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The Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette
may 21 – september 3, 2005
may 21 – september 3, 2005
paul and lulu hilliard university art museum university of louisiana at lafayette
r a u sc h e n b e r g p o t t o r f r a u s c h e n b e r g
robert rauschenberg: scenarios & short stories darryl pottorf: a perspective christopher rauschenberg
May 10, 2005
Contact: Pat Viser Herman Mhire
318-227-1515 337-482-6060
***MEDIA ADVISORY***
WHO: The Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette
WHAT: News conference and an opportunity to interview the artists for the
Rauschenberg, Pottorf, Rauschenberg Art Exhibitions
A new collection of works by American Master Robert Rauschenberg entitled Scenarios and Short Stories and collaborative works by Darryl Pottorf, once Rauschenberg’s assistant, and preeminent Oregon photographer Christopher Rauschenberg, Robert’s son.
WHEN: Fri., May 20, 2005 at 2 p.m.
WHERE: The Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum
710 East St. Mary Blvd.
Lafayette, LA
The University Art Museum will officially kick off the Rauschenberg Festival week May 14-21, 2005 with the following events:
o Rauschenberg 5K Run, 8 a.m., Sat. May 14, 2005
o “Rauschenberg, Innovation and Risk” lecture by Donald Kuspit, 7 p.m., Wed. May 18, 2005
o “A Conversation with the Artists” moderated by Herman Mhire, Director, Hilliard Art MuseumRauschenberg / Art and Life, 7 p.m., Thurs. May 19, 2005 at Burke Hall Theatre
o Gala Opening, 7 p.m., Sat. May 21, 2005
For more information regarding the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum or the work of Robert Rauschenberg, Darryl Pottorf or Christopher Rauschenberg, contact Herman Mhire at 337-482-6060 or Pat Viser of Williams Creative Group, Inc. at 318-227-1515.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 10, 2005
Contact: Herman Mhire at (337) 482-6060 or Pat Viser at 318-227-1515
American Master Rauschenberg Opens Latest Exhibit in Lafayette, LA
Rauschenberg, Pottorf, Rauschenberg Exhibit
Dedicated to Memory of Artist’s Mother, Dora Rauschenberg
LAFAYETTE, LA—An exhibition of new works titled Scenarios and Short Stories by American Master Robert Rauschenberg and dedicated to the memory of his mother, Dora Rauschenberg, will open at the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette on Sat., May 21, 2005. The exhibit will be complemented by collaborative works that Rauschenberg created with fellow artist, Darryl Pottorf, and the photography of Christopher Rauschenberg, son of Robert Rauschenberg.
Robert Rauschenberg has become known as one of the most innovative artists of the 20th century. He found his signature style in the mid 1950s by embracing materials traditionally outside of the artist’s reach. He covered a canvas with house paint, inked the wheel of a car and ran it over paper to create a painting, and ultimately cemented his place in art history with what he termed “combines.” One of the first and most famous combines was entitled “Monogram” and consisted of a stuffed angora goat, a tire, a police barrier, the heel of a shoe, a tennis ball, and paint. Robert Rauschenberg defined the course of modern art in the second half of the 20th century. In 1998 The Guggenheim Museum put on its largest exhibition ever with a four hundred work retrospective by Rauschenberg. The new works included in Scenarios and Short Stories opening at the University Art Museum on May 21st! reflect Rauschenberg’s unmistakable collage-based style.
“There’s a poetic innocence to Rauschenberg’s Scenarios and Short Stories,” says one of America’s most distinguished art critics, Donald Kuspit. “They’re prose poems with a strong Symbolist undertone.” Kuspit goes on to suggest that Rauschenberg’s visual objects are coded entries in a private diary, with personal and transcendental meaningfulness. One of the Scenarios, according to Kuspit, seems to have an overriding existential message that death is approaching. This is the piece
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entitled Restoration, 2004 that depicts a red fire hydrant in the upper left section paired with Michelangelo’s graying David in the lower right. Kuspit suggests that David is symbolic of Rauschenberg in his heroic youth, but memorializing Rauschenberg’s triumph as having become gray and old. “Below the hydrant, is a photograph of an abandoned old wheel leaning against a wooden shed—another symbol of the end of the road, adding a note of obsoleteness, “ says Kuspit. There are also two photographs in the same work--one showing an electrified train coming to a dead-end in a station and the other showing the dead-end in the station from the opposite angle with red and blue warning signs conspicuously visible. Kuspit says, “Rauschenberg is in effect free associating, then arranging the associations to form a meaningful pattern.”
Donald Kuspit will present a lecture entitled “Robert Rauschenberg, Innovation and Risk” at the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum, 710 East St. Mary Blvd. on Wed., May 18, 2005 at 7 p.m. as a part of a two week-long series of events celebrating the opening of Rauschenberg, Pottorf, Rauschenberg.
