The papers of multimedia artist and filmmaker Linda Freeman measure 32.9 linear feet and date from 1971-2015, with the bulk of the material dating from 1990-2011. The collection primarily consists of the production archives of Freeman's video documentary production company L and S Video, producer of 27 short subject documentaries on contemporary American art and artists. Subjects include Emma Amos, Benny Andrews, Romare Bearden, Charles Burchfield, Elizabeth Catlett, Chuck Close, Robert Colescott, Jimmy and Max Ernst, Red Grooms, Jacob Lawrence, Richard Mayhew, Howardena Pindell, Horace Pippin, Faith Ringgold, and Betye and Alison Saar. Additional documentaries on subjects other than single artists include works on Luba artists of Central Africa, the creative process (on Freeman and five other artists featured in other documentaries in the collection), mixed media artists (on Alvin Loving, Flo Oy Wong, and Alison Saar), self-taught artists (on William Hawkins, Bill Traylor, and Grandma Moses), and a six-part series on art subjects for children called I Can Fly.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of multimedia artist and filmmaker Linda Freeman measure 32.9 linear feet and date from 1971-2015, with the bulk of the material dating from 1990-2011. The collection primarily consists of the production archives of Freeman's video documentary production company L and S Video, producer of 27 short subject documentaries on contemporary American art and artists. Subjects include Emma Amos, Benny Andrews, Romare Bearden, Charles Burchfield, Elizabeth Catlett, Chuck Close, Robert Colescott, Jimmy and Max Ernst, Red Grooms, Jacob Lawrence, Richard Mayhew, Howardena Pindell, Horace Pippin, Faith Ringgold, and Betye and Alison Saar. Additional documentaries on subjects other than single artists include works on Luba artists of Central Africa, the creative process (on Freeman and five other artists featured in other documentaries in the collection), mixed media artists (on Alvin Loving, Flo Oy Wong, and Alison Saar), self-taught artists (on William Hawkins, Bill Traylor, and Grandma Moses), and a six-part series on art subjects for children called I Can Fly.
For each documentary, original, unedited footage shot by Freeman of artist interviews, studio footage, and interviews with subject experts is found, featuring curators, gallerists, collectors, and art historians speaking about the documentary subjects. In almost every case, significant original footage is found that was not used in the finished documentary and therefore unique to this collection, especially in the form of original interviews and studio footage.
Footage obtained from third-parties for use in the documentaries is found for several works including the Red Grooms, Luba, Crown Heights, and Romare Bearden documentaries. Notable among third-party material is a copy of Howardena Pindell's video performance work "Free, White, and 21" (1980). Also found are original footage and master material for "Pit Stop," a short fiction film by Robert Colescott, produced by Linda Freeman.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 25 series, with most series representing the records of a single documentary production. Order of series is alphabetical by subject's last name, followed by titles for non-biographical works.
Media within series are typically grouped into three subseries: one for original, unedited footage and transcripts; one for production material, including media artifacts from intermediate stages of production and paper records of the production such as notes and drafts; and finally one for finished documentaries. Footage obtained from third-party sources is arranged with production material. Smaller series are arranged similarly but without formal subseries.
Audio and video tapes are housed separately from paper and digital records to facilitate access to both types of material. Also note that media are listed as items, which may be comprised of multiple tapes or single tapes, or multiple items on a single tape. As a result, physical folders may contain tapes from more than one item, and items can span multiple folders.
