Action/Performance and the Photograph

Opens at the Mishkin Gallery on March 17

An element of incongruity and momentary disbelief causing the viewer to "do a double take" is at the heart of Action/Performance and the Photograph, an exhibition of photographs at the Mishkin Gallery,
Friday, March 17 to Friday, May 5.
Opening reception, Thursday, March 16, 5 - 7 p.m.

The action in these photographs is often staged expressly for the camera, creating fleeting "events as art,"-events nonetheless preserved in photographic images. Providing a fascinating view of the evolution of these events, Happenings, and performances, this exhibition also illustrates the role of photography in their development. In many cases the photograph is all that remains to document an event, and occasionally, it becomes a work of art in itself.

The exhibition ranges from 1950 to 1992, beginning with Hans Namuth's famous photograph of Jackson Pollock painting Autumn Rhythm, and photographs of Jim Dine's Car Crash and Robert Whitman's American Moon- Happenings performed in 1960 at the Reuben Gallery in New York.

Action/Performance also features dramatic photographs of performances by several pioneering European artists, including Yves Klein's famous Leap into the Void as well as Marcel Duchamp's chess match at the Pasadena Art Museum, featuring the artist attired in a three-piece suit as he plays chess with a nude woman. In these photographs, the jolt experienced by the viewer depends on carefully orchestrated "spontaneity." The ability of the camera to arrest or manipulate time is here all-important, raising questions about the literal or symbolic truth of what the viewer is seeing.

Various interpretations of the nude figure are addressed in photographs of work by artists from Klein and Duchamp to Carolee Schneemann. Performance within the landscape is explored in pieces such as Andy Goldworthy's Hazel Stick Throws and Mary Beth Edelson's The Nature of Balancing.

Other artists represented in the exhibition include: Vito Acconci, Joseph Beuys, Chris Burden, Allan Kaprow, Gordon Matta-Clark, Robert Rauschenberg, and William Wegman. Seen together, the work of these artists-whose attitudes toward the photograph are as varied as their artistic approaches-represents yet another example of the importance of photography in the development of modern art in all of its many forms.

Action/Performance and the Photograph is curated by Craig Krull and is circulated by Curatorial Assistance, Los Angeles. The exhibition will be on view March 17 to May 5 with an opening reception on Thursday, March 16 from 5 to 7 p.m.

The Sidney Mishkin Gallery is located at Baruch College, 135 East 22 Street, New York City.
Gallery hours are:
Monday-Friday, 12 noon-5 p.m.
Thursdays, 12 noon-7 p.m.
All exhibitions at the gallery are free and open to the public.

© 2000 Sidney Mishkin Gallery, Baruch College

Zane Berzins (news office)
(212) 802-2881
zberzins@newton.baruch.cuny.edu