One Way or Another, 2003-05
This "group show" was curated by the artist around the theme of the 70s/80s band Blondie. Modigliani created four fictional artists and their work over two years and then included "their" work into her own exhibition. She also created fictional biographies and CV's for each artist that were available in the gallery. Publicly she claimed the role of curator, but not as artist. These images show the textile works of Valentina Harrison, the paintings of Harry Stein, the miniature t-shirts of Jack Lee, and the gouache paintings of Destri. Two versions of this exhibition have been shown in San Francisco and Miami (Destri was included in the Miami show only). The work was an exploration of the growing influence curators then had (and continue to have) in the display and promotion of particular artists' work within the art world, and the unclear boundaries between the creative gestures of artists and curators. At the San Francisco opening of this exhibition only one person asked the curator where the artists were (clearly they did not attend their own opening), but many people asked the curator where she had discovered the artists, none of whom anyone had heard of before.
This "group show" was curated by the artist around the theme of the 70s/80s band Blondie. Modigliani created four fictional artists and their work over two years and then included "their" work into her own exhibition. She also created fictional biographies and CV's for each artist that were available in the gallery. Publicly she claimed the role of curator, but not as artist. These images show the textile works of Valentina Harrison, the paintings of Harry Stein, the miniature t-shirts of Jack Lee, and the gouache paintings of Destri. Two versions of this exhibition have been shown in San Francisco and Miami (Destri was included in the Miami show only). The work was an exploration of the growing influence curators then had (and continue to have) in the display and promotion of particular artists' work within the art world, and the unclear boundaries between the creative gestures of artists and curators. At the San Francisco opening of this exhibition only one person asked the curator where the artists were (clearly they did not attend their own opening), but many people asked the curator where she had discovered the artists, none of whom anyone had heard of before.
