Nasher Museum of Art Presents 'Street Level' Urban Art Exhibit

Artists Mark Bradford, William Cordova and Robin Rhode exhibit together for the first time in show opening March 29

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Durham, NC -- “Street Level: Mark Bradford, William Cordova and Robin Rhode,” an exhibition of recent work by three urban-focused artists who are exhibiting together for the first time, will be on view at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University from March 29 through July 29.

In conjunction with the exhibition, a public art project also will be installed in downtown Durham.

The Nasher Museum of Art is a major arts center on Duke’s campus that serves the university, Research Triangle area and surrounding region with exhibitions and educational programs.

The artists in “Street Level” explore the ways that cultural territories are defined and space is transformed in urban environments. For Bradford, Cordova and Rhode the streets of Los Angeles, Lima, Miami, New York, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Berlin act as sources of inspiration. They share a common interest in found materials and artistic gestures such as sneakers thrown over a telephone wire, stripping cars, spontaneous shrines and piles of discarded objects that help build a gritty foundation for their art.

The exhibition includes paintings, works on paper, sculpture, photography, video, performance, installation and other mixed media.

“Individually these artists are very exciting, but when you bring them together, unexpected dialogues emerge and their work becomes even more engaging,” said Kimerly Rorschach, the Mary D.B.T. and James H. Semans Director of the Nasher Museum. “All three offer different perspectives and styles, but all three bring their own urban experiences to bear on their art. They make great work from seemingly unpromising materials; they see beauty where most people would not.”

Mark Bradford is best known for large-scale abstract collages made largely from accumulated signs taken from the streets of South Central Los Angeles that he tears, bleaches, sands and embellishes. His work responds to abandoned buildings and vacant lots and the adaptive nature of informal businesses and entrepreneurial cultures that rise to fill the void. Bradford was the 2006 recipient of the Bucksbaum Award, given every two years to a single outstanding artist in the Whitney Biennial exhibition.

William Cordova works largely with found paper and everyday objects to create drawings and mixed-media installations. The accumulation of materials and iconography such as discarded books, stereo speakers, automobile tires and record albums are recurring images that allude both to his Peruvian heritage and modern urban subcultures. William Cordova had his first gallery solo show with Arndt & Partner in Berlin in 2006.

Robin Rhode’s performances involve the buildup and erasure of drawings on the walls of galleries and public spaces that playfully transform his renderings into illusory three-dimensional objects. He takes inspiration from graffiti, film, sports and hip-hop, as well as his personal experiences in the rough neighborhoods of Johannesburg, South Africa. Rhode documents and exhibits his performances through digital photography and computer animation. In December, Robin Rhode won the 2006 W South Beach Artist Commission at Art Basel Miami Beach’s “Art Positions” exhibition.

Street Level is the first show at the Nasher Museum to be organized by curator of contemporary art Trevor Schoonmaker.

“This is an exciting moment in the careers of Bradford, Cordova and Rhode,” Schoonmaker said. “All three have achieved some recognition, but they are still young, still experimenting, and very much on the rise.”

Street Level will be complemented by programs at the Nasher Museum that include appearances and interactive performances by the artists, a preview and DJ party for museum members and the Duke community on March 28, a Family Day event, a film series and teacher workshop and other educational and public programming.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a color catalogue distributed by Duke University Press. It is edited by Schoonmaker and includes essays by Isolde Brielmaier, director and chief curator at the Rotunda Gallery in Brooklyn, and Sarah Lewis, curatorial assistant at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

In conjunction with the exhibition, Cordova and Leslie Hewitt, his frequent collaborator, will install a public art project on two downtown Durham walls on April 12. “From the Root” commemorates people who have made contributions toward positive social change in North Carolina and the world. They created “From the Root” in 2006 as an evolving project with installations in Atlanta, Miami and New York.

This exhibition and related programs received support from Duke’s Office of the President and the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation.