Sister Corita
dal 21/2/2014 al 9/5/2014
Segnalato da
21/2/2014
Sister Corita
Circle Culture Gallery, Berlin
Let The Sun Shine In. Sister Corita Kent (1918-1986) was an unusual artist, a teacher, philosopher, political activist. The exhibition begins with a selection of early works from the 1950s then continues with her famous Pop Art works from the 1960s.
curated by Aaron Rose and Sasha Carrera
Sister Corita Kent (1918-1986) was an artist, teacher, philosopher, political activist and possibly one
of the most innovative and unusual pop artists of the 1960s. She was a nun in the Catholic Church until
the late 1960s.
For over 30 years, in the heart of Los Angeles, Sister Corita produced a spate of serigraph or screenprinted images. This extraordinary retrospective exhibition documents Corita’s practice during that
time. The exhibition begins with a selection of early works from the 1950s then continues with her famous Pop Art works from the 1960s.
As a pop artist, Corita privileged text and vibrant color, manipulated type and images appropriated
from the newly burgeoning consumer culture of her era. Rather than using the trappings of materialism
to point out its flaws, however, she would radically reframe the elements she extracted from
advertising logos and signage by spatially manipulating the text. She would then add quotations from
sources as diverse as the Bible, author and philosopher Albert Camus, composer John Cage, and
contemporary pop songs.
After leaving the church in the late 1960s, Corita’s works took a grand stylistic turn. She all but
abandoned the neon-soaked Psychedelia of her previous works, and opted instead for a more subtle,
nuanced approach to art making. A selection of these works from the 1970s and 1980s will be included
here as well. Corita first taught, and subsequently became chair of the art department at Los Angeles’s
Immaculate Heart College, where she became famous for her novel pedagogical methods. Her students
helped produce her serigraphs, and her inventive teaching practices encouraged them to look hard and
work harder, leaving a lasting impact on the way they encountered the world. With fame also came the
opportunity to invite her contemporaries to speak at her lectures. Illustrious speakers including
luminaries such as designers Charles and Ray Eames, composer John Cage, graphic designer Saul Bass
and film director Alfred Hitchcock.
For Let The Sun Shine In, the curators will broaden the sphere of Corita’s inclusive spirit of
collaboration to involve yet another generation of art students and viewers. A section of the gallery will
be transformed into a workshop, where the public can engage in activities based on Corita’s
pedagogical principles. In addition to serigraphs, Let The Sun Shine In will feature a collection of
photographic images from the Immaculate Heart archive, documenting not just Corita and her practice,
but the wild and wonderful community that surrounded her during that time. Additionally, a film
program of rarely seen cinematic works from the era will accompany the exhibition.
The Curators:
Aaron Rose was co-curator of the museum exhibition Beautiful Losers, which toured the world through
2009. In 2011, he was associate curator of Art In The Streets, an exhibition at the Museum of
Contemporary Art (MoCA) in Los Angeles.
Sasha Carrera is the director of the Corita Art Center and –as a specialist– has been managing the
artistic heritage of Sister Corita Kent for ten years.
Image: Corita Portrait, Courtesy of Circle Culture Gallery. Photo: Joshua White.
Presscontact:
Artpress – Ute Weingarten Elisabethkirchstraße 15 - 10115 Berlin T + 49 30 48496350 artpress@uteweingarten.de
Talk about Sister Corita’s work and life with curators Aaron Rose and Sasha Carrera February 22nd, 5pm
Vernissage February 22nd, 7pm – 10pm
Circle Culture Gallery
Potsdamer Straße 68, Berlin-Tiergarten
Opening Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 12 - 6 pm
and by appointment