The Conditions of Being Art: Pat Hearn Gallery and American Fine Arts, Co. (1983 - 2004) / Daniel Steegmann Mangrané:: A Transparent Leaf Instead of The Mouth

CCS Bard is pleased to present two new exhibitions both opening on June 23: The Conditions of Being Art: Pat Hearn Gallery and American Fine Art, Co. (1983-2004) and Daniel Steegmann Mangrané: A Transparent Leaf Instead of The Mouth.

The Conditions of Being Art: Pat Hearn Gallery and American Fine Art, Co. (1983-2004)

Co-curated by Jeannine Tang, Lia Gangitano, and Ann Butler, The Conditions of Being Art: Pat Hearn Gallery and American Fine Art, Co. (1983-2004), shown in the Hessel Museum of Art, will be the first in the United States to examine the shared histories, art, and programming activities of Pat Hearn Gallery (PHG) and American Fine Arts, Co., Colin de Land Fine Art. (AFA), whose archives are held at CCS Bard, and which have been the focus of an ongoing research program within the curatorial graduate program, that has included three semester-long courses on the histories of both galleries and involved visits from artists, friends and colleagues of Pat Hearn and Colin de Land. The exhibition will include works of art shown at or associated with these galleries by over 40 artists including: Roy Arden, Alex Bag, Art Club 2000, Lutz Bacher, Dennis Balk, Bernadette Corporation, J. St. Bernard, Tom Burr, Moyra Davey, Jimmy De Sana, Jessica Diamond, Stephan Dillemuth, Mark Dion, John Dogg, Andrea Fraser, Peter Fend, Renée Green, Pat de Groot, Mary Heilmann, Susan Hiller, Joan Jonas, John Knight, Jutta Koether, Silvia Kolbowski, John Miller, Simon Leung, Ana Mendieta, Marlene McCarty, Mariko Mori, Mark Morrisroe, Claire Pentecost with the Critical Art Ensemble, Christian Philipp-Müller, Kembra Pfahler, Jack Pierson, Julia Scher, Pieter Schoolwerth, Peter Schuyff, Jason Simon, Jessica Stockholder, Spencer Sweeney, Philip Taaffe, Tishan Hsu, Lincoln Tobier, John Waters, among others. The exhibition draws upon the archives of each gallery to illuminate their distinctive curatorial practices, significant exhibitions, daily business activities, social worlds, and relationships of artists to art dealers and gallery founders Pat Hearn (1955-2000) and Colin de Land (1955-2003).

A fully-illustrated scholarly publication accompanies the exhibition, and features ten new essays by an intergenerational group of writers, critics, curators, and art historians. In the investigative spirit of encouraging new research into PHG and AFA’s histories, the following authors were commissioned to write: Johanna Burton, Jill Casid, Lauren Cornell, Diedrich Diederichsen, Jennifer King, Mason Leaver-Yap, and Kobena Mercer. The book will include reproductions of archival material from a variety of lenders, images of exhibitions at the galleries and updated exhibition timelines for both galleries. It is edited and co-published by Dancing Foxes Press, designed by xSITE and distributed by D.A.P.

Similar to an addendum or appendix in a publication, the exhibition will also be accompanied by Postscript: a selection of archival material from the Center for Curatorial Studies Archives in the Center’s Collection Teaching Gallery (on view June 23-September 16). The exhibition will present a selection of archival documents related to Pat Hearn and Colin de Land which reflect their professional lives as art dealers and gallerists, but do not fall neatly within the scope of gallery records. All of the archival materials presented are part of the holdings of the Center for Curatorial Studies Archives.

Daniel Steegmann Mangrané: A Transparent Leaf Instead of The Mouth

Shown in the CCS Bard Galleries, Daniel Steegmann Mangrané: A Transparent Leaf Instead of The Mouth is the first institutional solo exhibition of work by artist Daniel Steegmann Mangrané (b. 1977, Barcelona) in the United States. Based in Rio de Janeiro since 2004, Steegmann Mangrané is considered to be at the forefront of a generation of artists currently emerging from Brazil. A Transparent Leaf instead of The Mouth will include a cross section of his past work in 16mm film, drawing, holography, and installation, alongside newly commissioned sculpture and installation. The exhibition is organized by Lauren Cornell, Director of the Graduate Program and Chief Curator.

In a recent interview, Steegmann Mangrané stated: “The question—who is a subject of full right, who belongs to ‘us’—is the most essential political question.” Notions of “us,” of distinction and belonging, founder and disintegrate in Mangrané’s practice. His early aspirations to be a biologist manifest in works about permutation, mutation, and transformation across materials and life forms. This exhibition takes its title from the large-scale installation A Transparent Leaf instead of The Mouth (2017–18), which is a glass pavilion containing a dynamic ecosystem that combines local foliage and foreign insects. Produced for CCS Bard in consultation with Bard College’s horticultural staff and Dr. Linda S. Rayor of Nature Outreach Consulting, this project stages an argument for interdependency and entanglement, even across allegedly opposed genealogies or perspectives.

Steegmann Mangrané’s works often unsettle the conventional ways in which art is seen or felt; examples include his virtual reality–based project Phantom (2015) and his subtler drawings and sculptures that entwine light, color, and the architecture of the venues they are displayed in. In its emphasis on experience over object, Steegmann Mangrané’s practice echoes some of Brazil’s most significant contemporary artists, like Hélio Oiticica and Lygia Clark, whose pioneering work of the latter half of the 20th century exchanged spectatorship for full-body participation. The exhibition will also include the site-specific wall drawing Morfogenesis (2017) and two film installations, Spiral Forest (2017) and 16mm (2009-2011), and will premiere new sculptures such as Phasmides (2018) and the series of figurative chrome cast pieces Inhabitant (2018).

Exhibition summer hours are Thursday through Monday from 11am to 5pm. All CCS Bard exhibitions and programs are free and open to the public. Free chartered bus available from New York City for the openings on June 23. For reservations and information call T 845 758 7598, or write ccs@bard.edu.

The Conditions of Being Art: Pat Hearn Gallery and American Fine Art, Co. (1983-2004) exhibition and publication are made possible by the generous donation of print editions (produced and sold in partnership with Art + Culture Projects) by many of the artists with whom Colin and Pat were associated: Tom Burr, George Condo, Moyra Davey, Mark Dion, Jeff Elrod, Rachel Harrison, Mary Heilmann, Jacqueline Humphries, Joan Jonas, Jutta Koether, Mariko Mori, Elizabeth Peyton, Philip Taaffe, and John Waters. The exhibition and publication have also greatly benefitted from the support of the National Endowment for the Arts, Matthew Marks, Stephen Cheng, and Miguel Abreu Gallery.

Daniel Steegmann Mangrané: A Transparent Leaf Instead of The Mouth was made possible by the generous support of Lonti Ebers, with special thanks to Esther Schipper, Berlin, and Mendes Wood DM.

General exhibition support at CCS Bard are made possible from the Marieluise Hessel Foundation, the Audrey and Sydney Irmas Charitable Foundation, the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, the Board of Governors of the Center for Curatorial Studies, the CCS Bard Arts Council, and the Center’s Patrons, Supporters, and Friends.