A veritable head-scratcher of an exhibit has landed at the Renaissance Society in Chicago. Organized by the artist Shahryar Nashat and criticism Bruce Hainleythe show has no title or press release – just a photo of actor Robert Pattinson in sunglasses and a cap, having dinner in a restaurant, along with a cryptic explanation.
“We met for lunch to continue our conversation, soon noticing fame, incognito, taking a meeting nearby, and such serendipity elicited a reaction: use this uncanny presence as a device to work through the current moment by in relation to how bodies, whether living currency or undead, flow, warp, non-living and, yet, love,” Hainley wrote on the show. website.
This lunch was about a year ago, in the parking lot of a restaurant in Los Angeles, and Hainley and Nashat had met to discuss the possibility of organizing an exhibition to coincide with the latter’s upcoming solo exhibition at the Chicago Art Institute. It has become something of a tradition for contemporary artists to have simultaneous outings at both museums, but instead of a second solo exhibition, Nashat was interested in collaborating with Hainley.
“We started talking about the idea of a muse or a mascot, and we thought, ‘Maybe we should find this entity or this person and see how things fit together. By total coincidence, Robert Pattinson was having lunch at the same restaurant,” Nashat said. Cultivated. “I took a picture of him. Bruce and I looked at each other and were like, ‘There you go. He’s there. There must be a reason.
The British actor, who was once a matinee idol, attracting legions of fans for his roles in the Dusk And Harry Potter film series – and an indie sensation, seemed to have the right kind of energy to build a show around. “Robert Pattinson is really a star rather than a celebrity,” Hainley said.
The exhibition features works by contemporary artists Puppies Puppies (Jade Guanaro Kuriki-Olivo), Karen KilimnikAnd larry johnson. The curators also obtained a loan from the Art Institute of a oil painting by the French painter Marie Laurencinwho lived from 1883 to 1956. It has been in the museum’s collection since 1986, but this is the first time it has been exhibited.
Marie Laurencin, Head of a young woman (1926). Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, Bequest of Maribel G. Blum.
None of the artwork features Pattinson, but the Renaissance Society exclusively promoted the show with photos of the actor (plus one of fans running their hands through his wax look-alike’s hair at Madame Tussauds).
This idea of fans consuming celebrities, even their physical bodies somehow out of their control, is something that connects the works on the show.
But if you want to understand what’s going on in the exhibit, you better head to Chicago to see it in person.
Installation view of the exhibition inspired by Robert Pattinson at the Renaissance Society, Chicago, curated by Shahryar Nashat and Bruce Hainley. Photo by Robert Chase Heishman, courtesy of Shahryar Nashat, Bruce Hainley and the Renaissance Society, Chicago.
“People are so used to receiving a show title, press release, list of names or description that they probably never read it,” Nashat said. “As soon as you don’t conform to the way information is usually disseminated for reasons that seem natural, you create mystery, but our intention is not to be mysterious. We want to let the things that matter come first, that’s what the show is all about. You have to be in the space, then the thought organizes itself around it.
THE exposure is on view at Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, 5811 South Ellis Avenue, Cobb Hall, 4th Floor, Chicago, Illinois, From May 13 to July 2, 2023.
“Shahryar Nashat: The raw is the redis on view at the Art Institute of Chicago, 159 East Monroe Street, Chicago, Illinois, October 6, 2022 through September 11, 2023.
Follow Artnet News on Facebook:
Want to stay one step ahead of the art world? Subscribe to our newsletter to receive breaking news, revealing interviews and incisive reviews that move the conversation forward.
