Installation: Putting Together the Noble Ruin
January 31, 2015
Setting an exhibition is like creating a theatre piece. I try to consider the viewer’s experience from before they walk through the door until they are at home musing on what they have seen. It is a creative process as important as making the art itself. So, here are some images from the days leading up to the opening of Building the Noble Ruin at the Patton-Mallot and Gideon Gartner Galleries at Anderson Ranch Art Center.
Under the direction of Joshua Meier, Studio Coordinator for Painting & Printmaking the show came together beautifully.
It starts with bare walls, spackle, paint and the ghosts of previous shows.
And crates, packing popcorn and coffee.
The tools are gathered.
The art is spread out. Settings are tested.
Various arrangements are tried to figure out how the various works will talk with each other.
Temporary walls are installed to add more space.
Many measurements and negotiations later…the art starts to go up on the wall.
Outside the gallery, men hang around.
As the art finds it place on the wall it is lined up to avoid any undesired distraction.
Works are hung with care.
Coffee cups pile up.
My Most Honest Memoir is hung to catch the viewer as he/she enters the gallery.
As the show comes together, it starts to develop its own character.
And outside the snow piles up.
Then begins the process of setting the lights to highlight the art and capture the best shadows.
The largest work, Upon Reflection (Life): Fraternitas Misericordia, settles into its place.
And in the end, I am one happy and exhausted man.