An introduction to the art of Canadian avant-garde artist Eric Metcalfe opens out into a discussion of the complex relationship among jazz, art, and contemporary global culture.
Thursday, March 24, 2011, 7:30 pm
301 Philosophy Hall, Columbia University Morningside Campus
Free and open to the public
Vancouver-based artist Eric Metcalfe (b. 1940) epitomizes the avant-garde in Canadian art. Since the late 1960s, Metcalfe's art practice has crossed and merged disciplines: painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, printmaking, performance, video and film. His work has close ties with conceptual art and the Fluxus movement, which focused on the many intersections and blendings of different artistic media and disciplines, as well as contemporary cultural activities, especially jazz, an early interest which became an important lifelong influence. His first public show was in 1966, and in 1973, he co-founded Western Front, a pioneering, artist- run centre in Vancouver. Metcalfe holds a BFA (Visual Arts) with Distinction from the University of Victoria (1970). He has taught at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design and at the University of British Columbia. His works are held in collections in 18 Canadian museums, including the National Gallery of Canada, and 11 major public collections in Europe and the U.S., including the Museum of Modern Art (New York) and the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam). In 1992, he received a Governor General's Citation and Medal (for significant contributions to the arts); in 2006, he was awarded the Audain Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award; and in 2008 he received a Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts.
Pianist and composer Jason Moran, a 2010 MacArthur Fellow, received a B.M. (1997) from the Manhattan School of Music, and joined the faculty of the New England Conservatory in 2010. Moran creates adventurous, genre-crossing performances. Moran's signature corpus marries established classical, blues, and jazz techniques with the musical influences of his generation, including funk, hip-hop, and rock, and in original compositions for his ensemble, The Bandwagon, Moran uses the human voice as a starting point for melodic structure, translating speech patterns into a musical language through which the listener can reflect on the underlying connections between speech and music. More recently, Moran has collaborated with visual/performance artists such as Adrian Piper, incorporating new technology in imaginative intermedia performances.
Naomi Beckwith is Associate Curator at the Studio Museum in Harlem, and also manages its Artists-in-Residence program. Her work focuses on conceptual practices in contemporary art. Her master's thesis on Adrian Piper and Carrie Mae Weems earned Distinction from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, and prior to joining the Studio Museum, Beckwith was a project coordinator for BAMart at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, a Helena Rubenstein Critical Studies Fellow at the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program, and the Whitney Lauder Curatorial Fellow at the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania.
Thursday, March 24, 2011, 7:30 pm
301 Philosophy Hall, Columbia University Morningside Campus
Free and open to the public
Vancouver-based artist Eric Metcalfe (b. 1940) epitomizes the avant-garde in Canadian art. Since the late 1960s, Metcalfe's art practice has crossed and merged disciplines: painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, printmaking, performance, video and film. His work has close ties with conceptual art and the Fluxus movement, which focused on the many intersections and blendings of different artistic media and disciplines, as well as contemporary cultural activities, especially jazz, an early interest which became an important lifelong influence. His first public show was in 1966, and in 1973, he co-founded Western Front, a pioneering, artist- run centre in Vancouver. Metcalfe holds a BFA (Visual Arts) with Distinction from the University of Victoria (1970). He has taught at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design and at the University of British Columbia. His works are held in collections in 18 Canadian museums, including the National Gallery of Canada, and 11 major public collections in Europe and the U.S., including the Museum of Modern Art (New York) and the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam). In 1992, he received a Governor General's Citation and Medal (for significant contributions to the arts); in 2006, he was awarded the Audain Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award; and in 2008 he received a Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts.
Pianist and composer Jason Moran, a 2010 MacArthur Fellow, received a B.M. (1997) from the Manhattan School of Music, and joined the faculty of the New England Conservatory in 2010. Moran creates adventurous, genre-crossing performances. Moran's signature corpus marries established classical, blues, and jazz techniques with the musical influences of his generation, including funk, hip-hop, and rock, and in original compositions for his ensemble, The Bandwagon, Moran uses the human voice as a starting point for melodic structure, translating speech patterns into a musical language through which the listener can reflect on the underlying connections between speech and music. More recently, Moran has collaborated with visual/performance artists such as Adrian Piper, incorporating new technology in imaginative intermedia performances.
Naomi Beckwith is Associate Curator at the Studio Museum in Harlem, and also manages its Artists-in-Residence program. Her work focuses on conceptual practices in contemporary art. Her master's thesis on Adrian Piper and Carrie Mae Weems earned Distinction from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, and prior to joining the Studio Museum, Beckwith was a project coordinator for BAMart at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, a Helena Rubenstein Critical Studies Fellow at the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program, and the Whitney Lauder Curatorial Fellow at the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania.
