~WILLIAM CHRISTENBERRY . . in the news. right along with MIKE KELLEY, sadly.
WILLIAM CHRISTENBERRY is NOT just in the mix – he’s in the news, part & parcel of a real-time THREAD . . .
when I googled him, after posting those 2006 exhibit pix, post previous – lo, and behold, I found him in a far-out contemporary exhibit on Americana at the ACKLAND ART MUSEUM – of the UNIVERSITY of NORTH CAROLINA at CHAPEL HILL.
the exhibit titled ‘The Spectacular of Vernacular’ (!!) is a diverse group show of 25 contemporary artists that “embraces the rustic, the folkloric, and the humbly homemade . . . as well as the crass clash of street spectacle and commercial culture.”
the show which opened Jan 14, 2012 runs thru MARCH 18, 2012.
see: ‘The Spectacular of Vernacular’ – ACKLAND ART MUSEUM
in a sad note of just how much in the mix . . .
the Ackland Museum’s write-up on the show begins with a quote from MIKE KELLEY, who was found dead of an apparent suicide – this past Tues, Jan 31, 2012, and it goes thus:
Inspired by artist MIKE KELLEY’S observation that “the mass art of today is the folk art of tomorrow.”
see: MIKE KELLEY dead at 57 of apparent suicide/LA TIMES
see: MIKE KELLEY, influential artist/NEW YORK TIMES
well death will stop you in your tracks, won’t it. but in his honor . . .
vernacular – the everyday native ‘language’ is a great word to pair with Americana. let alone rhyme with spectacular. they sure have some peppy theorists and writers – over there in North Carolina. not to mention on point.
back on the web – Urban Dictionary pretty much nails it: vernacular – Urban Dictionary
according to the Independent Weekly, out of Durham, North Carolina, in a lively review of the show by JULIE THOMSON:
“Critic and theorist MAURICE BLANCHOT wrote the following about the everyday in 1969, saying that it is ‘what is most difficult to discover.’ This elusive quality about the things and places we see and experience every day extends to the vernacular . . .
The Ackland Art Museum’s current exhibition, ‘The Spectacular of Vernacular’ expands upon this term to include art that also encompasses local traditions and characteristics . . .”
Julie Thomson writes that William Christenberry has one of his small scale hand-built wooden replicas, of which he is almost, but not quite as well-known for, as his photographs . . . in the show: the ‘Palmist Building’ (1979) – “a detailed model of a country store owned by his great uncle in a small Alabama town.”
see: The Ordinary becomes Exceptional – at the Ackland, Independent Weekly
I’d say that calls for a few more pix !! and in fact these archival Christenberry photos, they do have a kind of sadness to their beauty, and they do offer a wordless but poignant reflection upon the relentlessness of time, and the ultimate end of all things, esp vernacular.
don’t they.
I’m also thinking, they sure do echo that quote of Mike Kelley’s: “the mass art of today – is the folk art of tomorrow.”
Amen, R.I.P. Mike Kelley.
from the exhibit, ‘WILLIAM CHRISTENBERRY PHOTOGRAPHS: 1961-2005’, APERTURE FOUNDATION GALLERY, NYC – SUMMER 2006
PHOTO by WILLIAM CHRISTENBERRY.
a storefront porch – maybe the very one mentioned above ?
if not – pretty much in the same vernacular !!
detail, PHOTO by WILLIAM CHRISTENBERRY.
PHOTO by WILLIAM CHRISTENBERRY.
PHOTO by WILLIAM CHRISTENBERRY.
PHOTOS FROM THE SUMMER 2006 APERTURE – ‘CHRISTENBERRY’ exhibit: NANCY SMITH