VISUAL ARTS
BY E S T E R B A R K A I
MASTERWORKS ON LOAN
On your own in Eugene with Jean Dubuffet and Keith Haring
A
rt displayed at museums is organized by theme and framed by a curator’s or
Miranda Callander, the museum’s Masterworks on Loan manager, says it’s no accident
artist’s statement. The shows at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art are no ex-
these two works hang together.
ception, except for the Mas-
“Haring studied Dubuffet and
terworks on Loan.
found striking similarities in their
These works are part of
abstractions,” she says.
a continually revolving lineup lent to
The paintings are similar. Both
the museum by private collectors. No
depict figures in an abstract format
theme ties them together except for
that is not representative of real space.
their status as masterworks — and the
Haring’s may seem more familiar, since
possibility that works shown at the
his work has flowed easily between
same time may be owned by the same
popular culture and fine art venues.
anonymous collectors.
I first saw Haring’s work in the
When I go to the JSMA, I never
lowest of low places — underground
leave without checking out the walls
in a New York subway station. Waiting
in the halls where the masterworks are
for my train after work I stared straight
shown. I like that I never know what
ahead, the way one does in the subway
I’m going to find.
(to avoid what’s on the ground), and
Of course, images of the borrowed
that’s when a picture of a man with a
masterworks are posted on the
television for a head caught my eye.
museum’s website. That will probably
White lines drawn on the black
not change my viewing habits.
space usually filled with advertising
Checking them out in person is an
posters or graffiti — I remembered it
adventure, like going to a comedy club
because it wasn’t an ad and not exactly
and not being familiar with the lineup.
graffiti either. A few years later, when I
Will I recognize any of the artists?
was working at an art publication and
And if I do, will I know the particular,
Haring’s work was getting attention in
often lesser-known work (or routine)?
a gallery, I overheard a conversation
You always have the potential
about someone ripping a door off in
of a thrilling surprise — a really
order to get the picture Haring had
famous artist showing up (a common
drawn.
occurrence at comedy clubs, especially
Haring died in 1990 from
in New York and L.A.), which is how I
complications related to HIV/AIDS.
The entirety of his work — including
felt on seeing Jean Dubuffet’s acrylic
the subway drawings, merchandise,
on canvas Symbiose (1980-81) beside
collaborations, and more than 50 public
Keith Haring’s Untitled (1982) acrylic
artworks worldwide — was produced
on paper at the JSMA.
mostly in the 1980s when Haring was
Dubuffet (1901-1985) studied art
in his 20s.
in Paris in 1918. Like other artists of
Dubuffet didn’t get seriously started
his generation he rejected traditional
as an artist until his 40s. His philosophy
notions of beauty. He equated technique
about Art Brut (also called Raw Art)
with superficiality and replaced it with
is often pointed to as the origin of
an appreciation of “low art” — Art
Outsider Art. Haring is associated with
Brut — believing images made by the
such artists as his friend Jean-Michel
untrained, such as children, were raw
Basquiat for helping to bring about the
and therefore pure.
KEITH HARING’S UNTITLED
genre known as Street Art.
Symbiose’s
childlike
figure
Seeing artwork in the Masterworks on Loan, without statement or introduction, you’ll
drawings might not seem controversial now, but critics first saw Dubuffet’s art as ugly and
be viewing it, to some extent, the way I first saw Haring’s work. Without introduction or
crude.
framing device — except for that of the museum — you’ll be on your own to make of it
Keith Haring (1958-1990) studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Like
what you will. ■
Dubuffet, he rejected tradition — in his case, the tradition that art should be exclusively
exhibited in a fine-art venue.
Symbiotic and Untitled are on view in the Focus Gallery at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art through Jan. 6.
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November 21, 2018 • eugeneweekly.com
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