60+ Artists in 2011 Pittsburgh Biennial

Thek Retrospective Mounted

The artist Paul Thek burst onto the art scene in the 1960’s and enjoyed fame in the US and Europe for years but was largely forgotten by the time of his death in 1988. His life and his work are being revived by the Carnegie Museum of Art with the Exhibition ‘Paul Thek: Diver’ which opens Saturday. The show gets its name from a painting done on newspaper of a man diving into a body of water. (See left) Co-curator and Carnegie Museum of Art Director Lynn Zelevansky says Thek was drawn to the water and often used water in his works. Zelevansky says the diver work stood out to her and co-curator Elisabeth Sussman of the Whitney museum in New York. “Throughout the show you will see different figures who are surrogates for Thek himself,” says Zelevansky, “The diver seems to Elisabeth and me to be a great symbol for who Thek was and what he was interested in and what he cared about.” She says the idea of going deeper in a fearless way was something to which he aspired.

The first thing a visitors sees is a room filled with Thek’s “meat” works. (right) Thek (pronounced Tek) created sculptures of realistic looking hunks of meat and severed human body parts but then gave many of them a surreal twist including metallic coverings, sprouts of grotesque hair and over sized flies. Most are mounted in plastic cases but one is mounted in a Brillo box given to him by Andy Warhol. “The story goes that he said to Warhol, ‘your Brillo boxes are really nice but they could use some meat’,” says Zelevansky. Thek was known to use his work to take shots at minimalism and pop art.

Part way through his career Thek fell in love with installation work. Only a few components of the installations remain but Zelevansky was able to find pictures of the installations and some video of Thek and his collaborators working on the pieces. The Exhibition also includes pages from Thek’s voluminous journals. (lower left)

By the mid 1980’s Thek had driven away most of his friends and in 1987 he was diagnosed with AIDS but he continued to work. The retrospective recreates Thek’s last show.

Zelevansky has been working on the show for more than five years. She says it is the realization of Thek’s dream to have a retrospective mounted in the US. The retrospective of Thek’s work will be on display through May before moving on to Los Angles. Throughout the run of the show, the museum will offer a long list of programs. Most of them are free. Cell phone tours of the show are also available.

Listen to a longer version of the story here.

Carnegie Shows Off Evolution

The Carnegie Museum of Natural History launches a 6-month look at the science behind evolution this weekend when it opens ‘Explore Evolution.’ It is a touring show that looks at several studies ranging from the evolution of whales millions of years ago to the co-evolution of a species of ants, fungus, bacteria, and mold. CMNH program specialist Laurie Giarratani says another part of the exhibition looks at the rapid changes seen in the HIV virus. “Usually we think of evolution as something that takes place over a long time… millions of years,” says Giarratani, “but with simpler organisms that have a smaller genome, a single mutation is going to have a larger effect.” While a virus is not a living organism it does have DNA and this study looks at the changes the HIV virus has gone through as it adapts to defend itself against a number of medical drugs. The research could be key in finding a vaccine for the virus that causes AIDS.

The Carnegie adds in an eighth study to the seven that travel as part of the exhibit. The museum’s curator of vertebrate paleontology, Chris Beard adds his own research title, “The micromonkey and anthropoid origins.” It looks at the genus Eosimias, that Beard helped to identify, and his subsequent research on other early anthropoids in China, Myanmar, and Libya. Beard will give a lecture Saturday at noon as part of the opening day events.

Giarratani says, “Our Goal here is to help people understand the science behind evolution… and not commenting on religion at all.” We hope people can come to the museum and can connect the science here to their lives.” Giarratani says it is up to the visitors to engage those ideas in whatever way makes sense to them.

The exhibit runs through July 24th.

Carnegie Museums Gets New Director

A special meeting of the Carnegie Museums board yesterday made official what has been expected all week; John Wetenhall has been selected as the new president of the 116-year-old system. Wetenhall will oversee the Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Carnegie Science Center, and The Andy Warhol Museum. He is the ninth person to hold the post. Wetenhall will succeed David Hillenbrand who spent five years in the position.

Wetenhall is currently the executive director of The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida. He also serves on the boards of the American Association of Museums and the U.S. National Committee of the International Council of Museums and has been museum director for the Cheekwood Gardens in Nashville, Tennessee and Miami Museum of Art in Florida.

Wetenhall says he will work to break down any silos that separate the four museums under his charge. “I look forward to encouraging collaboration across these four great museums—and even more, to opening our institution to partnerships with cultural, scientific, and educational institutions throughout Pittsburgh and beyond,” says Wetenhall

Board members say Wetenhall jumped to the front of the pack of potential candidates. “John immediately stood out to our committee, first on paper and then even more so in person,” says Lee Foster, chair of the Carnegie Museums board of trustees, who led the search. “He has devoted his career to museums and museum management—first as an art historian and curator, then as a museum director—and it’s obvious that he is passionate about his work. He also appreciates the complexities and the tremendous opportunities unique to an organization with multiple parts, and he led such an organization through significant growth and expansion.

Wetenhall says he is looking forward to funding new ways to get the collection outside of the museums’ walls by using the Internet and other new technologies.

"There are a lot of up front costs in those projects, but once materials are online they become very affordable," Wetenhall says.

Wetenhall will join Carnegie Museums on March 7.

More Museum Visitors Benefiting From ACCESS

The Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History are reporting a dramatic increase in the use of the ACCESS EBT (electronic benefits transfer) card admission program. That program allows individuals on government assistance, including foster children and their caregivers, low-income residents, the elderly and disabled people, to come to the museum for drastically reduced price....$1.
Lynn Zelevansky, the director of the Carnegie Museum of Art , says in 2007, before the program was widely marketed 171 visitors took part in the program and this year they expect 11,000 people will benefit from the ACCESS discount....　

"All visitors have to do is show up, present their ACCESS EBT card and pay just $1 to visit. The program is special in that it eliminates price as a barrier year-round and allows people to visit at their convenience, not just on one or two free days a year when the museum is packed and the experience is not always ideal."

The $1 ACCESS admission is accepted at the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History, the Carnegie Science Center and the Andy Warhol Museum. The museums accept ACCESS cards from all states.

Carnegie Museum Property Eyed for Drilling

Natural gas companies are interested in drilling on land that belongs to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Westmoreland County. Carnegie Spokeswoman Betsy Momich says they've received inquiries from several companies about drilling at the 2,200-acre Powdermill Nature Reserve. She says the museum's trustees are studying the proposals but are a long way from making a final decision. Momich says environmental impact is at the top list of concerns and the revenue from drilling is also a factor. The museum uses the nature reserve in Cook Township as a research field station where scientists study changes in the environment and wildlife populations.

Thursday, Biggest Meteor Shower of the Year

The Carnegie Science Center is letting people know that the Perseid meteor shower is about to take place this Thursday, August 12, and will be highly visible if the weather permits.
Education Coordinator for the Buhl Planetarium Dan Malerbo says a shooting star, or a meteor, is a speck of dust that enters the earth’s atmosphere allowing people to see a streak of light in the sky. He says on the average night, we can see 3 or 4 shooting stars an hour. However, certain times of the year the earth travels through a trail of dust and debris left by a passing comet, causing a meteor shower.
Malerbo says the Perseid meteor shower is the biggest of the year because this particular path that the earth will travel through is one of the widest.
He says to see the shower at its best, go away from the city and bright lights, where the sky is dark, lay down and look northeast, towards the constellation of Perseid. As long as the “hazy” sky conditions clear up by dark, you should be able to see 50 to 60 shooting stars per hour between midnight and dawn.