Alex Melamid
dal 25/10/2004 al 26/10/2004
Segnalato da
25/10/2004
Alex Melamid
CCS Bard Center for Curatorial Studies, New York
Art Ministry. 'In his current 'Art ministry' project, Melamid uses religion as a lens through which to examine the ingrained pieties and genius worship of museum culture,' writes Mia Fineman in the New York Times.
INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED CONCEPTUAL ARTIST, BRINGS HIS "ART
MINISTRY"
TO BARD COLLEGE ON TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.-Russian conceptual artist Alex Melamid, known for
his irony and irreverence, will bring his latest project, "Art Ministry," to
Bard College on Tuesday, October 26. Free and open to the public, the
program, "In Art We Trust (Since We Can't Explain It): The Gospel According
to Alex," will begin at 7:00 p.m. in the Chapel of the Holy Innocents.
Melamid's talk at Bard will examine his wry view of art as a religion, which
he feels began with the death of Van Gogh. "Van Gogh's idiomorphic view of
God as a struggling Artist might well suggest that Jesus would be described
as an artist as well," explains Melamid. Some of the questions he will pose
are: Does art contain an innate healing power? How do notions of salvation
and renewal in art compare to those of traditional religions? Will the
art-as-religion movement incorporate doctrine, statues, rites, and laws or
remain in its current free-form state indefinitely?
"In his current 'Art ministry' project, Melamid uses religion as a lens
through which to examine the ingrained pieties and genius worship of museum
culture," writes Mia Fineman in the New York Times. "The whole idea of art
is based on belief," Melamid explained to Fineman. "You cannot explain it,
you cannot understand it. Just try reading art criticism-all you can do is
have faith."
Melamid, along with his fellow Russian dissident artist, Vitaly Komar,
formed the artist group Komar & Melamid (K & M) in the 1970s and began "Sots
Art," the Soviet answer to Pop Art, which "attacked Mother Russia's
overproduction of ideology and socialist propaganda." In recent years, K & M
received worldwide attention with "The People's Choice" project, which
polled artistic taste in the United States. Their most recent project
together, the Asian Elephant Art & Conservation Project, raises funds for
the people and elephants of Southeast Asia by teaching domesticated
elephants to paint, then selling their paintings around the world. K & M's
work can be found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Whitney Museum of American Art, Guggenheim Museum, and the Museum of Modern
Art, and they are featured in the Oxford Dictionary of 20th Century of Art,
The Penguin Concise Dictionary of Art History, Art Since the 40s, and The
20th Century Art Book.
The program at Bard is sponsored by the Human Rights Project; the Division
of Languages and Literature; the Russian Studies, Art History, and
Philosophy Programs; Center for Curatorial Studies; and the Institute for
International Liberal Education. Produced by Lèna Siyanko
immage: Komar & Melamid
For further information, call 845-758-7835.
CCS at Bard College
11 Annandale-on-Hudson
New York