"Contemporary Art and Latin America: Selections from the Diane and Bruce Halle Collection" at Peeler Center 9/15 through 12/12

September 9, 2004

Also:  Work of Richard Lou on Exhibit through October 10 ; "Bright Sadness: Russian Icons from the Sinsky Collection," through December 5

September 9, 2004, Greencastle, Ind. - An exhibition of contemporary Latin American art, on loan from the respected collection of Diane and Bruce Halle, opens at the Richard E. Peeler Art Center at DePauw University on Wednesday, September 15, 2004. Free and open to the public, the exhibition continues through December 12. (at left: Untitled (Rossmore II), 1991 green candies, individually wrapped in cellophane, endless supply; ©Félix González-Torres Foundation; photo courtesy of Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York)

The Diane and Bruce Halle collection is dedicated to modern and contemporary art from Latin America. Started in 1996 as a way to make both themselves and the public more aware of the remarkable art production of this long under-recognized region, the Halle collection has focused on works of high quality and impact. The collection emphasis is on artists that have made significant contributions to the development of the field in the twentieth century or show promise for the twenty-first century. It is composed of over 130 works with artists from 10 different countries with all media represented.

A collection devised with a geographic, historical, cultural, political construct as complicated as Latin America necessarily engages the idea of place, as it exists in its physical and imagined states, as well as a rejection and desire to supercede place as a defining constraint for artistic production. The exhibition provides an international dialogue between works that utilize similar conceptual practice albeit to strikingly diverse ends. Approximately thirty works from the Halle collection will be featured in the exhibition. The works, which date from the late 1980s to the present, highlights the richness and diversity of art from made by artists from the region and showcasse both internationally recognized artists as well as emerging artists. (above right: Guillermo Kuitca, Untitled, 1989; oil on vinyl mattresses)

This will be the first public exhibition to display a major portion of the collection, though individual works have been included in exhibitions at the Reina Sofia, Madrid; Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires; Site Santa Fe; Phoenix Art Museum; the Arizona State University Art Museum; and other major US institutions.

Artists represented include: Francis Alÿs (Mexico), José Bedia (Cuba), Waltercio Caldas (Brazil), Eugenio Dittborn (Chile), Julio Galán (Mexico), Thomas Glassford (Mexico), Luis González-Palma (Guatemala), Arturo Herrera (Venezuela), Guillermo Kuitca (Argentina), Vik Muniz (Brazil), Liliana Porter (Argentina), Arnaldo Roche Rabell (Puerto Rico), Doris Salcedo (Colombia) and Regina Silveira (Brazil). (at left: Doris Salcedo, Untitled, 1995; wood, cement, steel, glass and cloth)

Contemporary Art and Latin America: Selections from the Diane and Bruce Halle Collection was organized by the Tucson Museum of Art.

On Wednesday, September 15, from 4 to 6 p.m., you're invited to attend an opening reception with a gallery talk by Beverly Adams, curator of the Diane and Bruce Halle Collection. It will take place in the University Gallery, lower level.  There will also be three 'Art for Lunch' gallery talks in conjunction with the exhibition:

• Thursday, September 23, at 12:30 p.m., Angela Castañeda, post-doctoral scholar and part-time assistant professor of anthropology and Latin American and Caribbean Studies, will address "The Construction of Social Realities in the Work of Doris Salcedo and Luis Molina-Pantin"
• Thursday, October 7, at 12:30 p.m., Teresita Hernández, assistant professor of modern languages (French and Spanish) will discuss "Cuba: Myth and Narrative"
• Thursday, November 11, at 12:30 p.m., Aaron Dziubinskyj, assistant professor of modern languages (Spanish), will speak on "The Juxtaposition of Personal Identity and Social Space in Contemporary Argentine and Mexican Art"

All three events are sponsored, in part, by the Department of Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

The galleries at the Richard E. Peeler Art Center are open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; and Sunday 1-5 p.m. For more information, please call the gallery at (765) 658-4882 or click here.

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