Darryl Pottorf and Christopher Rauschenberg’s works will be shown in collaboration with Robert Rauschenberg’s for this exhibit. Characterized as members of the School of Rauschenberg by Donald Kuspit, each of these artists is original in his own right. Pottorf, once Rauschenberg’s assistant and collaborator, creates photography-based multimedia works that are expansive and more thematically concentrated. Christopher Rauschenberg, preeminent Oregon photographer and Robert’s son, presents a series of images recently captured in Europe and South America. He shoots the images sequentially and then mounts them in a disjunctive line, representing an aesthetic transcendence over a sometimes devastating reality.
In addition to the Kuspit lecture, the Robert Rauschenberg Festival Week will kick off with a 5K Rauschenberg Run beginning at the University Art Museum on Sat., May 14 at 8 a.m. There will be “A Conversation with the Artists” at Burke Hall Theatre, University of Lafayette, at 7 p.m. on Thurs., May 19 that will include Robert Rauschenberg, Darryl Pottorf, and Christopher Rauschenberg as well as acclaimed choreographer Trisha Brown and saxophonist, composer and artist Richard Landry. The “Conversation” is free to the public. A gala opening to benefit the Museum will preview the exhibition from 7 to 9 p.m. on Sat., May 21 Tickets are $100 per person and can be purchased at Abdallas, à la Carte, Begneaud’s Pharmacy and Fine Gifts, Café des Amis in Breaux Bridge, Charley G’s, Gallery 912, Jefferson Street Market, the Kitchen Shop at Grand Coteau, Marshall’s Home and Garden Showplace, Molli, Natalee, Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum and Pi! eces of Eight.
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The Rauschenberg, Pottorf, Rauschenberg exhibition will hang in the University Art Museum through Sept. 3, 2005 after which time it will premier new exhibition spaces first at the Herron School of Art in Indianapolis, IN, in Sept. 2005 and then at the Telfair Art Museum in Savannah, GA in the spring of 2006.
About the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum
Acadiana’s newest architectural landmark and one of the most distinguished museums on the Gulf Coast, the new Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum opened in April, 2004. The museum has already hosted an impressive exhibition schedule including the first national traveling exhibition of American sculptor Deborah Butterfield, Picasso Edition Ceramics from The Edward Weston Collection and Arthur Kern’s three-dimensional images of the horse. The museum is located at 710 East St. Mary Blvd. in Lafayette’s Oil Center. Hours are Tues.-Sat., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission prices are Adult $5, Senior Citizen $4, Student (5-17) $3, Adult Groups of 20 or more $4, Student Groups of 20 or more $3. For general information, call 337-482-2278, or visit www.louisiana.edu/uam. For membership information, call 337-482-0817 or e-mail leigham@louisiana.edu.
Rauschenberg Festival Week Schedule of Events:
Sat., May 14, 8 a.m. 5K Rauschenberg Run
Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum, 710 East St. Mary Blvd.
Entry Fee is $20 until May 7 and $25 afterwards.
For more information, contact race director, Chuck Rush, at 235-2425 or cmrrush@cox-internet.com
Wed., May 18, 7 p.m. “Robert Rauschenberg, Innovation and Risk”
Lecture by Donald Kuspit
Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum, 710 East St. Mary Blvd.
Free to the public and sponsored by The Independent and Iberia Bank
Thurs., May 19, 7 p.m. “A Conversation with the Artists”
Moderated by Herman Mhire, Director, Hilliard Art Museum
Burke Hall Theatre, university of Louisiana at Lafayette
Free to the public, but seating is limited. Telephone 337-482-0817 to make a reservation
Sat., May 21, 7-9 p.m.
Gala Opening
Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum, 710 East St. Mary Blvd.
$100 per person to benefit the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum
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A CD of images from Rauschenberg, Pottorf, Rauschenberg exhibit along with photos of the artists and of the award-winning University Art Museum is available upon request.
FACT SHEET
may 21 – september 3, 2005
paul and lulu hilliard university art museum university of louisiana at lafayette
r a u sc h e n b e r g p o t t o r f r a u s c h e n b e r g
robert rauschenberg: scenarios & short stories darryl pottorf: a perspective christopher rauschenberg
A new collection of works by American Master Robert Rauschenberg will open at the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette at 7 p.m. on Sat., May 21, 2005.
The exhibition will include works by Darryl Pottorf, once Rauschenberg’s assistant and collaborator and preeminent Oregon photographer Christopher Rauschenberg, Robert’s son.
Robert Rauschenberg’s works are entitled Scenarios and Short Stories and include 14 monumental new works reflecting Rauschenberg’s unmistakable collage-based style.
Robert Rauschenberg is known as one of the most innovative artists of the 20th century and has worked for more than five decades, blurring the boundaries between traditional art-making methods and redefining conventional notions of painting, sculpture, photography, printmaking and performance.
