A Collage Worth Capturing

Assumedly, she was five years old. She wore a pink sundress. She savored an ice cream cone as she passed… She was the evening’s perfect representation…

On Thursday, I attended the Wexner Summer Warm-up. Both the event and visual were exemplary. Children frolicked and strolled safely sans their parents. Couples canoodled and relaxed upon blankets in the grass. Fashion nuances and nightmares provided incalculable column material.

The triad of flashback music, people, and vendors intermixed into one of the most unique atmospheres in this city. Between the children and blankets on the grass, the ice cream and hot dog vendors on the sidewalk, and the psychedelic soundtrack, the ambiance ran the gambit… Gidget, Jimi Hendrix, and Seth Cohen would have assimilated comfortably.

Also assimilated comfortably was Wexner Center Promotions Superstar Tim Fulton, one of their premiere characters in this city… It’s not as if I don’t encounter a cocktail of personalities each evening, but Fulton is tectonic triple shot… He is analyst and humorist… Enthusiast and influence… Mastermind and pupil…

In two hours, Fulton enters and exits a dozen conversations… He is more comfortable in the present than the previous… Obviously, his profession is public relations, which involves speaking… Thus, he should be proficient in the art form… With that said, Fulton is a conversationalist and not a talker… The difference must be appreciated…

The difference between artistic and random is miniscule and that line was encountered and erased frequently this evening… I know quirkiness is a characteristic which will win you praise within the artistic sphere… However, quirkiness is an engraved invitation into this column and said invitation is inescapable…

Whether they were wearing Arabic writing or Bart man or Ghostbusters t-shirts (if the gimmick is more than three years old, toss the shirt) or hot pink (males just shouldn’t), the choices resembled those a mother would have made for her sixth grade son a decade ago… Any of those individuals should have been nervous to read the twitter…

Since I mentioned the twitter, I have been asked why this website tweets so much…. Why are virtually every moment and reaction typed as they occur… Tonight was a perfect example of the simple answer… You never know what you could encounter next…

INVITE: Wexner Summer Warm-Up

Commencement: 6:30

Venue: Wexner Center for the Arts Plaza (South Campus)

Synopsis
Join us under that stars as we begin another summer of outdoor films at the Wex.

Come early to choose your spot (bring blankets or lawn chairs), mingle with other film fans, sip your favorite beverage (cash bar), and nibble on snacks. This month the film is the Universal horror classic The Wolf Man and you can listen to the vintage R & B, soul, and new wave DJ trueskillz spins to get the evening started. The film itself begins at dusk, which is about 9 PM.

Wexner Center members receive a commemorative Wex Drive-In mug and discounted drinks at each outdoor film. Not yet a member? If you join at any Wex Drive-In screening, you'll receive a film/video T-shirt and two additional film passes (a $34 value).

INVITE: Wexner Summer Warm-Up

Calendar: June 18

Commencement: 6:30

Venue: Wexner Center for the Arts Plaza (South Campus)

Synopsis
Join us under that stars as we begin another summer of outdoor films at the Wex.

Come early to choose your spot (bring blankets or lawn chairs), mingle with other film fans, sip your favorite beverage (cash bar), and nibble on snacks. This month the film is the Universal horror classic The Wolf Man and you can listen to the vintage R & B, soul, and new wave DJ trueskillz spins to get the evening started. The film itself begins at dusk, which is about 9 PM.

Wexner Center members receive a commemorative Wex Drive-In mug and discounted drinks at each outdoor film. Not yet a member? If you join at any Wex Drive-In screening, you'll receive a film/video T-shirt and two additional film passes (a $34 value).

INVITE: Frank Gabrenya Tribute

Commencement: 7:00

Venue: Wexner Center for the Arts (South Campus)

Cost: $5 (members, senior citizens, & students); $7 (everyone else)

Reservations: Wexner Center for the Arts

Synopsis
Many classic films are just as powerful today as when they were first released. We add such films from many genres to our schedule throughout the season. Many are shown on the occasion of their rereleases, in fresh, new or restored prints.

Join us as we honor the career of Frank Gabrenya, the film critic for the Columbus Dispatch from 1987 to 2009 (and for the Columbus Citizen-Journal for years prior to that).

