The Endless Renaissance
17 April - 16 August 2009
at the Gertrude Silverstone Muss Gallery
Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, Florida www.bassmuseum.org


The expression of power

The exhibition presents historical and contemporary works from the 17th century until today about the representation of power. Guest curator Steven Holmes has selected works from Rubens, Goya, Joseph Beuys, Eve Sussman... to question the past and the present attributes used in portraits to express status and identity.

fig.: Pieter Hugo (South African, b. 1976 pieterhugo.com) Abdullahi Mohammed with Mainasara, Ogere-Remo, Nigeria, 2007. From the series The Hyena and Other Men. Digital C-Print. © Pieter Hugo, Courtesy Yossi Milo Gallery, New York and Michael Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town. Courtesy The Margulies Collection at the WAREhOUSE, Miami

Take a look at the images on this page by Pieter Hugo and Hyacinthe Rigaud: the power is expressed by the tame hyena he commands, his muscles, the protective skirt with decoration, the artful draped camouflage fabric on the baseball cap - on the other picture the man's power is signified by the scroll he holds in his hand, the armour with exclusive fabrics, the baroque wig. The exhibited portraits give insight into the building of 'status' such as uniforms are standing for justice and identity.

fig.: Hyacinthe Rigaud (French, 1649-1743)
Hans William Bentinck, Earl of Portland, K.G., 1698-1699. Oil on canvas. 53 x 42”. Collection Bass Museum of Art

"The Endless Renaissance is an exhibition that, on one hand, looks at how contemporary artists continue to quote and invoke the work of earlier artwork, and on the other hand, shows how the way that we experience the art of the past is anything but stable or predictable. Every time we look at a work of art, it becomes contemporary." www.bassmuseum.org

Artists: Joseph Beuys, Joe Coleman, Gregory Crewdson, Eugène Delacroix, Thierry Delva, Wim Delvoye, Nicole Eisenman, Peter Friedl, Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, John Hoppner, Pieter Hugo, Byron Kim. Charles LeDray, Sol LeWitt, Kelly Mark, Jonathan Monk,  Martin Puryear, Sharron Quasius,  Hyacinthe Rigaud, Bert Rodriguez, Peter Paul Reubens, Chemi Rosado Seijo ,Thomas Struth, Huang Yongping


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Video: Pieter Hugo in an interview with netinspirations.co.uk in 2008; youtube.com/user/netinspirations.

Socially aware photography
For two years, the photographer (b. 1976, grown up in Cape Town) was part of the Benetton communication research Fabrica in Treviso, Italy. Pieter Hugo's interest during this time focused on socially aware documentary photography on Africa and other developing countries (child slavery in war-torn Sudan to Kurdish refugee camps in Italy). His artistic, experimental work has convinced WHO, UNICEF, Anti-Slavery International and The New Yorker.

More about 'The Albino Project' from 5 – 26 March 2004 at Fabrica http://2005to2007.
fabrica.it/press.php?id=9