Series 1: Emma Amos: Action Lines (1996), 1991-2005 (1.3 linear feet; boxes 1-2, 28)
Series 2: Benny Andrews: The Visible Man (1996), 1991-2000 (1.2 linear feet; boxes 2, 28)
Series 3: Romare Bearden: Visual Jazz (1995), 1971-2000 (2.3 linear feet; boxes 3-4, 28, FC 34-36)
Series 4: Charles Burchfield's World (2004), 2004-2005 (0.3 linear feet; boxes 4, 28)
Series 5: Elizabeth Catlett: Sculpting the Truth (1998), 1998-2000 (1.3 linear feet; boxes 4-5, 28-29)
Series 6: Chuck Close: Close-up (2003), 2003-2006 (0.8 linear feet; boxes 6, 29)
Series 7: Robert Colescott: The One-Two Punch (1992), 1980-2005 (1.7 linear feet; boxes 6-8, 29, 33)
Series 8: "Pit Stop" by Robert Colescott (1995), 1995-1998 (1.1 linear feet; boxes 8, 29, FC 37-38)
Series 9: Jimmy and Max Ernst: Dada's Son (2005), 2005 (0.2 linear feet; boxes 8, 29)
Series 10: Red Grooms: Sculptopictoramatist (2008), 2008 (1.2 linear feet; boxes 9-10, 29)
Series 11: Jacob Lawrence: The Glory of Expression (1993), 1991-2007 (2.3 linear feet; boxes 10-11, 29, 32-33)
Series 12: Richard Mayhew: Spiritual Landscapes (2000), 1999-2000 (0.8 linear feet; boxes 11-12, 29)
Series 13: Howardena Pindell: Atomizing Art (1998), 1991-2005 (0.9 linear feet; boxes 12-13, 29)
Series 14: Horace Pippin: There Will Be Peace (1997), 1997-2000 (0.9 linear feet; boxes 13-14, 29-30)
Series 15: Faith Ringgold: The Last Story Quilt (1992), 1990-2007 (1.9 linear feet; boxes 14-15, 30, 33)
Series 16: Faith Ringgold Paints Crown Heights (1994), 1994-2005 (2.5 linear feet; boxes 15-17, 30, 33)
Series 17: Betye and Alison Saar: Conjure Women of the Arts (1994), 1990-2005 (2.3 linear feet; boxes 17-19, 30, 33)
Series 18: African Art, Women, History: The Luba People of Central Africa (1998), 1990-2000 (1.0 linear feet; boxes 19-20, 30)
Series 19: The Creative Process: Artists At Work (2011), 2006-2011 (0.3 linear feet; boxes 20, 30)
Series 20: I Can Fly Series, 1999-2011 (3.8 linear feet; boxes 20-23, 31)
Series 21: Mixed Media Masters (2008), 1991-2008 (1.0 linear feet; boxes 24, 31)
Series 22: School's Out: Self-Taught Artists (2001), 1995-2001 (1.1 linear feet; boxes 24-25, 31)
Series 23: Women in Their Studios: Jennifer Bartlett and Jackie Winsor (2006), 2005-2006 (0.6 linear feet; boxes 25-26, 31)
Series 24: Other Projects, 1988-2015 (1.6 linear feet; boxes 26-27, 31-32)
Series 25: L and S Video Records, 1990-2008 (0.5 linear feet; boxes 27, 32)
Biographical / Historical:
Linda Freeman(1941- ) is a multimedia artist and filmmaker in New York, New York. Freeman manages L and S Video (established 1987), a company that creates, produces, and distributes documentaries about American Artists.
In a lecture by Freeman at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in October 2000, she describes how she received training in filmmaking at New York University, and set out to create documentaries about contemporary artists who were both widely recognized as important artists and had not yet been the subjects of documentaries. Her first subject was Faith Ringgold, who she approached in 1990 for what would become Faith Ringgold: The Last Story Quilt. Freeman went on to produce 28 documentaries with director and writer David Irving featuring primarily living African American artists, but also women artists, self-taught artists, and mixed-media artists. The documentaries are based on extended interviews with the artists, studio footage of the artists working, and interviews with notable curators, dealers, critics, art historians, and other artists with expertise in the work and career of the subject at hand. Freeman included herself in the documentary The Creative Process: Artists at Work along with footage of other artists from her previous productions that had not been used in her finished works to date.
As an artist, Freeman has shown work in multiple traveling group exhibitions including "Women Call for Peace: Global Vistas," "Our Ancestors Quilt Project," "Women Only! In Their Studios," "Voices in Cloth: Story Quilts," and has had solo exhibitions at the Henry Gallery at Penn State Great Valley and SOHO20 gallery.
