Gift: An Exquisite Exhibition

Contributions to the exhibition are from Collection Public Freehold; San Antonio Museum of Art; McNay Art Museum; Linda Pace Foundation; Cathy Cunningham-Little and Ken Little; Penelope Speier and Sonny Collins; Sally and George Muellich; Kate Sheerin; James Lifshutz; Christie Blizard; Guillermo Nicolas; Joseph and Aaronnetta Pierce; Joe Diaz.

Lewis Hyde’s seminal text, The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World, inspired Gift: an Exquisite Exhibition. Co-organized with Virginia Rutledge, this exhibition uses Hyde’s thesis of art as an economy of generosity as inspiration. An artwork, from its inception as an idea to its continuing existence long after the artist’s death, is a gift A central theme of Hyde’s book, the idea of art as a generous act, inspires this dynamic exhibition encouraging collectors and artists to respond over the course of the show to the previous artworks presented, all representing themes of generosity and giving. Hyde summarizes his text:

“The main assumption of the book is that certain spheres of life, which we care about, are not well organized by the marketplace. That includes artistic practice, which is what the book is mostly about, but also pure science, spiritual life, healing and teaching….This book is about the alternative economy of artistic practice. For most artists, the actual working life of art does not fit well into a market economy, and this book explains why and builds out on the alternative, which is to imagine the commerce of art to be well described by gift exchange.”

The exhibition will evolve over time growing via artist and collector responses and curated groupings that reflect on Hyde’s text. The exhibition will open with a single artwork of Lawrence Weiner from the Collection Public Freehold.

Additional work will be added in two subsequent installations on January 14 and January 21, and a performance by Christie Blizard on February 4 and 5, 2016.