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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2009 > July > 28
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Film installation doesn’t Mickey Mouse around, curator says
In case you missed it, we wrote about Austin artist Amy Grappell and her compelling video installation, ‘Quadrangle,’ that’s now on view at Arthouse as part of the exhibit ‘NAT 24: New American Talent, The Twenty-Fourth Exhibition.’
You can read that story here.
Hamza Walker, this year’s guest curator for Arthouse’s ‘New American Talent’ and director of education at the University of Chicago’s Renaissance Society, sifted through the work of nearly 700 artists from 44 states who submitted to the show. From that massive pool, Walker selected 26 artists including eight from Austin.
Walker really, really liked Grappell’s ‘Quadrangle.’ Here’s what he told us:
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It is a superb piece, really first rate work. I can’t remember how many videos I watched in jurying NAT; a few dozen at minimum. Amy’s was one of the first and it set a very very high bar. It is the only video piece in the show for precisely that reason. Nothing else compared. Not only does the work stand out within the pool of applicants, that piece stands out in any context. I live for work of that caliber. It’s the real deal, meat and potatoes kinda work—substantial, serious, compelling, deeply moving and formally beautiful. In short, mature work. No Mickey Mousing around. In addition to the story, it is an outstanding piece of portraiture where the genre is not defined by medium, but whether or not you are good at working with people in soliciting aspects of their personality that speak beyond what they may be telling us verbally.
- Amy’s skill as a seasoned documentary filmmaker serves her well in making the transition to an art context. Although many artists flirt with documentary strategies, they are often unwilling to engage their subject directly. The result is dilettantism especially when it comes to an autobiographical work let alone one with Quadrangle’s complexity. One’s parents are the ultimate subject matter, meaning you really have to have the chops to pull off a work exploring their personal lives.
‘NAT 24: New American Talent, the Twenty-fourth Exhibition’ continues 1 through Sept. 6 Arthouse, 700 Congress Ave. www.arthousetexas.org
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