Tracking contemporary art history at Mary Boone with director Ron Warren
by leslierankowfinearts
Ai Wei Wei
Installation at Mary Boone Gallery
ONE OF THE MOST DOMINANT TRENDS IN RECENT YEARS HAS BEEN CROSS-COLLECTING, EXPOSING COLLECTORS TO WORKS OF DIFFERENT PERIODS AND ENCOURAGING THEM TO “MIX IT UP” – CONTEMPORARY AND OLD MASTER, MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY, LATIN AND NORTH AMERICAN. THE AUCTION HOUSES, AND GALLERIES AS WELL, ARE MAKING AN ART-HISTORICAL STATEMENT TO EXPAND A COLLECTOR’S VISION, BASED ON QUALITY AND PROVENANCE AND NOT DATE.
AT TEFAF NEW YORK THIS SPRING, ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOTHS, DAVID ZWIRNER, JUXTAPOSED THE IMPECCABLE JOSEF ALBERS’ HOMAGE TO A SQUARE – ALL RED IN A ROW – AND THE QUIET POTENCY OF GIORGIO MORANDI’S SEEMINGLY EFFORTLESS STILL LIFES. CHRISTIE’S, AS EVERYONE IS WELL AWARE, SOLD THE $450m LEONARDO DA VINCI IN THE POST-WAR AND CONTEMPORARY EVENING SALE, AND SOTHEBY’S VERY SUCCESSFULLY, IN THE CONTEMPORARY ART EVENING AUCTION, HEIGHTENED THE APPRECIATION AND REALIZED IMPRESSIVE AUCTION RESULTS FOR BLACK AMERICAN AND AFRICAN ARTISTS, IN THE SECTION OF THEIR SALE THAT BENEFITTED THE STUDIO MUSEUM IN HARLEM’S EXPANSION. AT CHRISTIE’S SINGLE OWNER ROCKEFELLER SALE, THE JOY OF COLLECTING IN MANY PERIODS, IMPRESSIONIST, MODERN, AMERICAN AND ASIAN SPOKE OF THE PASSION AND COMMITMENT TO THE ARTS OF ALL OF THE GENERATIONS OF ROCKEFELLERS. IT IS ALWAYS GRATIFYING WHEN A COLLECTOR IS INTERESTED IN COLLECTING NOT ONLY THEIR GENERATION BUT ALSO THE ARTISTS THAT INFLUENCED THEM- FOR EXAMPLE, A LICHTENSTEIN WORK ON PAPER, A POLKE RASHER PAINTING AND A NATE LOWMAN BULLET HOLE.
Francis Picabia
MARY BOONE HAS AN IMPRESSIVE HISTORY OF SHOWING HISTORICAL WORKS THAT HAVE GREATLY INFLUENCED THE MORE CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS SHE REPRESENTS. TODAY THE LRFA BLOG WELCOMES RON WARREN, PARTNER AND DIRECTOR OF THE MARY BOONE GALLERY, TO RECOLLECT SOME OF THE MANY MARVELOUS EXHIBITIONS IN THE GALLERY’S LONG HISTORY.
RON, SOME OF THE OUTSTANDING HISTORICAL SHOWS THAT SHOW THE INFLUENCE OF A GENERATION OF MASTER ARTISTS ON THE ARTISTS WORKING TODAY INCLUDE FRANCIS PICABIA, DAN FLAVIN, CLYFFORD STILL AND MY FAVORITE, AS CLIENTS KNOW, THE MIRROR PAINTINGS OF ROY LICHTENSTEIN.
Clyfford Still
PLEASE DESCRIBE THESE EXHIBITIONS AND THE WAYS IN WHICH THEY EXERTED SUCH A STRONG INFLUENCE ON THE CURRENT GENERATION OF ARTISTS.
All amazing exhibitions. Although I came to the gallery after the Picabia show (1983), I do remember how eye-opening that show was. Definitely before its time… did you know that show was thoroughly panned by the New York Times art critic? A direct legacy of that show is that over thirty years later MoMA mounted their extremely well-received Picabia retrospective. Clyfford Still (1990) was a show that at the time was considered impossible to do – Patricia Still was still living and enforcing the artist’s draconian regulations.
Dan Flavin
Monument (for V. Tavlin)
Working with loans from Museums and private collections, we were able to put together what amounted to a small but comprehensive survey. Roy and Dan were still alive at the time of their shows so it was fascinating to see them engage with their own historical works. Besides the impact and importance of the works, my lasting impression of their shows was the way they were lit. The Roy Lichtenstein mirrors (1989) were spot-lit like icons, which in a sense they were. For our Dan Flavin show (1991) of his Monument (for V. Tatlin)works, we relied only on the light emitted from the works. The gallery had a highly polished terra cotta tile floor, and the reflection of the vertical fluorescent tubes gave the darkened space the aura of a sanctuary.
Ai Wei Wei’s Fairytale Project
Documenta
AN ARTIST OF GREAT AESTHETIC AND POLITICAL SIGNIFICANCE IS AI WEIWEI. THE GALLERY HAS REPRESENTED HIM FOR SOME TIME. WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF THE GALLERY’S RELATIONSHIP WITH AI WEIWEI IN TERMS OF PROJECTS AND EXHIBITIONS?
In 2007 Mary went to Documenta where Weiwei presented his ambitious Fairytale project. From discussions there with Weiwei, we had our first show in March 2008 – still one of my favorite installations at our Chelsea gallery. Weiwei created an enormous lighted brass and red glass crystal chandelier that lay twisted on the floor as if it had fallen. He brought a crew from China that spent a week in the gallery constructing the work. We later showed, in January 2012, a smaller version (5 tons) of the Sunflower Seeds that had been shown to great acclaim at the Tate Modern. The millions of handmade porcelain seeds are a metaphor for modern China, each individual, but creating a deceptively unified field.
Ai Wei Wei
Sunflower Seeds
Porcelain
The Ai Weiwei we know today – international political activist and champion of human rights – really took shape following his “citizens’ investigation” into the May 2008 Sichuan earthquake. By Fall 2012, his work had become a vehicle for his cause. Our exhibition Forge was an arrangement of twisted metal rebar pulled from the rubble of collapsed buildings. An interesting footnote is that the exhibition was up during Hurricane Sandy, and the rebar was briefly submerged in three feet of flood water. Weiwei liked that the work now bore witness to two natural disasters from opposite political and cultural sides of the earth.
IN OUR NEXT LRFA BLOG, RON SPEAKS ABOUT THE CURRENT ART MARKET, THE ASIAN MARKET AND SOME OF THE FUTURE PLANS FOR THE GALLERY. HE IS A WEALTH OF INFORMATION AND EXPERTISE. IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE GALLERY OR ITS ARTISTS, FIRE AWAY.
THANKS TO THE READERS, NEW AND OLD SUBSCRIBERS, AND MOST OF ALL THE CONTRIBUTORS TO THE LRFA BLOG- YOUR LABOR-INTENSIVE INTERVIEWS AND GENEROSITY MAKE THE LRFA BLOG COME ALIVE!
Leslie Rankow Fine Arts 