Provenance:
The collection was donated in 2015 by Linda Freeman, L and S Video.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Rights:
The donor has retained all intellectual property rights, including copyright, that she may own.
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Multimedia artists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Filmmakers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Joyce Kozloff, 2011 Jul 12-13. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
An interview of Joyce Kozloff conducted 2011 July 12 and 13, by Judith Olch Richards, for the Archives of American Art's Elizabeth Murray Oral History of Women in the Visual Arts Project, at Kozloff's home and studio, in New York, N.Y.
Biographical / Historical:
Joyce Kozloff (1942- ) is a mixed media artist in New York, N.Y. Judith Olch Richards (1947- ) is a former executive director of iCI in New York, N.Y.
General:
Originally recorded on Edirol R-09HR. Reformatted in 2010 as 9 digital wav files. Duration is 7 hrs., 10 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Occupation:
Mosaicists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Mixed-media artists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
An interview with Alisa Sikelianos-Carter conducted 2020 September 1, by Fernanda Espinosa, for the Archives of American Art's Pandemic Oral History Project at Sikelianos-Carter's studio in New Haven, Connecticut.
Biographical / Historical:
Alisa Sikelianos-Carter is a mixed-media visual artist in Albany, New York. Sikelianos-Carter explores Black features, archetypes, and mythology through her work. Sikelianos-Carter is a 2020 NXTHVN Studio Fellow.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Restrictions:
This interview is open for research.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its Oral History Program interviews available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. Quotation, reproduction and publication of the audio is governed by restrictions. If an interview has been transcribed, researchers must quote from the transcript. If an interview has not been transcribed, researchers must quote from the audio recording. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Mixed-media artists -- New York (State) Search this
An interview with Nanette Carter conducted 2021 November 22 and December 7, by Cheryl R. Riley for the Archives of American Art, at Carter's home and studio in Harlem, NY.Ā
Biographical / Historical:
Nanette Carter (1954- ) is an African American artist and educator in New York, New York known for abstract collages that often incorporate Mylar. Carter's work often engages contemporary social issues including racial justice. She has taught at the Pratt Institute since 2001.
Related Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds the Nanette Carter papers, 1972-2009.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Restrictions:
This interview is open for research. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its Oral History Program interviews available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. Quotation, reproduction and publication of the recording is governed by restrictions. If an interview has been transcribed, researchers must quote from the transcript. If an interview has not been transcribed, researchers must quote from the recording. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Collagists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Mixed-media artists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
An interview of Claudia DeMonte conducted 1991 February 13-1991 April 24, by Liza Kirwin, for the Archives of American Art.
DeMonte recalls her childhood and growing up in Astoria, New York; her Italian heritage and Catholic education; her early work including the "trade pieces"; the calendar she produced for the Corcoran Gallery show "Five Plus One" in 1976; her marriage to artist Ed McGowin; moving from Washington, D.C. to New York; the making and meaning of her "Claudia dolls"; exhibiting at the Gracie Mansion Gallery; the art community in the East Village in the early 1980s; the dealer Gracie Mansion; gallery representation outside of New York; critical acceptance of her art; collecting the work of Southern self-taught artists and the influence of Sister Gertrude Morgan and James Son Ford Thomas; work methods and techniques; autobiographical and feminist themes; teaching at the university of Maryland from 1972 to the present; and new directions in her art.
Biographical / Historical:
Claudia DeMonte (1947- ) is a painter, mixed-media artist, and instructor of College Park, Maryland and New York, New York.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 3 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 22 min.
Provenance:
These interviews are part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Occupation:
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Collagists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Mixed-media artists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
An interview with G. Peter Jemison conducted 2021 April 25 and May 3, by Nicole Scott, for the Archives of American Art, at Jemison's studio and home on Seneca land in Victor, N.Y.
Biographical / Historical:
G. Peter Jemison (1945-) (Seneca, Heron Clan) is a New York based artist whose paintings and mixed media works draw on orenda, the Haudenosaunee belief that spiritual force pervades all creation. He has advocated for Native autonomy as a curator and representative on federal advisory councils.
