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Art Sat Feb 20 2010
Art & Language at Rhona Hoffman
Conceptual artist collaboration Art & Language has been creating discursive thought-provoking pieces since the late 60s. Their work provides intentional open-ended and ongoing conversation. Since the 60s, the members have changed many times including, at one time, (random, fun fact) Kathryn Bigelow, director of The Hurt Locker. They are known for incorporating text and art to a point at which the text is the art and always posing the question, as Kathryn Born put it in her interview with members Michael Baldwin and Mel Ramsden, "How nothing can [art] be?" Rhona Hoffman hosted Art & Language at her gallery in the West Loop, which opened last night. The show acts as a sort of mini-retrospective, showcasing works across the span of their career.
Many of the works are actually just documentation of more illusory work, like their lyrics for the band Red Crayola or blueprints for posters that no longer exist.
Other pieces, like the ones about greetings that cover two walls, all converse with one another. Frame after frame, line after line asks "Hello, (name) how are you?" Of course, I spent a good minute or two trying to spot my name. On the adjacent wall are paintings with Gustave Courbet's close up of female genitalia from "The Origin of the World." When the viewer peers uncomfortably into the woman, the faint word, "Hello" appears. I didn't try to find my name in that one.
