The State Art Collection: Contemporary Conversations has inspired just that ... a whole series of conversations around how you define contemporary art, regional artists, and South Carolina artists. The 701 Center for Contemporary Art has hosted the exhibition along with a series of events that have brought together artists and viewers from around the state to talk about exactly what those phrases mean in terms of South Carolina art.
 

Merton D. Simpson, Confrontation

Contemporary Conversations Part II is the second of back-to-back exhibits curated by national critic and curator Eleanor Heartney. Part II runs through Dec. 10. Heartney selected 118 works from the 448-piece collection. The State Art Collection was established in 1967 and is maintained by the South Carolina Arts Commission.

The exhibit itself is elegantly laid out in a way that encourages the viewer to look for connections between the works that are grouped together. There is a lyrical relationship visually between the pieces that invites the viewer into a private conversation with the art itself. Michael Brodeur’s On the Edge leads to Ed Rice’s Mausoleum and then on to Manning Williams’s Guadalcanal in a progression that emphasizes the iconic, contemplative quality of the works. Michael Tyzack’s Bolivar, Too and Philip Mullen’s Herin Regal speak to each other about the subtle ways that color can make forms dance.

Figurative pieces seem to dominate the second part of Contemporary Conversations. But instead of the portraiture that formed a large part of historical South Carolina art collecting, a closer look reveals that the figure is being used in a broad range of ways that move way beyond the traditional concept of the figure. From Deanna Leamon’s large charcoal from her Hamlet, NC Series to Sheri Moore-Change’s collages, these are pieces that use the figure to explore issues ranging from civil rights and social justice to mortality and spirituality.

Contemporary Conversations is important for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the chance to see works from the State Collection that are usually placed around the state in a variety of spaces. The exhibition prompts conversations and discussions about the nature of public versus private collections, as well as the difficulty of defining what the mission of a public collection is.

Private collections reflect the personal tastes and drives of their owners (and advisors). Individuals collect for a variety of reasons — investment potential, love of art, social prestige, etc. — that overlap and may never even be clearly defined in the person’s mind. Public institutions usually collect for philanthropic reasons — to educate the public or to document significant trends and influences in concrete form. By their very nature, public collections rarely reflect one individual’s taste. Selection by committee brings a variety of voices to the table, but it can also mean that the understanding of the collection’s mission changes with each new committee.

The mission of the State Art Collection is to purchase significant works of contemporary art by South Carolina artists. That sounds simple enough, but there are at least three words or phrases in that sentence that are open to interpretation: “significant,” “contemporary” and “South Carolina artists”. Should “significant” be interpreted to mean the quality of the work, its popularity or its impact on the art community? Artists and critics have been trying to define that elusive phrase “contemporary” since it first was used. If “contemporary” is taken to mean avant-garde, then that leaves out traditional crafts and art forms that are a large part of South Carolina’s visual art culture. “South Carolina artists” is just as open to interpretation.

One of the effects of postmodernism is that those phrases no longer have one clear meaning that is universally understood and agreed upon in the art community, either regionally or nationally. In many ways, we are the richer for it. The breakdown of the hierarchy of fine art over craft means that we begin to look at a broader range of life as art. “Contemporary” is revealed to simply mean current or now. The definition of regional remains a work in progress.