All the More Real:
Portrayals of Intimacy and Empathy
August 12, 2007 – October 14, 2007
Exhibition, Co-Curated by Artist Eric Fischl, Examines How Artists Represent, the Body, the Self, Intimacy and Deflection
The Parrish Art Museum
25 Job’s Lane
Southampton, New York 11968
tel. 631.283.2118
fax 631.283.7006
www.parrishart.org
All the More Real: Portrayals of Intimacy and Empathy explores the various strategies artists employ to seduce and/or deflect a viewer’s engagement with the physicality of the body and the object of art. Co-curated by artist Eric Fischl and Parrish Art Museum Robert Lehman Curator, Merrill Falkenberg, the exhibition is composed of paintings, sculpture, photography and video and brings together works by a diverse group of contemporary and modern artists including, Vito Acconci, Diane Arbus, Ross Bleckner, Louise Bourgeois, Chuck Close, James Croak, Emily Eveleth, Till Freiwald, Lucien Freud, Tom Friedman, Karel Funk, Tim Gardner, Tierney Gearon, Robert Gober, Joan Goldin, Jeff Hesser, Y.Z. Kami, Elizabeth King, Gustav Klimt, Loretta Lux, Alexandra Moore, Ron Mueck, Catherine Murphy, Alice Neel, Catherine Opie, Evan Penny, Jenny Saville, Egon Schiele, Claudette Schreuders, Joan Semmel, Cindy Sherman, Do Ho Suh and Cynthia Westwood.
Composed of realist and hyper-realist works of art, the exhibition is not concerned with realism per se, rather it is focused on the drive behind realistic imagery: the effort to capture the essence of the thing itself.
Concentrating on major themes such as birth, childhood, intimacy and self-identity, All the More Real presents a range of responses to these experiences, from emotional expressionism to ironic detachment. By creating images and objects that appear to be even more real than the actual thing they represent, these artists reassert the ability of representational objects to convey authenticity, pathos and in many cases, wonder and awe.
Mr. Fischl states, “The representation of the body has been both central to and problematic for Modernism since its nascence at the turn of the century. The recent re-emergence in painting, sculpture and photography that insists on the inescapable presence of the body’s physicality is a compelling twist in the events of recent art history. The show explores this phenomenon. The works in the exhibition are powerful, provocative, extremely well crafted and profoundly beautiful.”
“All of the works are linked by an underlying sense that the impossibility of ever truly knowing another is an expression of the challenge of truly knowing one’s self,” notes Ms. Falkenberg.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a 136-page full-color catalogue with essays by Eric Fischl, Merrill Falkenberg, and John Haskell. To purchase the catalogue, call 631-283-2118, ext. 19.
For museum hours, admission and general information, visit www.parrishart.org
PARRISH ART MUSEUM EXPANSION
The Parrish is scheduled to open the doors to its new home in 2010, designed by the internationally renowned architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron. The new Museum will be built on a fourteen-acre site in the village of Water Mill and the innovative design will integrate architecture and landscape in a plan that both respects and reflects the singular natural beauty and rich artistic legacy of Long Island’s East End.
The Parrish is in the process of developing the new 64,000 square-foot facility, which is part of at 79,000 square-foot master plan that will be completed in phases. The new museum will enable The Parrish to display more of its collection, increase its special exhibition program, and expand its diverse public programs, school programs, and offerings.