Art Lies, Volume 67, Fall/Winter 2010 Page: 80
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r ilL. Temporary Services (et al.), A National Conversation About Art, Labor, and
Economics, 2009; ink on paper, with supplemental materials assembled by
the curator; dimensions variable; courtesy the artists and CentralTrak, Dallas;
photo by Carolyn Sortor
R. Richie Budd, All I Have To Give, 2010; artist's wisdom tooth mounted in
acrylic box on pedestal; 1 of 4; 46 x 9 x 9 inches; courtesy the artistDALLAS
The Non-Profit Margin
CentralTrakWith conceptual links to New York-based artist coalitions of the late 1960s
and '70s, The Non-Profit Margin at CentralTrak (UT Dallas' artist residency
space) aimed to reveal "the economics of the art worker" with works that
investigate and resist conventional systems of exchange. The exhibition's
accompanying language discussing the artist-as-cultural-worker offers a
telling contrast to recent conversations of the rampant commodification of
the artist. Staging such an exhibition in Dallas is smart, as the city-famous
for its materialistic personality-could stand to see work that overtly
addresses economic influence and, specifically, the art and luxury market.
Finance-friendly Dallas offers a productive backdrop for rethinking art's
role in a recession-bruised society.
One of the most compelling and challenging works is Illinois-based
Temporary Services' newsletter Art Work: A National Conversation About
Art, Labor, and Economics (2009). Intended for broad circulation, the
collective's bulletin disseminates essays on art's role in American socio-
economic structures. Its pages deliver a scathing review of "dirty capitalist
shenanigans," as well as alternatives to conventional avenues of exchange
and communication. The presentation of these distributable texts at
CentralTrak is refreshingly engaging. Broadsheets are posted along hallway
walls; essays calling for revolution and the collective's manifesto surround
the viewer and encourage up-close reading. Handwritten solicitations for
viewer suggestions offer further opportunities for interaction and lend an
earnest DIY spirit to the cause. Accessible and provocative, this installation
intends to start conversations within the local art community.
Also seeking to stimulate the viewer by soliciting personal engage-
ment is Thomas Riccio and Frank Dufour's The Invention of Memory,where the artist pair employs multiple media to create a quasi-kinetic
receptacle for "vocal and visual memories." A mystical-looking outhouse
of sorts, their contribution echoes Rauschenberg's visceral assemblages of
common materials. Various items flank each side of the tall wooden unit,
while its backside supports a flat screen computer monitor with a jumpy
black-and-white video; the receptacle for the viewer's memories hangs
on the structure's right side. The proximity of the screen and receptacle
does not aid in clarifying their relationship to each other despite the
artists' explanation (printed and hung on the structure's left panel) that
"memory-bearing" objects contribute to a service market. Adding to the
mystery of the work, the edifice's tattered front door is ajar, revealing a
video projection on the interior floor that is identical to that playing on the
exterior backside. Fraught with associations, the ambiguity of this object/
experience perhaps speaks to the inscrutable nature of producing mean-
ing in the art world-quite opposite to the clarity promoted in Temporary
Services' Art Work.
The rest of the exhibition's diverse offerings inject the gallery space
with a sense of the art worker's presence, ironically or not, and meet with
varying degrees of success. Richie Budd's All I Have to Give displays the
artist's wisdom tooth in a sterile vitrine at the exhibition entrance. His lone
body part suggests an earnestness and personal investment sometimes
absent from exhibitions of contemporary art, especially when what is on
view appears made to sell. Budd's Diner Coupon, a long row of twenty evenly
spaced, identical vouchers in clear plastic frames, offers the viewer another
chance, at least conceptually, to possess a chunk of the artist, or at least his
time. Each coupon features a pokerfaced photo of the artist and promises80 ART LIES NO. 67
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Mueller, Kurt. Art Lies, Volume 67, Fall/Winter 2010, periodical, 2010; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth228032/m1/82/?q=Thomas+Riccio: accessed May 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .