Artists Space

Selections from the Artists File

September 18 – October 18, 1986

Artists Space is pleased to announce the opening of Selections from the Artists File, an exhibition of work by artists chosen exclusively for the slide registry. Artists Space Curator, Valerie Smith has chosen 9 artists, four sculptors and five painters: Hanno Ahrens, Polly Apfelbaum, Mo Bahc, Moira Dryer, Shelagh Keeley, Andy Moses, Tom Radloff, Bonnie Rychlak and David Winter. Work in the exhibition includes paintings, drawings, constructions, and installations. This exhibition has been made possible by a generous grant from the American Express family of companies.

A black and white photograph of a number of unmounted 35mm slides on a lightbox is visible in the foreground with a computer and printer visible in the background in an office setting.
The Artists File at Artists Space, 1986. [A black and white photograph of a number of unmounted 35mm slides on a lightbox is visible in the foreground with a computer and printer visible in the background in an office setting.]

This season's SELECTIONS show focuses on issues currently of interest to many contemporary artists, such as an interest in cultural history, language and science. Hanno Ahrens confronts spiritual images by reconstructing them into contemporary metaphors that have universal meaning. Another sculptor, Polly Apfelbaum works serially deriving her forms from Spanish and Shaker design, in which she is modifying the utilitarian and the spiritual. also involved with the spiritual, Mo Bahc paints with an understanding of the Eastern philosophy of spareness and directness through his representation of the East. Moira Dryer's paintings convey moods through abstract representation rather than depicting actual objects. Involved with political history, Shelagh Keeley paints and draws images which related to apartheid in South Africa. Andy Moses' concerns lie in the tension between the dynamic and the static, as his paintings insist on the reality and the deception of the surface. Like Moses, Tom Radloff is involved with tensions, but his concerns pivot between the deliberation of ancient Eastern motifs re-seen through a computer culture. Bonnie Rychlak's sculptures also refer to the East in her use of materials, as well as her idea of constructing a highly finished, minimal design. David Winter's sculptural environment "Blossoms are Concrete (For George Sugarman)" confronts the viewer as it seems to invade space creating a tension between science and history, nature and culture.

This exhibition is the sixth in an annual series. artists that have been included in past SELECTIONS exhibitions are: Peter Halley (84), Mark Innerst (83), Alfredo Jaar (84), Win Knowlton (82), Ericka Rothenberg and Julie Wachtel (81). Guest curator for the 1985 SELECTIONS show, Kay Larson, called the slide file "...a vast warehouse whose contents must be cross-indexed in the imagination of the user: a kind of art-library of workable notions, akin to one of the great libraries in a Borges story..." The Artists File is a slide registry of the work of nearly 2,500 New York State artists not affiliated with commercial or cooperative galleries. This fall the computerized Artists File will be fully operational and available by appointment without charge. By sorting the artists demographically and stylistically, the file is more accessible to over 300 art professionals, including curators, critics, collectors, dealers and art consultants who use the file annually.

A black and white image of a black bench with two distinct black drapery on both sides behind it.
Bonnie Rycheck. Black and Gray Benches, 1980. [A black and white image of a black bench with two distinct black drapery on both sides behind it.]
A black and white photograph of gray benches with black on top, the front one with legs the back one without. Tape appears on the top of the image.
Bonnie Rycheck. Elegantly Contained, 1986. [A black and white photograph of gray benches with black on top, the front one with legs the back one without. Tape appears on the top of the image.]
Black fabric drops down from the black table top in an oval-like shape.
Selections from the Artists File, installation view, Artists Space, 1986. [Black fabric drops down from the black table top in an oval-like shape.]
A photograph of one large painting divided evenly diagonally across in black and white above a smller painting that does the same.
Hanno Ahrens. Selections from the Artists File, installation view, Artists Space, 1986. [A photograph of one large painting divided evenly diagonally across in black and white above a smller painting that does the same.]
A number of wooden sculptures appear in various shapes in a white-walled gallery space.
Selections from the Artists File, installation view, Artists Space, 1986. [A number of wooden sculptures appear in various shapes in a white-walled gallery space.]

Selections from the Artists File Exhibition Catalogue, Front

Selections from the Artists File Exhibition Card, Back

Selections from the Artists File Exhibition Card, Front

Selections from the Artists File Press Release

The computerization of the Artists File has been made possible by generous grants from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

SELECTIONS from the Artists File has been made possible by the American Express family of companies: Shearson Lehman Brothers, American Express Travel Related Services Company, IDS Financial Services Inc., and American Express Bank Ltd.

Artists Space activities are made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts, a Federal Agency; the New York State Council on the Arts, the Insititute for Museum Services, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Art Matters, Inc., Cowlee Family Charitable Trust, Foundation for Contemporary Performing Arts, Inc., the Jerome Foundation, Leonhardt Foundation, Betty Parsons Foundation, The Reed Foundation, Inc., Mark Rothko Foundation; the American Express Company, Citibank, Consolidated Edison, Equitable Real Estate Group, EXXON, R.H. Macy Company, Mobil Foundation, Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York, and Philip Morris, as well as numerous Friends.

Artists Space is a member of the National Association of Artists' Organizations (NAAO).

    A number of wooden block constructions appear together in various forms in an installation in a gallery space with framed works on the wall behind them.
    David Winter. Selections for the Artists File, installation view, Artists Space, 1986. [A number of wooden block constructions appear together in various forms in an installation in a gallery space with framed works on the wall behind them.]