A longtime supporter of the Wexner Center's film program, Gabrenya introduces one of his favorite movies: Jonathan Demme's Melvin and Howard, an endearing comedy based on a true story. A hapless milkman and gas station owner, Melvin Dummar (played by American Graffiti's Paul Le Mat), claims to have picked up a mangy old hitchhiker (Jason Robards) in the middle of the desert only to discover that it was the one of the wealthiest—and most reclusive—men in the world, Howard Hughes. No one believes Dummar's tale...until Hughes's will turns up under mysterious circumstances leaving Dummar $156 million. The film received Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actress (Mary Steenburgen, as Dummar's tap-dancing third wife) and Best Original Screenplay (Bo Goldman). (95 mins., 35mm)

INVITE: Frank Gabrenya Tribute

Calendar: June 4

Commencement: 7:00

Venue: Wexner Center for the Arts (South Campus)

Cost: $5 (members, senior citizens, & students); $7 (everyone else)

Reservations: Wexner Center for the Arts

Synopsis
Many classic films are just as powerful today as when they were first released. We add such films from many genres to our schedule throughout the season. Many are shown on the occasion of their rereleases, in fresh, new or restored prints.

Join us as we honor the career of Frank Gabrenya, the film critic for the Columbus Dispatch from 1987 to 2009 (and for the Columbus Citizen-Journal for years prior to that).

A longtime supporter of the Wexner Center's film program, Gabrenya introduces one of his favorite movies: Jonathan Demme's Melvin and Howard, an endearing comedy based on a true story. A hapless milkman and gas station owner, Melvin Dummar (played by American Graffiti's Paul Le Mat), claims to have picked up a mangy old hitchhiker (Jason Robards) in the middle of the desert only to discover that it was the one of the wealthiest—and most reclusive—men in the world, Howard Hughes. No one believes Dummar's tale...until Hughes's will turns up under mysterious circumstances leaving Dummar $156 million. The film received Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actress (Mary Steenburgen, as Dummar's tap-dancing third wife) and Best Original Screenplay (Bo Goldman). (95 mins., 35mm)

Wexner Center Garners Luc Tuymans’ Exhibit

The tour of the first U.S. retrospective of the work of influential Belgian artist Luc Tuymans debuts September 17, 2009–January 3, 2010 at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus. Jointly organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) and the Wexner Center, this exhibition spans every phase of the artist’s career and features more than 70 key paintings from 1985 to the present. After the Wexner Center presentation, the show will tour to SFMOMA, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, and the Bozar Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels.

Bare Walls: A Gallery of Art Discussion

INVITE: Bare Walls Introduction to Art Collecting

Commencement: 6:00

Conclusion: 8:00

Venue: Wexner Center for the Arts (South Campus)

Cost: $5

Reservations: Wexner Center for the Arts

Synopsis
Despite what you may read, most collectors of art are not Sotheby’s-shopping blue bloods. But when do a few pieces you like turn into a collection? Should you buy with your heart or your head? Whose opinion matters? (Hint: yours.)

Join Wexner Center Senior Curator of Exhibitions Catharina Manchanda and Curator of Exhibitions Christopher Bedford along with local gallerist Rebecca Ibel, collector and Ohio Art League President Haley Boehning, and ChopChop Gallery's Craig Dransfield for a lively discussion on how to start down the lifelong path of art collecting and appreciation.

Bare Walls starts with a reception and cash bar at 6 PM. The discussion and Q & A begin at about 6:45 PM with a welcome and introduction by two-time Heisman trophy winner Archie Griffin. Stick around afterwards as there will be plenty of time for mingling with our hosts to conclude the evening. You might even want to come early and visit the galleries to whet your appetite for the program that follows.

Sponsor
Cold Stone Creamery
Ohio State University Alumni Association

INVITE: Bare Walls Introduction to Art Collecting

Calendar: May 7

Commencement: 6:00

Conclusion: 8:00

Venue: Wexner Center for the Arts (South Campus)

Cost: $5

Reservations: Wexner Center for the Arts

Synopsis
Despite what you may read, most collectors of art are not Sotheby’s-shopping blue bloods. But when do a few pieces you like turn into a collection? Should you buy with your heart or your head? Whose opinion matters? (Hint: yours.)

Join Wexner Center Senior Curator of Exhibitions Catharina Manchanda and Curator of Exhibitions Christopher Bedford along with local gallerist Rebecca Ibel, collector and Ohio Art League President Haley Boehning, and ChopChop Gallery's Craig Dransfield for a lively discussion on how to start down the lifelong path of art collecting and appreciation.

Bare Walls starts with a reception and cash bar at 6 PM. The discussion and Q & A begin at about 6:45 PM with a welcome and introduction by two-time Heisman trophy winner Archie Griffin. Stick around afterwards as there will be plenty of time for mingling with our hosts to conclude the evening. You might even want to come early and visit the galleries to whet your appetite for the program that follows.

Sponsor
Cold Stone Creamery
Ohio State University Alumni Association

Wexner Center Presents Siren

Siren, a whirling, spinning spectacle of sound and light, will be presented at the Wexner Center Thursday–Saturday, February 26–28 at 8 pm.

