Aspen Peak - Niche Media - Aspen living at its peak
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/601986
photography by Jerry thompson, Courtesy Cheim & read, new york art © Lynda bengLis/LiCensed by Vaga, new york, ny (Pink ladies); © CreatiVe growth art Center, photography © benJamin bLaCkweLL (Untitled) After years of obscurity, the late deaf-mute artist Judith Scott has finally been getting her due, thanks to her powerful fiber sculptures like Untitled (1993), on view this spring at the Art Museum. Art-world provocatrix Lynda Benglis's wax fountains, including Pink Lady (For Asha) (2013), one of three similar structures comprising Pink Ladies, come to the Art Museum this winter after a solo exhibition at Storm King Art Center in New York. Some might consider it serendipitous to have works from five female artists under one roof. But Heidi Zuckerman, CEO and director-curator of the Aspen Art Museum, says it's simply a ref lec- tion of the industry. Given the breadth of talent in a series of upcoming exhibits by female artists at the Aspen Art Museum, it's a good thing the roof happens to be a big one: the Shigeru Ban–designed, 33,000 -square-foot, six-gallery museum that opened downtown in summer 2014. Beginning in February, solo exhibi- tions by Judith Scott, Liz Larner, Lynda Benglis, Rachel Rose, and Mickalene Thomas open in staggered succession at the museum. "There are five solo shows, and each of these artists works in a variety of mediums—they all have different approaches to the practice of making art," Zuckerman says. "They span different generations [as well]. It just shows how broad and diverse the field has become." The curator explains that what distinguishes programs at the Aspen Art Museum from others in the US is their focus on diversity: "It's our ongoing and continuous showing of one-person exhibitions from female artists and artists of color," says Zuckerman. "It wasn't intentional to stack up so many solo exhibitions of females at one time." But for the exhibitions opening this winter, from Larner's main-f loor sculpture works to a video installation by Rose—the youngest artist in the group—there isn't one unifying theme that ties the exhibits together, and Zuckerman prefers it that way. She'd rather visitors judge the artists on their work rather than their gender. "We need to stop thinking about female museum directors, female artists, and female CEOs," she says. "That's an underlying goal for these exhibitions in general. [Guests] have the opportunity to consider [these artists'] production and accomplish- ments outside of their gender role." Judith Scott: to Sculpt a Voice Zuckerman has maintained many of the fortuitous relationships she forged in her former role as curator of the Berkeley Art Museum, like the one she cultivated with Creative Growth Arts Center. The Oakland-based gallery and art center was the first in the world to offer studio space for developmen- tally disabled adults to create art. Judith Scott was among the first Zuckerman met there. Born with Down syndrome and profound deafness, Scott, who passed away in 2005 at the age of 61, was misdiagnosed with severe retardation at an early age and placed in a state institution for more than 30 years. Her twin sister, Joyce, eventually pulled her from the institution and moved her to California, where Judith started to create fiber sculptures by layering cloth, yarn, woven fabric, and found objects together. For the last 17 years of her life, Scott spoke through sculpture, finding a voice in artwork in a life in which she had none. March 11–July 10, 2016 (Un)Common GroUnd A quintet of femAle Artists tAkes over the Aspen Art MuseuM. by chriStine benedetti continued on page 86 84 aspenpeak-magazine.com culture Art Full