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In The Studio
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across the museum’s collection, and draw connections and inevitable comparisons between artists
Pleasant T. Rowland Galleries instead to invite viewers to examine small details that reveal personalities, to see how common
A conversation with artist Joe Fig.
Chazen auditorium
6:30–8 PM
the unique environments in which artists do their work. The objects on view are selected from
June 1–August 11, 2019
June 13
5:30–6:30 PM
Curated by the Chazen’s director, Amy Gilman, this exhibition focuses on the artist’s studio and
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Reception. Mead Witter Lobby
Sanford Biggers
Jun 28–Sep 22, 2019
Leslie and Johanna Garfield Galleries
of different times, cultures, and media. The purpose is not to “equalize” all artistic work, but
studio practice (such as drawing from live models) has evolved (or not) over time, and to expose for
close examination the preliminary work that leads to the finished objects we most closely associate
with art in a museum. Along the way are enduring friendships and rivalries, humor, angst, and a
great deal of hard work. This is a collections-based exhibition, and as such, it, of course, reflects
the Chazen Museum of Art’s growth, its strengths, and also contains some wonderful surprises.
Sanford Biggers uses a wide range of media—including painting,
sculpture, video, film, multicomponent installations, and performance—to
encourage meaningful dialogue around narratives in American history.
Works in the Chazen exhibition include sculpture from the BAM series,
video installation, and textile collage featuring antique quilts.
For his BAM series Biggers draws from his varied collection of wooden
African sculptures. He coats each figure with a layer of wax to obscure its
individual identity before “sculpting” it at a firing range with gunshots. The
figures are then cast anew in bronze and he renames each after a victim of
brutality, imparting idiosyncrasy into the newly revitalized figures.
Biggers acquires and alters antique quilts, calling the resulting artworks
paintings. In contributing his own imagery to these patchwork quilts,
Biggers, in effect, collaborates with the unknown quilters and forms a
Sanford Biggers
Courtesy Sanford Biggers and Monique Meloche
Gallery, Chicago. Photo: Alex Freund.
dialogue between them, himself, viewers, the past and present.
Sanford Biggers was organized for the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis by Lisa
Melandri, executive director. Support for the catalog is provided by the Elizabeth Firestone
Graham Foundation. Presentation at the Chazen Museum of Art was generously supported by
the Brittingham Trust and by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the
State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Sanford Biggers (American b. 1970),
BAM (for Terence), 2016, bronze with
black patina, unique within a series
of three, courtesy the artist and
Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago