The Renwick Gallery, the 156-year-old building part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C., has a new mission in life. It reopened last week in a grand fashion with Wonder, an exhibition of nine contemporary artists who each took over a room in the newly-remodeled space. The exhibition will run for the next six months.
Above image: Chakaia Booker, Anonymous Donor, 2015. Photograph by Ron Blunt.
Two years and $30 million in renovations left the Renwick with an updated design and a new philosophical outlook. Renwick director Elizabeth Broun told the New York Times that the institution will now focus on “craftsmanship in a digital age.” More than that, Broun wants to see art that is not cloistered and instead “looks out.” The new mission can be seen in the computer-aided installations and in the gallery’s encouragement of photography.
“It’s not a precious object in a studio,” she told the New York Times. “It engages the world in a broader way.”
Chakaia Booker, Anonymous Donor, 2015. Booker created the installation from discarded rubber tires, weaving them into a labyrinth. Click to see a larger image.
The immersive installations were created by Jennifer Angus, Chakaia Booker, Gabriel Dawe, Dara Donovan, Patrick Dougherty, Janet Echelman, John Grade, Maya Lin and Leo Villareal. Curator Nicholas R. Bell said that the concept of “wonder” was “deeply intertwined with how we experience art.” He said that the nine artists excel in startling their audiences, overwhelming them and inviting them to marvel at their works. The gallery states:
While the nine artists work in strikingly different media, they are connected by a shared interest in materiality and the labor-intensive creation of objects by hand in a digital age. Their works are created by exploring the potential of unlikely materials and utilizing both traditional techniques and cutting-edge technology. The resulting installations are expressions of process, labor and materials that are grounded in our everyday world, but which combine to produce awe-inspiring results.
Below are photographs of the installations, accompanied by brief descriptions.
Love contemporary ceramic art and design? Let us know in the comments.
Click to see a larger imge.
Click to see a larger image.
Gabriel Dawe, Plexus A1, 2015. Photographs by Ron Blunt. A textile installation made of thousands of strands of embroidery thread, strung by hand. Refracted light appears to ricochet between the ceiling and floor.
Click to see a larger image.
Click to see a larger image.
Tara Donovan, Untitled, 2014. Photos by Ron Blunt. These towers are constructed from “hundreds of thousands” of index cards that were individually glued together. Click to see a larger image.
Click to see a larger image.
Patrick Dougherty, Shindig, 2015. Photos by Ron Blunt. The installation features woven willow osiers that appear to dance and sway.
Click to see a larger image.
Click to see a larger image.
John Grade, Middle Fork, 2015. Photos by Ron Blunt. Grade’s piece began as a cast of a 150-year-old hemlock tree in the Cascade Mountains. It is reconstructed from more than 500,000 pieces of reclaimed cedar. Click to see a larger image.
Click to see a larger image.
Click to see a larger image.
Jennifer Angus, In the Midnight Garden, 2015. Photos by Ron Blunt. The geometric patterns and iconography in this installation are made from insect specimens. Click to see a larger image.
Click to see a larger image.
Click to see a larger image.
Click to see a larger image.
Maya Lin, Folding the Chesapeake, 2015. Photos by Ron Blunt. Comprised of green marbles flowing across the floors and walls of the gallery. Click to see a larger image.
Click to see a larger image.
Leo Villareal, Volume (Renwick), 2015. Photos by Ron Blunt. Vilareal’s work includes 320 steel rods embedded with 23,000 LEDs. The lights are programmed with an algorithm that creates infinite patterns. Click to see a larger image. Images courtesy of the gallery.
Is this the End of the Adoration of the Object at the Renwick? Or simply an open invitation to engage with craft on multiple levels? I do hope the Renwick will strike a balance between the two.
Touché Paul
If art is only for temporary experiences, is it art anymore or simply entertainment?
PM I would be interested to know your definition of art. I ask because I wonder how you see this work as different to other ‘art’, and what makes the experience of this work any more or less temporary. I would add that I think art has always been about entertainment for a long time, at least as long as there have been galleries and museums.
Sorry, I meant that art has been about entertainment at least as long as there have been galleries and museums.
Wonderful imagery. I so wish I could see it in person!