Nicole Scott (1988-) (Navajo) is director of the Native American Future Steward Program at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Restrictions:
This interview is open for research. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its Oral History Program interviews available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. Quotation, reproduction and publication of the recording is governed by restrictions. If an interview has been transcribed, researchers must quote from the transcript. If an interview has not been transcribed, researchers must quote from the recording. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Visual Arts and the AIDS Epidemic: An Oral History Project Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Eric Rhein, 2017 February 26-April 16. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Artists -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
Correspondence, notes, writings, 3 scrapbooks, printed material, and 60 photographs document Katz' career as a painter, muralist, and stained glass artist of primarily Jewish and religious subjects.
Correspondence, 1927-1973, is primarily with synagogues, Jewish community centers and groups concerning commissions for architectural decorations and religious objects, and with galleries concerning exhibitions. Included is a letter from Bob Andrews, 1965, containing a photograph of Beatrice Wood and Gandhi's confidential aide Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya. Notes consist of 4 lists of projects for synagogues. Writings by Katz include an essay about the integration of architecture, painting and sculpture, and "The Seven Names," about calligraphy. Also included are writings by others about Katz, 1952-1956. Three scrapbooks, 1932-1955, contain clippings, reproductions of work, and a few photos and prints.
Printed material includes clippings, 1930-1974, exhibition announcements and catalogs, 1941-1973, and various brochures, programs, reproductions, and books by Katz, including Prelude to a New Art for an Old Religion (1945), and Adventures in Casein (1951); books illustrated by Katz, Art Calendar for 5709 (1948-1949), and By the Waters of Babylon by Gertrude Priester (1962); and a book jacket designed by Katz for The Hungry Eye by Raymond F. Piper, ca. 1955. Photographs are of Katz (7), works of art (35), and installations of Katz's work (25).
Biographical / Historical:
Mural painter, stained glass and mixed media artist; New York, N.Y. Born in Hungary, Katz' first name Sandor, was anglicized to Alexander upon his arrival in the United States, ca. 1909. Also known as Raymond Katz. Following his studies at the American Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Academy of Arts, he was employed by Balaban and Katz to decorate movie palaces. His mural commission, "Ten Commandments" at Chicago's Century of Progress exhibition in 1933 was based on the Hebrew alphabet. Subsequent murals and stained glass window designs commissioned by synagogues throughout America display symbolic images interpretive of Jewish traditions. Author of Black on White (1933), The Ten Commandments (1946), A New Art for an Old Religion (1952), and Adventures in Casein (1951).
Provenance:
Donated November and December 1974 by Katz' wife, Elsie. Microfilmed 1994 with funding from the Lucius N. Littauer Foundation.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
The papers of Claudia DeMonte and Ed McGowin measure 7.2 linear feet and date between 1960 and 2018. The papers primarily document Claudia DeMonte's career as a painter, and to a lesser extent her husband's career, through correspondence with family, friends, colleagues, and art institutions; notebooks, poetry, and other writings; scrapbooks; curriculum vitas, awards and certificates, commissions, and other professional activity; exhibition announcements and catalogs, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, and other printed material; sketchbooks and other artwork; personal photographs, portraits, of artwork, and other photographic material.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of Claudia DeMonte and Ed McGowin measure 7.2 linear feet and date between 1960 and 2018. The papers primarily document Claudia DeMonte's career as a painter, and to a lesser extent her husband's career, through correspondence with family, friends, colleagues, and art institutions; notebooks, poetry, and other writings; scrapbooks; curriculum vitas, awards and certificates, commissions, and other professional activity; exhibition announcements and catalogs, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, and other printed material; sketchbooks and other artwork; personal photographs, portraits, of artwork, and other photographic material.
Correspondence includes letters and postcards to and from family, friends, colleagues, and art institutions.
Writings includes a file of poetry written by DeMonte, manuscripts of books written by DeMonte, and a series of notebooks. Some of the notebooks are a combination of notes and sketches.
