James Welling, Paul McMahon, Luchita Hurtado, Matt Mullican, Santa Monica, 1978
specific object / david platzker
presents
Stairway to Heaven: Paul McMahon, Matt Mullican, James Welling, 1970–1976
an exhibition to be held at Susan Inglett Gallery
June 9 - July 24, 2010
Specific Object / David Platzker is pleased to announce the opening of Stairway to Heaven: Paul McMahon, Matt Mullican, James Welling, 1970–1976. The exhibition will be on view at Susan Inglett Gallery from June 9 - July 23, 2010. A reception will be held on June 9, 2010 from 6 to 8 PM.
In this project Specific Object presents the work of a trio of artists that emerged from the fertile ground of Southern California art schools – McMahon from Pomona College in Claremont; Mullican and Welling from CalArts in Valencia. All three appeared shortly thereafter in New York joining a core group of artists labeled “The Pictures Generation.” The members formed a loose confederacy recently explored in the exhibition, The Pictures Generation, 1974–1984 held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Spring 2009.
The work selected here represents an important moment in the development of these artists as they began to stake out their respective territories and develop what became their mature work. While both Mullican’s and Welling’s work was widely exhibited from the 1980s onward, McMahon chose to diverge from the traditional path by becoming a comedian, a musician, and small town entrepreneur in Woodstock, NY,
only to reemerge with the opening of the exhibition at the Met.
The strategy of "what’s next" seemed to be on all our minds. How can we make art after conceptual art? The last page in the book of modernism seemed to have been printed. So we went into the mirror and found a lot of loose ends. -- Matt Mullican
I liked art that questioned Art. My early work was about this. After several years I realized that there was something more. Art could dare to venture into the place where meaning was born. I think I felt like a missionary spreading the gospel of post-conceptual art. A new way of
thinking. -- Paul McMahon
Works in the exhibition include collage, drawings, photographs and photographically based works executed 1970 to 1976 forming an expansive view of three unique artists.
The exhibition will be on view at Susan Inglett Gallery located at 522 West 24th Street Tuesday to Saturday 10 AM to 6 PM. For additional information, please contact Susan Inglett Gallery at 212.647.9111, fax 212.647.9333 or [email protected].
Specific Object / David Platzker and Susan Inglett Gallery gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of Tracy Williams, Ltd. and David Zwirner Gallery.
