Exhibition Opening: Past Paper // Present Marks: Responding to Rauschenberg

Exhibition Dates: 10.13 – 12.18.2022

Member’s Reception: Oct. 13, 5:30pm

Brunch Amongst the Masters and Book Signing: Oct. 14, 10-12pm

The Art Museum of South Texas is pleased to present Past Paper // Present Marks: Responding to Rauschenberg, a photography exhibition of unique photograms created by artists Jennifer Garza-Cuen and Odette England while at Robert Rauschenberg’s former Captiva, Florida home and studio, now run as an invitation-only artist residency. On view from October 13 through December 18, 2022, the exhibition is part of the Museum’s 50^th Anniversary programing and coincides with Warhol, Johns and Stella: Revisited.

The photograms – created by Garza-Cuen and England using expired 1970s gelatin silver paper found in Rauschenberg’s darkroom – were submerged and exposed in his swimming pool and then developed and fixed with expired chemistry. The two artists ‘activated’ the paper by piercing or slashing the bags and envelopes, using: pens, scissors, or knives; folding the silver paper at odd angles; or layering them inside the bags. Some sank to the bottom of the pool, while others floated on top or by the filtration units. Exposures were made overnight and throughout the day, allowing different levels and intensities of sunlight, moonlight, and water to penetrate the paper.

The 30 one-of-a-kind works featured in this exhibition, organized by the Museum’s Curator of Exhibitions Deborah Fullerton, respond to Rauschenberg’s legacy of experimentation with different kinds of artistic processes and materials.

“Past Paper//Present Marks: Responding to Rauschenberg will be on view during our 50^th Anniversary exhibition, Warhol, Johns and Stella: Revisited,” Art Museum of South Texas’, Director, Sara Morgan explains. “We are excited to provide our visitors with exhibitions that showcase our past and highlight the Museum’s future.  Garza-Cuen and England were inspired by an unequivocal art icon yet created their own unique imagery through an evolutionary process of co-discovery.  This exhibition honors the past contributions of an important artist while celebrating the present-day process and collaboration of two 21^st century photographers.”

Robert Rauschenberg (1925 – 2008) was a seminal figure in American Post-War avant-garde art. Best known for his paintings and sculptures, Rauschenberg also had a long-standing interest in photography.

Garza-Cuen and England’s book, Past Paper // Present Marks showcasing this work, was published in 2021 by Radius Books and will be available for purchase in the Museum gift shop. The book was funded in part by a publication grant from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation in New York City. Prints are held in numerous collections including the RISD Museum.

Artists, Publisher, and Museum Information:

Jennifer Garza-Cuen is Associate Professor of Photography at Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. Her work has been exhibited internationally. Awards include a 2019 Guggenheim Fellowship for Photography, Photo Lucida’s Robert Rauschenberg Residency Award, and the British Journal of Photography & 1854 Media’s Female in Focus Award; she received her MFA in Photography with honors from the Rhode Island School of Design and her BA, summa cum laude, from the American University in Cairo, Egypt.

 Odette England is a 2022 Guggenheim Fellow whose work has been shown in more than 100 museums, galleries, and art spaces worldwide. She has published three award-winning photo books including Keeper of the Hearth and Dairy Character. Recent grants include Light Work, RISCA, Silver Eye, Firecracker, Peter E. Palmquist Memorial Fund, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. She currently teaches visual art at Brown University.

Jennifer Garza-Cuen

www.garza-cuen.com

213.454.2240

Odette England

www.odetteengland.com

401.559.9423

Radius Books

www.radiusbooks.org

For further press information (including images) as well as personal and commercial book sales contact Megan Mulry: megan@radiusbooks.org

(505) 983-4068

Art Museum of South Texas:

This year AMST is celebrating 50 years on the Corpus Christi Bay.  The original complex, designed by world-renowned architect Philip Johnson, opened to the public in October of 1972.  To honor our past, celebrate our present, and plan for our future, we have created an exciting selection of exhibitions and educational programs.

The Mission of the South Texas Institute for the Arts (the Institute), doing business as the Art Museum of South Texas, is to operate educational facilities and an art museum which advance the awareness, knowledge, appreciation, and enjoyment of the visual arts for residents and visitors of South Texas. To meet its educational mission, the Institute will present a variety of programs which include classes, lectures, films, performances, and other activities which inspire community interest in the visual arts. These programs will be offered at the Art Museum of South Texas, the Antonio E. Garcia Arts and Education Center, and other outreach venues that serve the Institute’s mission. In operating an art museum, the Institute will actively collect, conserve, exhibit, research, and interpret outstanding works of visual art with interest in art of the Americas and of the region.

Media Contact
Marketing Coordinator, Alexis De León 361-825-3512 email alexis.deleon1@tamucc.edu

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