PIVOT POINTS, PART 2: NEW MYTHOLOGIES
April 12 – June 28, 2008

Matthew Barney: Cremaster 2: The Metamorphosis, 1999 (detail) C-print in acrylic frame, 54 in. x 43 in. x 1 in.
Promised gift of Joan and Michael Salke

 

Featuring works from the permanent collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, Pivot Points, Part 2: New Mythologies explores the ways contemporary artists create self-mythologies and construct stories with their work. These narratives provide a story line for artists to follow in the conception of new work.

Some of these stories are confessional while others follow the activities and foibles of real-life or fictional characters. Most civilizations developed myths to explain the unknown—especially the mysteries of life, death and the universe. The artists in Pivot Points, Part 2 draw on mythologies from various times and cultures or from their own imagination to come to terms with the world as they know it.

Pivot Points, Part 2: New Mythologies will be presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art’s satellite gallery, MOCA at Goldman Warehouse in Wynwood (404 NW 26th Street, Miami) from April 12 – June 28, 2008 and will include works by artists Matthew Barney, Jose Bedia, Louise Bourgeois, William Cordova, Tracey Emin, John Espinosa, Phillip Estlund, Luis Gispert and Jeffrey Reed, Christian Holstad, Isaac Julien, Guillermo Kuitca, Mariko Mori, Adrian Paci, Jorge Pantoja, Raymond Pettibon, Ali Prosch, Matthew Ritchie, Jason Rhoades, Ann-Sofi Sidén, Saul Steinberg, Barthélemy Togo, Kyle Trowbridge, Tunga, and Michael Vasquez.

Among the featured works are recent acquisitions to MOCA’s collection such as Matthew Barney’s C-print, Cremaster 2: The Metamorphosis, 1999, a promised gift of Joan and Michael Salke, in which Norman Mailer appears as the magician Harry Houdini. Mailer played the role of Harry Houdini in Barney’s 1999 film, Cremaster 2 , a gothic western that was loosely based on the life of convicted murderer Gary Gilmore. Argentine artist Guillermo Kuitca’s 1995 painting, Untitled, a gift of Barbara and Avram Jacobson of Los Angeles, was inspired by maps and represents his often obsessive investigations into the psychological effects of such highly organized social spaces as stadiums, theaters, and classrooms. In Station 10 and Back Again, 2001, Ann-Sofi Sidén, captured the activity of a fire station in Norrkoping, Sweden over the course of several weeks with surveillance cameras.

The resulting documentation is shown on 18 video monitors placed among objects such as hoses, boots, helmets and tools. The work raises questions about voyeurism and represents the artist’s investigation into hidden conflicts in contemporary power struggle and it was a gift of the Martin Z. Margulies Foundation. Albanian artist Adrian Paci’s work deals with political situations and his own life as an émigré. Paci’s work, The Wedding, 2007 is part of a new series of freestanding frescoes on which he has painted tempera images from a traditional Albanian wedding that took place in the1990s. The work was a museum purchase with funds provided by the Ira and Irene Lampert Foundation, Michelle Rosenfeld, Peter and Jody Robbins and anonymous donor.

Brazilian artist Tunga works in sculpture, installation, drawing, video and performance. Tunga’s lizard-shaped drawing, Untitled, 1997, donated by Diane and Robert Moss, references his performative works inspired by the tropical landscape of Brazil. South Florida artist Phillip Estlund’s video Crossing the Equator, 2007 is comprised of found film that captures a 1968 hazing ritual on a navy aircraft carrier on its way to Vietnam. The work was selected from MOCA’s Optic IX film festival for museum purchase with funds provided by Starbucks Coffee Company.

The Pivot Points exhibition series reflects the Museum of Contemporary Art’s focused approach to collecting, which concentrates on works connected by concepts and methodologies, as opposed to chronology, style or medium. The first installment of the series, Pivot Points Part 1: Defining MOCA’s Collection, is on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art’s Joan Lehman Building in North Miami from March 25 – May 2, 2008.

Pivot Points is organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami. The exhibition is curated by MOCA Executive Director and Chief Curator Bonnie Clearwater.

Pivot Points is sponsored by Northern Trust.

 

 

Exhibitions and programs at MOCA are made possible through grants from the City of North Miami, the Florida Arts Council, the Department of State, the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, Cultural Affairs Council, the Mayor and Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners. The Museum of Contemporary Art is accredited by the American Association of Museums