Twitter Interview with Susan Davidson
On Monday, April 16, 2 pm EDT, Guggenheim Senior Curator Susan Davidson answered your questions about John Chamberlain: Choices.
Our live Q&A with @artlog & Susan Davidson starts in 15 minutes! Follow #JohnChamberlain or guggenheim.tweetwally.com.
Welcome to our live Twitter interview with @Guggenheim curator Susan Davidson on the late American sculptor #JohnChamberlain.- Today, on #JohnChamberlain's 85th birthday, we're celebrating the artist's prolific career with curator Susan (tweeting as @Guggenheim).
- Susan worked closely with #JohnChamberlain on his current @Guggenheim retrospective up until his unfortunate passing in December 2011.
- Thanks to all for submitting your questions to Susan. To follow the Q&A use #JohnChamberlain or guggenheim.tweetwally.com.
- .@Gugenheim Q1: In what ways has #JohnChamberlain changed since his first retrospective Guggenheim in 1971? - @Machin_gan
- .@Artlog After the first retro, #JohnChamberlain started adding additional color on top of the car metal; this continued for a long period.
- .@Artlog In the last 6 yrs or so #JohnChamberlain worked only w/ colors of metal as found. Compositions became more elaborate & monumental.
- .@Guggenheim Q2: #JohnChamberlain was in his 80s while you were organizing his show. Did he think the exhibition could've been his last?
- .@Guggenheim If so, how did that impact decisions that went into making the #JohnChamberlain retrospective? - Amanda S. via e-mail
- .@Artlog Not at all; I think most artists believe they will always be in the studio producing new work, including #JohnChamberlain.
- .@Guggenheim Q3: Because #JohnChamberlain uses unyielding materials like car parts, is it difficult to see career progression? - @ccollicott
- .@Artlog In this show as you walk up the ramps, you will clearly see #JohnChamberlain’s progression, shifts in scale & mastery of materials.
- .@Gugenheim Q4: When preparing the #JohnChamberlain exhibition, whose perspective did you consider most? The artist’s or visitors? @PaleoNay
- .@Artlog Actually neither. #JohnChamberlain told me when we first started working on the exhibition "I’ve done my job, now you do yours."
- .@Artlog As a curator I wanted to see and study the artworks in-depth. #JohnChamberlain
- .@Artlog Out of his own curiosity. #JohnChamberlain often said there was all this material laying around and it was free. . .why not use it.
- .@Guggenheim Q6: What was #JohnChamberlain’s contribution to painting? - via @CanningMichael
- .@Artlog Oddly, through his photography, although our current #JohnChamberlain exhibition doesn’t include this body of work.
- .@Artlog #JohnChamberlain often shot with the camera at his hip. Without looking through the viewfinder, they resemble abstract paintings.
- .@Guggenheim Q7: Do you think the feel of a #JohnChamberlain piece is dependent on its size? - @LA2SF2NY
- .@Artlog As #JohnChamberlain said, “if you get the scale right, the size doesn’t matter.”
- .@Guggenheim Q8: For some, #JohnChamberlain's usage of automobile scraps in his art was seen as a representation of American consumerism.
- .@Guggenheim Did the recent auto industry crisis have an effect on the interpretation of #JohnChamberlain's work? Amber K. via e-mail
