SIMILIA/DISSIMILIA

SIMILIA/DISSIMILIA: Modes of Abstraction in Painting, Sculpture, and Photography Today, is a major international exhibition of over 60 works by 28 artists of the 1960s and 80s. The title of the exhibition is derived from the Latin "simile," a term better known in literary theory, which means "as if," "analogy, " "equivalent," or 'sameness" ("similia" is the plural of "simile"). It is quite distinct from "similitude." (from the Latin "similis"), which means "similar, imitation "mimesis." Works in this exhibit then, aim not to imitate nature, but instead, to use and manipulate aspects and materials drawn from the real world. "Dissimilia" refers to the transformed function that works in this exhibition have taken when manipulated by the artist. To illustrate the theme, Rainer Crone—in collaboration with an exhibition committee drawn from the Columbia University community—selected works that are based on a direct engagement with the real world, by artists of two generations.

The first group of artists in the exhibition matured in the 1960s; their work is characterized, in part, by the use of objects and materials more typical to everyday life than to the realm of art. They include Richard Artschwager, John Chamberlain, Dan Flavin, Eva Hesse, Jasper Johns, and Piero Manzoni. The second group, which has emerged in this decade, has demonstrated a renewed interest in making art based on experience of the world and of real objects. It includes Peter Halley, Roni Horn, Imi Knoebel, Rosemarie Trockel, and Not Vital.

Curator Rainer Crone and his exhibition committee have made a concerted effort to provide a historical context for the works by younger artists presented in this exhibition. By Juxtaposing work of artists of the 1960s with that of younger artists, the works of both groups are shown in different, new contexts, and demonstrate how recent ideas have been seized anew.

SIMILIA/DISSIMILIA is presented at a most fitting time because it commemorates two anniversaries significant to the theme of the exhibition. In 1912, 75 years ago, Pablo Picasso created Still Life with Chair Caning, the first work of art in Western art history to employ the collage technigue, that incorporated material from everyday life into a two-dimensional painting.

Additionally, 1987 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Marcel Duchamp, whose ready-mades revolutionized the manner in which we perceive and interpret art. Picasso and Duchamp, working in the early 20th century, provide a strong historical link for all of the artists of both generations in the exhibition.

The artists in SIMILIA/DISSIMILIA are indebted to Duchamp and Picasso, but have broadened the range of concerns and notions originally brought to bear by these two artists. A common thread unites the works in the exhibit: The artistic manipulation of a functional object or everyday material to produce a level of meaning that may no longer bear relation to the object's original function. With the younger generation of artists in the show, especially, the works maintain their "objectness", albeit in a transformed manner. For example, in his Tea Kettle (1986), Saint Clair Cemin cast a kettle of solid bronze, negating the normal function of such an object and concurrently, creating an object with new, broader associations. Likewise, Tim Rollins and K.O.S glued book pages onto stretched canvas in Red Badge of Courage III (1986/7), so that they become the subject matter of the work of art. Rollins has obliterated areas of the text with paint and the book pages assume a wholly different function by becoming part of a larger visual composition.

Works in SIMILIA/DISSIMILIA often bear multivalent (and sometimes, ambivalent) meanings, with references to art and everyday life, as well as to linguistics, literature, mathematics, natural science, philosophy, and sociology. The disruption in our expectations—the pull between recognition and strangeness—provokes us to look at these works with freshness and immediacy.

The plurality of approaches taken by these artists to the manipulation and creation of objects reflects the fact that experience of the world—the basis for the works in this exhibition—is infinite in form.

The exhibition, organized by the Wallach Art Gallery, was first presented at the Kunsthalle Dusseldorf. In New York, the exhibition spans three venues: The Wallach Art Gallery,  Leo Castelli Gallery, and Sonnabend Gallery. A 187-page catalogue published by Rizzoli accompanies the exhibition.