The Matrix Effect reaches back to move forward…

Upon her arrival as the new Director of the Wadsworth Atheneum, one of Susan Talbott’s commitment to Hartford’s arts fans was the return of the seemingly comatose Matrix program.  Upon arrival she filled the small gallery at the northeast corner of the complex with the lifesize, styrofoam sculptures of Folkert de Jong and his study on anti-colonialism entitled, “The Shooting…at Watou.”  She followed that by hiring a new Emily Hall Tremaine Curator of Contemporary Art in Patricia Hickson in March.  Ms. Hickson was a familiar face from the Des Moines Art Center who also spent some time at the Boston ICA before it moved to its new home on the harbor.  Ms. Hickson’s first foray into this storied program, The Matrix Effect, is a mini retrospective which serves as a sort of re-introduction to the Matrix program so that she can start programming with a bang in 2010, a year that marks 35 years since the gallery’s inception.

The exhibit takes its title from Christian Jankowski’s 2000 short video of which also serves as the context for the show.  In this 26 minute video, local children play staff and artists as they speak of the storied Matrix program.  Each of the artists represented in the video are represented in the exhibit.  The script is based on actual interviews with the people represented, so it’s worth a listen.

My favorite piece by far is Adrian Piper’s “A Tale of Avarice & Poverty.”  The piece consists of a large, framed photo of a light skinned, African American woman surrounded by smaller frames which contain text.  The text is a narrative history of two branches of a Black family, with members of one branch passing for White.  The piece tells of the pain alienation caused by unacknowledged kinship.  THIS is why I love contemporary art!  Because there is sooo much more than meets the eye when you take a piece in.  A video piece by Janine Antoni is equally strong, showing the artist mopping the entire gallery wood floor, with her hair, after she dips it continually in a black tar-like substance.  I believe the piece was called “Women’s Work.”

It’s hard to see some of the big names in the exhibit and not think, “oh well, it’s a big museum getting big names.”  Not!!  These artist were shown at The Matrix before they were big names.  In many occasions, the exhibit at The Matrix represented these artists first one person shows in a museum.  So when we look through the list and look at names like Baldessari, Pindell, Lewitt, Christo, Mangold, Haring, Bey, etc… we’re looking at a time in Contemporary art history where Hartford was at the forefront of what happened in that world.  It’s reminiscent to the old Hartford Jazz scene where no musician entered or left New England without stopping in to visit with Jackie McClean, or playing at Paul Brown’s Monday Night Jazz, or sat in at the 880 club.  People always want to point to the latter part of the 19th century when Hartford was the richest city in the nation as the time when we were at our peak as a city.  I would say that the 70s through the 80s represented a time when, artistically and culturally, we were at our peak.

This exhibit fills me with optimism with what may come during the re-introduction The Matrix, who knows, maybe a Puerto Rican artist or two…I’m just sayin’.  But I can’t help but look at this exhibit and see it as a celebration of the woman who made all this possible.  At a time when less than 5% of the artists in Modern Art sections were woman, Andrea Miller Keller, founding curator of The Matrix was staging a quiet revolution at the Wadsworth.  An initial perusal of the Matrix artists between 1975-1998 show about 53 women artists exhibited.  And of those exhibits, 19 or so were the artists first, one-person museum exhibition, including Latina Artist Judy Baca.

Andrea Miller Keller was responsible for one of the few purchases by the Wadsworth of a work by a Puerto Rican artist when they purchased one of Pepon Osorio‘s barber shop chair from his quintessential work, “En la Barberia no se Llora.”  When you look at Carl Andre’s Stone Field Sculpture, one of the people we can thank decades from now when the piece gets the notoriety it deserves is Andrea Miller Keller.

Andrea Miller Keller’s legacy lives on with her work as a foremost Sol Lewitt scholar as well as in some of the exciting young curators that have come out of The Matrix including James Rondeau and Nicholas Baume at Boston ICA.  Some sort of event detailing the contribution of this women to the museum and the city is in order.  In the meantime, I look forward to seeing what young Patricia Hickson has in store for us…nom, nom…