Order, Chaos and the Space Between

Phoenix Art Museum will present Order, Chaos, and the Space Between: Contemporary Latin American Art from the Diane and Bruce Halle Collection, beginning February 6, 2013. This expansive exhibition of many of the most cutting-edge, contemporary works produced in Latin America today, as well as works from the post-war period, is drawn from the Halle Collection, internationally renowned as one of the most significant collections of art of this region.

It will include more than 50 works from across Latin America, by artists including Gego, Félix Gonzalez-Torres, Matthias Goeritz, Jorge Macchi, Hélio Oiticica, and Doris Salcedo, as well as other many other innovative artists whose works figure prominently in today’s global contemporary art scene.

Beginning in 1995, Diane and Bruce Halle, longtime Phoenix residents and supporters of Phoenix Art Museum, began collecting the art of Latin America as a way to both educate themselves in this area and to build greater awareness of this historically undervalued and overlooked region in the art world.
Over the course of the next 18 years, the Halles built a collection that is considered among the most significant in the world.  Works from the collection have been exhibited internationally, and include collection exhibitions in 2007 at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston and in 2011 at the Art Institute in Chicago.  Order, Chaos and the Space Between will be the first large-scale exhibition of the Halle Collection in Arizona, their home state.

The Halles’ dedication to building a compelling, impactful collection will come to life in the walls of Steele Gallery. The exhibition will include works ranging from photography to sculpture, painting to installation, including one of the most striking—the 30,000 individual black paper moths and butterflies that comprise Carlos Amorales’ (b. 1970, Mexico) Black Cloud, which will weave its path through the Museum and lead visitors to the exhibition in Steele Gallery.

In addition, the exhibition features a wide range of contemporary works created after 1945 that push the limits of what art can be and how the creative process itself can be conceived in expressive, conceptual, or abstract, and ultimately groundbreaking forms.

The exhibition, like the Halle Collection itself, seeks to broaden the community’s understanding and awareness of Latin American art beyond Mexico. In this way, the exhibition itself occupies a kind of ‘space between,’ juxtaposed between what is familiar, our preconceived ideas of Latin American art, and the reality and future of this art. This includes works like The Space Between, a 1970 sculpture by Brazilian artist Antonio Dias, which serves as a visual metaphor for the entire exhibition. Composed of a granite cube one bearing the words ‘THE BEGINNING,’ and a marble cube marked ‘THE END,’ the work’s title evokes a continuous present, a space and time in a constant state of becoming. It is an open metaphor for life and an apt description of the Halle Collection, which remains a work in progress, continually growing and evolving.

“We are thrilled to present this visually rich exhibition to our community, who will gain great insight into Latin America through the dialogue created by the innovative installation. These artists are among the finest working anywhere in the world today,” says James K. Ballinger, the Museum’s Sybil Harrington Director. “The Halles have built this collection to be shared with the public and to serve as a window into the nations south of our border state. Our goal is to ensure that the Halles’ goals meet with success.” Along with the exhibition, the Museum, through the generous support of its sponsors, will present a variety of educational programming, including lectures by featured artists, a rich film program, an exhibition catalogue, and outreach activities with schools in the Phoenix metropolitan area.

This exhibition is co-curated by Beverly Adams, Ph.D., Curator of the Diane and Bruce Halle Collection, and Vanessa Davidson, Ph.D., the Museum’s Shawn and Joe Lampe Associate Curator of Latin American Art. Together, Drs. Adams and Davidson edited a 245-page, full color catalogue, which includes essays by Robert Storr, artist, critic, and curator who currently serves as dean of the Yale University School of Art and as a professor of painting and printmaking, and Dr. Edward J. Sullivan, Helen Gould Sheppard Professor of the History of Art at New York University. It also features a conversation between Diane Halle and art advisor and gallery owner, Roland Augustine. The catalogue will be distributed by D.A.P / Distributed Art Publishers. Drs. Adams and Davidson also worked with Darren Petrucci, professor at The Design School, Herberger Institute at Arizona State University and a principal with Architecture-Infrastructure-Research, Inc., who served as the guest designer for Order, Chaos and the Space Between.
Exhibition Overview
Dates
February 6 – May 5, 2013
Location
Phoenix Art Museum – Steele Gallery
Highlights
52 works by artists such as Antonio Dias, Gego, Matthias Goeritz , Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Jorge Macchi, Hélio Oiticica, and Doris Salcedo, as well as many other innovative artists whose works figure prominently in today’s global art scene.
The exhibition features works from across Latin America, including Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela.
Black Cloud, an installation piece by Carlos Amorales (b. 1970, Mexico), will be installed beginning in the Museum’s Greenbaum Lobby, through Morrell Gallery, to Rineberg and ultimately Steele Gallery. The installation will consist of 30,000 hand-installed black paper moths and butterflies. Visitors to the Museum January 22-February 4 will be able to view the artist and his staff of Arizona State University students and Museum interns installing the piece on scaffolding.
Associated Programs
Four artists featured in the exhibition will present lectures and gallery talks during the run of the exhibition, along with other subject matter experts:
Carlos Amorales, Artist of Black Cloud installation (Mexico)
Public Lecture |  Whiteman Hall
Wednesday, January 30, 2013  |  7 pm
 
Luis Cruz Azaceta, Artist (Cuban-born American)
Public Lecture |  Whiteman Hall
Wednesday, March 6, 2013  |  7 pm
 
Dr. Edward Sullivan, Helen Gould Sheppard Professor of History of Art, NYU
Public Lecture |  Whiteman Hall
Wednesday, March 20, 2013  |  7 pm
 
Alessandro Balteo Yazbeck, Artist (Venenzuela)
Public Lecture |  Whiteman Hall
Wednesday, April 3, 2013  |  7 pm
 
Jorge Macchi, Artist (Argentina)
Public Lecture |  Whiteman Hall
Wednesday, April 24, 2013  |  7 pm
 
Gabriela Rangel, Venenzuelan Kineticism
Public Lecture |  Whiteman Hall
Wednesday, May 1, 2013  |  7 pm