For Immediate Release
August 30, 2021
CLARK ART INSTITUTE PRESENTS CONVERSATIONS WITH GROUND/WORK ARTISTS NAIRY BAGHRAMIAN AND KELLY AKASHI
Williamstown, Massachusetts—The Clark Art Institute presents two free virtual conversations with artists who created works presented in Ground/work, the Clark’s first outdoor exhibition.
On Wednesday, September 8, at 12:30 pm, artist Nairy Baghramian and Ground/work guest curators Molly Epstein and Abigail Ross Goodman discuss Baghramian’s marble and stainless-steel sculpture, Knee and Elbow. The conversation will explore the complex process of making this new site-responsive commission for the Clark’s exhibition.
On Monday, September 13, at 7 pm, artist Kelly Akashi discusses her practice and her work, A Device to See the World Twice. Interested in themes of permanence and impermanence as well as different modes of time and transformation, Akashi makes sculpture that, like the natural world around it, is not fixed or static.
The conversation will be held via Zoom and Facebook Live. Registration is required. Visit clarkart.edu/events to register.
Nairy Baghramian (b. 1971, Isfahan, Iran) grapples with issues of vulnerability and authority as she deconstructs and reassembles the human form, ever mindful of the forces of history, material, and context. Baghramian’s work is held in the permanent collections of the Centre Pompidou, Paris; The Art Institute of Chicago; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the S.M.A.K. Museum of Contemporary Art, Ghent, Belgium; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Tate Modern, London; and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, among others. Baghramian’s most recent solo presentations include projects at PERFORMA-19, New York (2019), Palacio de Cristal del Retiro, Madrid (2018); the Walker Art Center, (2017); and the S.M.A.K. Museum of Contemporary Art, (2016). Forthcoming solo projects include an exhibition at the Musée d’art contemporain de Nimes in France, and a show at the Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Milan. Baghramian lives and works in Berlin, Germany.
Trained as an analog photographer, Kelly Akashi (b. Los Angeles, 1983) brings a documentarian’s instincts and curiosity to a practice that embraces a range of diverse materials and age-old practices. Inspired by the photographic process of fixing an image in a darkroom, she often casts natural forms in bronze, halting their development and transforming them into relics of the original objects. Akashi’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum; the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art; the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; and the Sifang Museum, Nanjing, China, among others. New and recent solo exhibitions include presentations at the Aspen Art Museum (2020), Tanya Bonakdar Gallery (2020), Headlands Center for the Arts (2019), Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation (2019), ARCH Athens (2019); François Ghebaly Gallery, Los Angeles (2019 and 2016); and SculptureCenter, New York (2017). Akashi lives and works in Los Angeles.
Ground/work consists of commissioned site-responsive installations by six international artists including Akashi and Baghramian, along with Jennie C. Jones, Eva LeWitt, Analia Saban, and Haegue Yang—set throughout the Clark’s distinctive 140-acre campus. The grounds are open day and night at no charge. The exhibition is on view through October 17.
Ground/work is organized by the Clark Art Institute with guest curators Molly Epstein and Abigail Ross Goodman. The exhibition is made possible by Denise Littlefield Sobel. Major support for Ground/work is provided by Karen and Robert Scott and Paul Neely. Additional funding is generously provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art; the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor; Maureen Fennessy Bousa and Edward P. Bousa; Amy and Charlie Scharf; Elizabeth Lee; MASS MoCA; Chrystina and James Parks; Howard M. Shapiro and Shirley Brandman; Joan and Jim Hunter; James and Barbara Moltz; and a gift in honor of Marilyn and Ron Walter.
ABOUT THE CLARK
The Clark Art Institute, located in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, is one of a small number of institutions globally that is both an art museum and a center for research, critical discussion, and higher education in the visual arts. Opened in 1955, the Clark houses exceptional European and American paintings and sculpture, extensive collections of master prints and drawings, English silver, and early photography. Acting as convener through its Research and Academic Program, the Clark gathers an international community of scholars to participate in a lively program of conferences, colloquia, and workshops on topics of vital importance to the visual arts. The Clark library, consisting of more than 275,000 volumes, is one of the nation’s premier art history libraries. The Clark also houses and co-sponsors the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art.
The Clark, which has a three-star rating in the Michelin Green Guide, is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Its 140-acre campus includes miles of hiking and walking trails through woodlands and meadows, providing an exceptional experience of art in nature. Galleries are open 10 am to 5 pm Tuesday through Sunday from September through June, and daily in July and August. Advance timed tickets are required. Admission is $20; free year-round for Clark members, all visitors age 21 and under, and students with a valid student ID. Free admission is available through several programs, including First Sundays Free; a local library pass program; and EBT Card to Culture. For more information on these programs and more, visit clarkart.edu or call 413 458 2303.
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