Scrapbooks consist of eight scrapbooks consisting of mixed material such as notes, photographs, sketches, and printed material.
Professional material consists of awards and certificates, a large number of calendars, commision work including an art project for the University of Northern Iowa completed by both DeMonte and McGowin, and a number of VHS and Betamax cassettes documenting DeMonte's career and interviews in connection with her Women of the World exhibition.
Printed material consists of newspaper clippings, magazine articles, exhibition announcements and catalogs, exhibition posters, and newsletters.
Artwork consists of a file of drawings and some sketchbooks.
Photographic material consists of photographs and slides of DeMonte, her artwork, and some of her exhibitions. There is also a file of photographs of DeMonte and McGowin at the White House with First Lady Laura Bush, and there are personal photographs of DeMonte and McGowin traveling and with family and friends.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into seven series.
Series 1: Correspondence, 1967-2013 (1.7 linear feet; Boxes 1-2)
Series 2: Writings, 1975-2013 (0.5 linear feet; Boxes 2-3)
Series 3: Scrapbooks, 1967-2009 (1.0 linear feet; Box 3, 9-10)
Series 4: Professional Activity Files, 1964-2013 (1.7 linear feet; Boxes 3-5, 9)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1960-2018 (1.9 linear feet; Boxes 5-7)
Series 6: Artwork, circa 1973 (0.1 linear feet; Box 7)
Series 7: Photographic Material, circa 1977-2010 (0.3 linear feet; Boxes 7-8)
Biographical / Historical:
Claudia DeMonte (1947- ) was born and raised in Astoria, New York City. She has more than 100 one-person shows and 600 group exhibitions nationally and internationally, including exhibitions at the Corcoran Museum, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Mississippi Museum, Tucson Museum, Flint Institute of Art, Museum of the Southwest, etc.
Her work is in numerous museum permanent collections, including the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Stamford Museum, Boca Raton Museum, and in major corporate collections such as those of Hyatt Regency Hotels, Exxon, Citibank and Siemens. Her public commissions have come from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Brooklyn Library System, Queens Supreme Court, Prudential Life Insurance, the State of New Mexico, and New York City School Construction Authority.
DeMonte is also the curator of "Women of the World: A Global Collection of Art." This traveling exhibition, with accompanying books, includes works of women from 177 countries dealing with the images of women.
DeMonte's work is heavily influenced by her travels to over 80 countries, her interest in the roles of women in contemporary society and Outsider Art, a collection compiled with her husband, artist Ed McGowin.
For 33 years, DeMonte has served on the faculty of the University of Maryland, where she was named Distinguished Scholar Teacher and Professor Emerita. In 2006, She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the College of Santa Fe.
DeMonte presently lives with her husband in New York City and Kent, Connecticut.
Ed McGowin (1938- ) was born in 1938 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi and grew up in Mississippi and Alabama, receiving the M.A. from the University of Alabama. He has had one-person exhibitions at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C.; the Baltimore Museum; and the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris, France. Since 1979, McGowin has executed major outdoor commissions for numerous public and private organizations, often collaborating with his wife, Claudia DeMonte.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Claudia DeMonte conducted by Liza Kirwin between February 13 and April 24, 1991; and the Ed McGowin papers, 1962-1998.
Provenance:
The Claudia DeMonte and Ed McGowin papers were donated in 1994 by Claudia DeMonte and in 2020 by Claudia DeMonte and Ed McGowin.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Mixed-media artists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Collagists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Claudia DeMonte and Ed McGowin papers, 1960-2018. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
Interview of Liliana Porter, conducted by Judith Richards for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution in Rhinebeck, NY, on June 27-28, 2012.
Interviewee Liliana Porter (1941- ) is a mixed media artist working in printmaking, works on canvas, photography, video, installations and public art projects in Rhinebeck, N.Y. Interviewer Judith Olch Richards (1947- ) is the former executive director for iCI in New York, N.Y.
General:
Originally recorded as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 5 hr., 41 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Restrictions:
This transcript is open for research. Access to the entire recording is restricted. Contact reference Services for more information.
