KASPER KOVITZ
| THE LESSONS
Exhibition dates: May 18, 2024 - August 4, 2024
Meantime Co. proudly presents The Lessons, a series of 35 paintings by Kasper Kovitz.
“It’s an ideology that everything is an ideology” says Kovitz. “The point is you have to look for where the stereotype breaks down.”
To make the works in this presentation, Kovitz took on the identity of art students, each assigned to choose one of thirty-five terms taken from an encyclopedic book about spirituality. Students were given one day to make the work; beginning with a ground of one of six black and white line drawings, lesson sheets if you will… Two depict scenes of art education, two- art historical phenomena: avant guard and paradigm shift, and two are reactions to art: appreciation and iconoclasm - the destruction of images. The human subjects in the lesson sheets are a “standardized” face- however this attempt to set an equal starting line for the students begs the question, can you really teach creativity? Thinking systematically through art-making can really clash with art as a straightforward self-expression. Teaching art is a special challenge that consists of giving the student the tools, skills, and the knowledge of conventional ideologies, while at the same time urging them to question the conventions and create a unique form of expression.
The paintings in The Lessons harness several genres of art- but especially landscape painting which Kovitz sees as a stage set out for unknown actors. The works appear unfinished, or better yet, in progress. Kovitz asserts that most contemporary discourse focuses on the practice of art-making rather than what’s being made, the artwork. Whereas he believes that what we should focus on is the artwork- as the detritus of an action.
As the viewer of these paintings we are not witnesses, but spectators of the aftermath, left to forensically examine the parts left behind and make meaning of it. Here we confront another challenge- does it mean the same thing for all of us? Installed salon style the works confront the viewer in a loud chorus, though each awaiting their turn for a solo.
Installation views and checklist
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Kasper Kovitz is originally from Vienna, Austria and has lived in the US for over 30 years. Working with a wide range of materials and approaches, he and takes a great deal of inspiration from the landscape of the American West. Kovitz creates artworks that articulate metaphors for the human condition. He has exhibited in galleries, foundations, and museums in New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Vienna; two of his sculptures are in the Saatchi Collection in London. He was awarded the MAK/Schindler scholarship, the Marie Walsh Sharpe scholarship, and the Pollock-Krasner Fellowship, as well as two residencies at the International Studio and Curatorial Program in NYC,. Kovitz taught at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon and currently is Professor of Art at Scripps College and Extended Faculty at the Claremont Graduate University (CGU), both in Claremont, California.
To make an appointment to see the show please email stopgapcompany@gmail.com