Rauschenberg’s work has been shown in galleries and museums throughout the world. In 1998 The Guggenheim Museum put on its largest exhibition ever with a four hundred work retrospective by Rauschenberg, showcasing the breadth and beauty of his work and its influence over the second half of the century.
Robert Rauschenberg’s connection to Lafayette, LA is significant. His family moved to Lafayette while he was in the Navy and throughout his career, he annually visited his father, Ernest, his mother Dora, and his sister Janet in Lafayette. His sister still lives in Lafayette. Rauschenberg lives in Captiva, Florida.
The Rauschenberg, Pottorf, Rauschenberg exhibit is dedicated to the memory of his mother, Dora, and includes a 1989 photograph by Christopher of his grandmother Dora under the famous St. John Oak in Lafayette.
All of the images in Scenarios and Short Stories were executed during the past three years and are large-scale, photo based works. Several of the Scenarios debuted at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut, in July, 2004.
The exhibit consists of 14 works by Robert Rauschenberg, 19 by Pottorf and 15 by Christopher Rauschenberg. A CD of the images is available upon request along with photos of the artists themselves.
Darryl Pottorf was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1952 and was once Rauschenberg’s assistant and collaborator. His work has been shown at galleries and museum throughout the world. Pottorf is a practicing architect and designed Rauschenberg’s home and studio as well as his own. He lives and works in Captiva, Florida.
Christopher Rauschenberg is a preeminent Oregon photographer whose works in this exhibit were taken in Europe and South America. He shoots areas sequentially and then mounts the resulting prints in a disjunctive line. Christopher’s camera eye seems to photograph the past with no mournfulness and keeps the observer out of the vacant space of the past as though it were forbidden emotional territory. One may look, but not touch, remember but never return.
Donald Kuspit is one of America’s most distinguished art critics and winner of the prestigious Frank Jewett Mather Award for Distinction in Art Criticism given by the College Art Association. Professor Kuspit is a contributing editor at Artform, Sculpture, and Terma Celeste magazines, the Editor of Art Criticism, and on the advisory board of Centennial Review. He has doctorates in philosophy and art history as well as degrees from Columbia University, Yale University, and Pennsylvania State University, and he is the editorial advisor for European art 1900-50 and art criticism for the new Encyclopedia Britannica (16th edition).
A week-long schedule of events is planned in celebration of the opening of the Rauschenberg, Pottorf, Rauschenberg exhibit including
§ Sat., May 14, 8 a.m. 5K Rauschenberg Run
Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum, 710 East St. Mary Blvd.
Entry Fee is $20 until May 7 and $25 afterwards.
For more information, contact race director, Chuck Rush, at 235-2425 or cmrrush@cox-internet.com
§ Wed., May 18, 7 p.m. “Robert Rauschenberg, Innovation and Risk”
Lecture by Donald Kuspit
Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum, 710 East St. Mary Blvd.
Free to the public and sponsored by The Independent and Iberia Bank
§ Thurs., May 19, 7 p.m. “A Conversation with the Artists”
Moderated by Herman Mhire, Director, Hilliard Art Museum
Burke Hall Theatre, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Free to the public, but seating is limited. Telephone 337-482-0817 to make a reservation.
Other artists participating in “A Conversation with the Artists” will be:
Trisha Brown, the most widely acclaimed choreographer to emerge from the post-modern era. Brown pushed the limits of what could be considered appropriate movement for choreography, and in so doing changed modern dance forever
Richard Landry, saxophonist, composer, artist who received a degree in music from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and who has performed with Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon and others.
Tickets for the Rauschenberg, Pottorf, Rauschenberg gala opening on Sat., May 21, 2005 are $100 and are can be purchased at Abdallas, à la Carte, Begneaud’s Pharmacy and Find Gifts, Café des Amis in Breaux Bridge, Charley G’s, Gallery 912, Jefferson Street Market, the Kitchen Shop at Grand Coteau, Marshall’s Home and Garden Showplace, Molli, Natalee, Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum and Pieces of Eight.
About the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum
The Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum opened in April, 2004, and is the recipient of six distinguished architectural design awards including the 2005 American Institute of Architects National Honor Award.
The museum is located at 710 East St. Mary Blvd. in Lafayette’s Oil Center. Hours are Tues.-Sat., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission prices are Adult $5, Senior Citizen $4, Student (5-17) $3, Adult Groups of 20 or more $4, Student Groups of 20 or more $3. For general information, call 337-482-2278 or visit www.louisiana.edu/uam. For membership information, call 337-482-0817 or e-mail leigham@louisiana.edu.
May 21-September 3, 2005
Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum of
the University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Rauschenberg, Pottorf, Rauschenberg is made possible through the cooperation of the Curator’s Circle Corporation; the Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism; the Lafayette Convention & Visitors Bureau; Louisiana Division of the Arts; University of Louisiana at Lafayette; The Independent Weekly; Smith Barney Citigroup; and Iberia Bank.
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