Occupation:
Mixed-media artists -- New York (State) Search this
An interview with Eric Rhein conducted 2017 February 26-April 16, by Theodore Kerr, for the Archives of American Art's Visual Arts and the AIDS Epidemic: An Oral History Project, at Mana Contemporary in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Rhein speaks of his youth in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and New York State's Hudson Valley; as a child, creating within the immersive educational community experience of his father's university art teaching, including a focus on ceramics; the personal influence of his uncle Lige Clarke, a gay rights pioneer; early sexual experiences; formative experiences in art making and theatrical endeavors in high school; attending the School of Visual Arts in New York City, while simultaneously being immersed in New York's East Village art scene; early work in puppetry, including work for George Balanchine; significant romantic relationships; the shifts of his studio from the East Village, to Long Island City, and most recently to Jersey City; his devoted carrying of memories of friends who died of complications from AIDS; artwork made in response to the AIDS crisis; receiving his HIV diagnosis in 1987, and its implications for his life and artwork; finding support through groups like The Healing Circle and Friends In Deed; the relationship between creativity, nature, and spirituality; initial and ongoing work with Visual AIDS; HIV stigmatization in relation to body image and appearance; his extreme bodily fragility, near-death expereince, and subsequent return to physical vitality; resiliency; medical care he received for HIV-related illnesses and the lifesaving effect of protease inhibitors; the genesis, forms, and evolution of his AIDS memorial, "Leaves;" art-making as a form of AIDS activism, as well as emotional evolution; his body of work as a memoir to his life's experience; the use & significance of salvaged and recycled materials; the genesis and significance of his "Lazarus" photographic self-portrait; the realities of long-term HIV survivorship, psychological vulnerability, and his commitment to continue healing; art-making as a way of isolating from the world; the sense of community among artists touched by HIV/AIDS; returning to the School of Visual Arts from1998 to 2000, and receiving a Master's Degree; immersing himself in spirituality, including Native American and Eastern belief systems and healing arts; transformative experiences on Fire Island; the global reach of his art; different understandings of HIV/AIDS among younger generations; the showing of his work, and achieving recognition, in a context outside of HIV; the art world's market-driven mechanisms; his recent exhibitions, including internationally; torsos as a motif in his work; and the genesis and significance of his 2015 work, "The Order." Rhein also recalls: Philip Mullen, Jack Nichols, Steve Yates, Randy Wicker, Peter Cusack, Rika Burnham, Peter Lewton-Brain, Kermit Love, Abby Krey, Greer Lankton, Richard Hunt, Lincoln Kirstein, Steven Lonsdale, Billy Wonder, Bill Stelling, Ann Craig, Douglas Ferguson, David Salle, Jackie Winsor, Petah Coyne, Mats Gustafson, Ted Muehling, Huck Snyder, Antonio Lopez, Ross Bleckner, Annie Sprinkle, John Dugdale, Dr. Paul Bellman, David Hirsch, Frank Moore, Connie Butler, Robert Mapplethorpe, Edward Albee, Hugh Steers, Roland Waden, Russell Sharon, Luis Frangella, Wilfredo Vela, Arnie Zane, Carlos Rodriguez, John Sex, Joe Piazza, Ken Davis, William Weichert, Ramsey McPhillips, Hannah Wilke, David Nelson, Nancy Brooks Brody, Joy Episalla, Hunter Reynolds, Stephen Vider, Gail Thacker, Rafael Sanchez, Mark Isaacson, Ralph Cutler, Michael Von Uchtrup, Chrys Skleros, Bruce Bergman, Jim Pepper, Bill Olander, Barbara Hunt McLanahan, Andrew Zobler, Pavel Zoubok, Richard Anderson, Kris Nuzzi, Seth Joseph Weine, Walt Cessna, Spencer Cox, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Interviewee Eric Rhein (1961- ) is a mixed-media artist living and working in New York, New York. Interviewer Theodore Kerr (1979- ) is a writer and organizer in New York, New York.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Restrictions:
This interview is access restricted; written permission is required. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Topic:
Artists -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
