A group exhibition exploring photographs by Diane Arbus, films by Andy Warhol and Stan Douglas, and video installations by Gary Hill, Mike Kelley and Robert Whitman

Constructing Realities investigates Diane Arbus’ cinematic treatment of the still image and highlights film works by five artists who have been influenced by certain aspects of her photographic language.

Arbus’ carefully constructed photographs render one moment in time whereas the other works in this exhibition capture the moving image in an ongoing scene. Hill pays close attention to the work’s narrative concerns, as did Arbus, while Kelley draws heavily on the staged setting and Douglas plays with the viewers’ tendencies to misconstrue the subject matter. Warhol films dancer Paul Swan as he dresses and prepares to perform. At times, Swan is aware of the camera capturing his actions, and, other times, he is absorbed in his own reality. Arbus was a master at achieving this type of intimacy with her subjects.

A distinct documentary style, also characteristic of Arbus’ work, is also found in Robert Whitman’s Local Report. The work, a video montage of live footage sent to him via cell phone video cameras, debuted at the Guggenheim in early December.

Diane Arbus (1923-1971) studied with such luminaries as Berenice Abbott, Alexey Brodovitch, and Lisette Model before working as a magazine and fashion photographer. While collaborating with her husband Allan, Arbus developed a unique artistic style and embarked on her career as largely known today. In 1963 and 1966 she was awarded John Simon Guggenheim Fellowships. She taught in the late ‘60s at Parsons School of Design, Rhode Island School of Design, and Cooper Union. A year after her death The Museum of Modern Art organized a major exhibition of her work that traveled throughout the United Stated and Canada from 1972 to 1975. Thirty years later, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art organized the first international traveling retrospective of her photographs. Diane Arbus: Revelations opened in October 2003 and has traveled to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. It continues to travel to subsequent venues throughout the world until October 2006.

Stan Douglas (b.1960) is acutely aware of the psyche, and his video works focus on issues such as social alienation, social status, and racial conflicts. Der Sandmann, a 16mm black and white film loop also featured in Constructing Realities, debuted at the Whitney Biennial in March 1995. His work has been exhibited in numerous one-person exhibitions at the Jeu de Paume, Paris (1991); Musé Nationale d’Art Moderne (Centre Georges Pompidou), Paris (1994); Institute of Contemporary Art, London (1994); the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid (1994); The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (2000); and The Serpentine Gallery, London, England (2002), among others.

Gary Hill (b.1951), originally trained as a sculptor, has been working with video and sound since 1973. Primarily interested in the investigation of linguistics, his video works analyze how language shapes the image-making process, and consequently, how that process affects language. He has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors, among them the Golden Lion for Sculpture at the Venice Biennale in 1995 and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Grant in 1998. Since 1983, his work has been included in Documenta IX and six Whitney Biennial exhibitions. In 2001, The Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany, mounted an in-depth survey of his work that traveled to the Reina Sofia in Madrid and other venues in Europe and America.

Based in Los Angeles, Mike Kelley (b.1954) received his BFA from the University of Michigan and an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts. His sculptures, video works, installations and extended collaborations with artists such as Paul McCarthy, Raymond Pettibon and Tony Oursler have been exhibited extensively. Kelley received the Skowhegan Medal in Mixed Media in 1997, and two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1985 and 1990. In 2003, he received a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship. Major solo exhibitions include the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; Tate Liverpool; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; and Kunsthalle, Basel, among others.

Andy Warhol (1928-1987) graduated with a degree in pictorial design from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Melon University) in 1945. Upon moving to New York, Warhol worked as a commercial illustrator for several magazines including Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and The New Yorker. He also designed advertising and window displays for retail stores. Warhol began painting appropriated images of pop culture, such as his famous Campbell Soup Can, Marilyn Monroe and Elvis series, in 1960, marking a significant turning point in his career. Among other things, he was also an avant-garde filmmaker, creating the cult classics Chelsea Girls, Blow Job and Empire, and in 1969, Warhol published Interview magazine. His prolific career lasted until 1987 when he died from complications suffered during a routine gall bladder surgery. Robert Whitman (b.1935) studied literature, drama, and visual arts at Rutgers University. In the late 1950s and 1960s he created some of the most important “Happenings”. As a performance artist Whitman earned initial recognition for Prune Flat (1965), a theatrical piece that explored perceptual discrepancies between film and reality. Since then he has conceived and staged numerous performances, both indoor and outdoor works, in conjunction with the DIA Art Foundation. Whitman’s theater works have also been staged at the Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Contemporary Art Museum, Houston; and Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.