• Museums

    Pae White: Lisa, Bright and Dark

    Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art

    May 17-September 7, 2008

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    Pae White: Lisa, Bright and Dark is the first U.S. museum survey of Pae White's wide-ranging art-sculpture, mobiles, installations and graphic design. White rethinks the vocabulary and cultural context of modernist art, architecture and design. With each work, she solves a defined problem, be it spatial, intellectual or emotional. This exhibition highlights White's pivotal themes: the rhetoric of style; the aesthetics of domesticity and leisure; the narrative potential of abstraction and color; and the pleasure of experimentation with materials. It is organized around the opposing concepts of 'bright' and 'dark,' to create contrasting psychological environments for the viewer. To the artist, this duality refers to the complexities of the human psyche and the basic human propensity to swing between the 'bright' and 'dark' aspects of our natures. The title is taken from a favorite childhood book, Lisa, Bright and Dark, by John Neufeld. Pae White is one of the most significant women artists participating in the international dialog about the intersection of art and design today, working alongside practitioners as diverse as Jorge Pardo, Jim Isermann, Tobias Rehberger, Karim Rashid and Bruce Mau. White breaks down barriers between 'high' and 'low' art. She embraces a wide range of artistic traditions, from those of the Bauhaus to Charles and Ray Eames to Isamu Noguchi. Rooted in the Edenic promise of California culture and witty irony of West Coast conceptual art, White's work operates on both sides of the divide between art and everyday life. Her use of surface, light and color suggests the influence of California 'light and space' artists of the 1960s, who embraced new industrial materials. Born and raised in Los Angeles, White uses a palette that recalls 1970s-era Los Angeles, from the floral patterns of Vera to the anti-war posters of Sister Mary Corita Kent. The accompanying catalog will be the first major U.S. museum publication on Pae White's art and also an 'artist's book,' designed in consultation with White. Texts include an interview by Hans Ulrich Obrist, co-director of exhibitions and programs and director of international projects at the Serpentine Gallery, London, as well as an essay on White's conceptual approach by originating curator Marilu Knode (former senior curator at SMoCA and now associate director, Future Art Projects, Arizona State University, Tempe) and an introduction by implementing curator Cassandra Coblentz, associate curator at SMoCA.

    • Ticket Info

      Tickets: $7/Adults, $5/Students, Free/Members and Children Under 15, Free Admission Every Thursday

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    • Dates & Times

      Dates:
      May 17-September 7, 2008

      Times:
      Tuesday-Wednesday 10:00am-5:00pm, Thursday 10:00am-8:00pm, Friday-Saturday 10:00am-5:00pm, Sunday 12:00pm-5:00pm

    • Venue Info

      Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art

      7374 East Second Street Scottsdale, AZ 85251

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    • Regions

      Scottsdale

    • Accessibility Info
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