pound (another great appropriator) and created a group of paintings based upon the original covers of Pound's publications. In the 1990s, he engaged the work of Piet Mondrian, whose paintings he both replicated and "reduced" in sculptural constructions. But without doubt, his most insistent and unifying theme has been his ever-expanding colloquy with two paradoxical giants of 20th-century art, Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol, whose work continues to inspire him today.
Pettibone has had approximately thirty-five solo exhibitions since 1965, primarily commercial gallery shows. A New York-based artist since the 1970s, he is currently represented by Leo Castelli Gallery, New York.
The exhibition will include approximately 200 paintings and 15 freestanding sculptures. A 144-page color catalog will accompany this exhibition. The format will replicate in size and style the early issues of Artforum. Exhibition co-curator, Michael Duncan will write an essay tracking the development of Pettibone's long career, co-curator Ian Berry will offer an interview with the artist, and art historian Francis Naumann will provide an essay discussing Pettibone's relationship to Marcel Duchamp.
Richard Pettibone: A Retrospective is organized by the Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, California and The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York by curators Ian Berry and Michael Duncan.
Travel schedule:The opening reception, which is free and open to the public, is scheduled for Friday, April 29 from 6 to 8pm. The reception will be preceded by a gallery walkthrough at 5pm, for ICA Members only.
- Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, April 30-July 31, 2005
- Tang Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, November 19, 2005-February 12, 2006
- Laguna Art Museum, March 12-May 28, 2006
Support for making the travel of the exhibition and the catalog possible comes from The Siff Foundation and the Pasadena Art Alliance.All programs subject to change. Please visit the ICA website, www.icaphila.org, for more information on programs in conjunction with Richard Pettibone: A Retrospective.
Support for the exhibition at ICA has been provided by The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, The Dietrich Foundation Inc., the Overseers Board for the Institute of Contemporary Art, friends and members of ICA, and the University of Pennsylvania. (Information complete as of 2/1/05.)
ICA is located at 118 South 36th Street at the University of Pennsylvania. ICA is open to the public, except during installation, from 12:00pm to 8:00pm on Wednesday through Friday and from 11:00am to 5:00pm on Saturday and Sunday. Admission is $6 for adults; $3 for students over 12, artists, and senior citizens; and free to ICA members, children 12 and under, PENN card holders, and on Sundays from 11:00am to 1:00pm. For more information, call 215-898-7108/5911.
Institute of Contemporary Art
Founded in 1963 as part of the University of Pennsylvania, ICA presents a year-round exhibition schedule that defines, analyzes, and explores the contemporary visual arts. A non-collecting museum, ICA offers one-person, thematic, and group exhibitions, including commissioned works. ICA diversifies its examination of art to include interdisciplinary work such as film, video, performance, architecture, and design. ICA plays a vital role in introducing American audiences to rising international artists and is also committed to the regional arts community. ICA has been at the forefront of contemporary art for 40 years, presenting the first museum solo exhibitions of artists Andy Warhol, Robert Indiana, Lisa Yuskavage, Charles LeDray and many others.