The Curated Object

Exhibitions Seattle. Josiah McElheny: The Last Scattering Surface. Henry Art Gallery. The Curated Object

Josiah McElheny. The Last Scattering Surface. 2006.
Hand-blown glass, chrome plated aluminum, rigging, and electric lighting.
Courtesy of the artist and Donald Young Gallery, Chicago.

Josiah McElheny: The Last Scattering Surface
April 5 – July 13, 2008

Josiah McElheny has grafted a distinguished art career out of two far-flung strands of contemporary art practice: conceptual art and the studio glass movement. Deploying the most sophisticated and virtuoso glass-working techniques, he makes installations and discrete sculptures that explore crucial moments in the development of modernity, its visual and theoretical undercurrents. Since his celebrated An Historical Anecdote about Fashion, commissioned by the Henry Art Gallery in 1999, McElheny’s work has focused primarily on comparing art to the history of the 20th century. His interest in the history of modern science finds its fullest expression in The Last Scattering Surface. Working with astrophysicists at Ohio State University over several years, McElheny has created a vivid tangible model of the Big Bang, the explosion postulated to represent the beginnings of organic matter. Characteristically the form also quotes visual culture, specifically the gigantic chandeliers of New York’s arch-modern performance space, Lincoln Center.

When he was named a Macarthur Fellow the Foundation described his work as “objects of exceptional formal sophistication, exquisite craftsmanship, and conceptual rigor.”

Josiah McElheny: The Last Scattering Surface is organized by Henry Chief Curator Elizabeth Brown. The exhibition is generously supported by ArtsFund and the Patrons of the Henry Art Gallery.

For more information please visit: Henry Art Gallery
-Joanne Molina

Exhibitions Seattle. The Gates of Paradise: Lorenzo Ghiberti's Renaissance Masterpiece. The Seattle Museum of Art. The Curated Object: International Decorative Arts Exhibitions

Creation Panel, Gates of Paradise, 1425-1452 Lorenzo Ghiberti, Gilt Bronze, 31.5 x 31.5 in., Collection of the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo

The Gates of Paradise: Lorenzo Ghiberti's Renaissance Masterpiece
January 26–April 6, 2008

Michelangelo is credited with dubbing them “the gates of paradise,” and sixteenth-century artist and writer Giorgio Vasari called them “the finest masterpiece ever created, either in ancient or modern times.” Three stunning panels from Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise, one of the most celebrated works of the Italian Renaissance, will be on view at SAM Downtown. This exhibition marks the first time that the gilded bronze panels have traveled to the United States since their creation over 550 years ago. Generations of admirers have praised the monumental doors of the Florence baptistery for their compelling portrayal of scenes from the Old Testament and their innovative treatment of architectural space.

The Gates of Paradise exhibition will present the three panels within the context of their 25 years of restoration, nearly as long as it took Ghiberti to create the work. After five centuries of use, exposure to weather and pollution, and human contact, the doors were manifesting the ravages of time—their surfaces corroded and gilt finish dulled. During the restoration, researchers made major new discoveries about the history and consummate craftsmanship of the doors, ultimately revealing the lustrous gold surface that had been obscured over time. The exhibition will give insight into Ghiberti’s work and his development as an artist.

SAM is privileged to provide our community this rare viewing opportunity. After they tour four cities in the United States, including Seattle, the panels will return to Florence to be reassembled within the original doors and kept in an oxygen-free environment at the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, never to leave Florence again.

For more information please visit: The Seattle Art Museum

-Joanne Molina

Exhibitions Seattle. Roman Art from the Louvre . The Seattle Museum of Art. The Curated Object: International Decorative Arts Exhibitions

Portrait of Lucilla, 2nd half of 2nd century A.D., grey-veined marble, 78 3/4 x 37 3/8 x 28 5/16 in. (weight 3420 lbs), Musée du Louvre, Paris, (MA 1171 - INV. N 1482), © AFA/ Musée du Louvre/ Anne Chauvet, Courtesy of the American Federation of Arts

Roman Art from the Louvre    
February 21–May 11, 2008

This extraordinary selection of ancient art from Paris’s famed Musée du Louvre portrays nearly 300 years of imperial Roman life and history. The exhibition includes approximately 180 pieces—many that have never before traveled to the United States—from one of the richest collections of ancient Roman art in the world.

Visitors will meet emperors and members of the imperial court, elite and ordinary citizens, women and children, soldiers, gladiators, foreigners and slaves. Their lives and experiences are richly conveyed through a wide variety of media including monumental marble sculptures and reliefs, paintings and mosaics, bronze statuettes, jewelry, glass and silver implements. These objects demonstrate how the art of Rome shaped ancient life by representing its leaders and deities, defining public and private spaces, acculturating the conquered, and celebrating the dead. The exhibition also illustrates the varied roles that Roman art has played in the post-Classical period, and that it continues to play today.

For more information please visit: The Seattle Museum of Art

-Joanne Molina