The sound installation, by British composer and artist Ray Lee, is comprised of tall metal tripods rigged with rotating arms, each equipped with a pair of tone generators and two LED lights. These individually tuned sirens emit pulsing drones while the illuminated tips trace fiery patterns in rapidly circling trajectories; as the hour-long program progresses, seemingly infiinte layers of complex harmonies build on each other, while the audience is invited to walk through and among the tripods.

Siren produces alarming sounds for alarming times: hypnotically intense but also strangely soothing, like a celestial choir of harmonic overtones. The electrifying environment immerses the viewer in an alluring spell of unique sonic and visual delight.

Click here for a podcast featuring Chuck Helm, the Wexner Center’s director of performing arts, discussing Lee’s work; a video can be viewed here.

Vision For A Visionary

Andy Warhol was a visionary. He understood that the image, whether that image was a painting, photograph, or video clip, would trump the spoken or written word. The latter might backdrop or frame the event. However, the former would serve as the authentic and verifiable record.

Like Warhol, “Other Voices, Other Rooms,” comprehends the visual’s importance. The exhibit is brilliant in it’s layering of the photographed image alongside the painted image alongside the video image. Every piece was unique. Every room inspired new thoughts and questions.

They also inspired sensory deprivation. In one room, you marveled at Warhol’s signature pop art, while a half dozen screens showed his movies, and a collage of purple-faced Chairman Mao’s stared at you from across the room… It was almost as if, while you were concentrating on the art, the room was consuming you….

What I loved about the exhibit (which I saw twice), was that it wasn’t a flogging of the obvious… When you say Andy Warhol, most non-art patrons would respond with something about a soup can… This exhibit showcased the soup cans… But, it also paraded Warhol’s “Interview” magazines, his MTV work, and his habit of being a pat rack, which was never more evident than when walked past the display of newspapers from the day he was shot…

The Wexner Center for the Arts was even meticulous with his quotes… Yes, they featured his sound bite about fifteen minutes, which everyone can recite with their eyes closed… But, they also, on their elegant red carpet complimented wall, spotlighted his other sphinx-like, less well known pronouncements… The menagerie included “Publicity is like eating peanuts. Once you start you can’t stop.”

When the grand art cities of the world are discussed, Columbus will never be a topic. We fall after New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Barcelona, and possibly Omaha (just kidding)… The Wexner Center’s exhibition of Warhol didn’t change anyone’s minds and it didn’t vault Columbus into world art consciousness… It gave us fifteen minutes… For that, the Wexner Center merits congratulations…

Last Week of Warhol

The Wexner Center exhibition Andy Warhol: Other Voices, Other Rooms—which has boasted huge crowds, packed tours, sell-out events, record web hits on wexarts.org, and national and international media coverage—will close forever February 15. The Wexner Center presentation of the show has marked the only U.S. venue of this massive exhibition (which also toured Europe), and which features more than 700 Warhol works and items, from film to photography, painting to sculpture, audio material to TV shows, and letters to album covers, in a stunning, 360-degree exhibition design that has transformed the Wexner Center physically and figuratively. To celebrate the success of this show—and to bring people in for one last look (or a first)—the Wex is staying open until midnight two nights, with a full lineup of events the weekend of February 13–15.

Extended gallery hours Friday, February 13 (11 am–midnight), Saturday, February 14 (10 am–midnight), and Sunday, February 15 (10 am–8 pm). Cam’s on Campus café will also have extended hours that weekend—Friday ’til 8 pm, and limited-menu service Saturday and Sunday 10 am–5 pm.

The Warhol Farewell Reception will be held Saturday, February 14 from 5 to 7 pm, featuring a live auction (around 6 pm) of two Andy Warhol/Wexner Center street pole banners and an “Andy cutout” to benefit Wexner Center education programs, led by NBC4’s Marshall McPeek. Couples are invited to attend the reception to kick off their Valentine’s night—and even stick around for one of the other events later in the evening:

Hitchcock's Vertigo will be screened in 70mm at 7 pm (a ticket to that film gets you into the Warhol galleries free as well anytime that day).

Japanese theater group chelfitsch will also be in the house that night at 8 pm and all weekend (the gallery offer holds for that show as well), with an additional short play for ticketholders at 7 pm.

Nationally known Columbus-based band Times New Viking will perform a show that explores the darker side of the Velvet Underground, the art-rock group that Warhol helped launch. The show (February 14 at 9 pm) is called Times New Viking ♥ the Velvets, and a ticket to that show also gets visitors into the galleries free that day.

The Store will offer deep discounts on Warhol merchandise.

A reminder: Thursdays from 4 to 8 pm are always free for all.