Existential / Political

Dates

Curators

   Existential / Political is an exhibition of key works by Rudolf Baranik and May Stevens. This presentation concentrated on paintings from the '70s to the present and related drawings and collages.

   For four decades these two artists have shared a deep involvement in each other's moral convictions and ideology, which range from existential to political parti-pris. While their works developed from expressionist roots, they work in different visual languages. Baranik uses an abstract idiom of mood; Stevens, a more concrete iconography. Common to both of them is a commitment to an art practice as activists and a process of artmaking that is deeply rooted in the personal. Both artists have been influential in the contemporary art discourse through their writings and public statements as well as through their art.

Program: Argument Date: February 15, 1993 Panel: Argument, a dialogue/conversation/verbal performance between Rudolf Baranik and May Stevens, examined a series of political, social and aesthetic questions that is central to their art and life. Jeanette Ingberman was the referee. Publication: In Words, a booklet published in conjunction with the Exhibition, contained writings by Rudolf Baranik, writings and poetry by May Stevens and "(Not) Coming to Terms," a written dialogue between the artists.





Exhibit Archive | 94-95 Calender