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Adrian Schiess, This Week at the IMA

Shifting Fragments: A Conversation with Adrian Schiess & Claire Schneider

Thursday, Oct 18
7:00 pm
DeBoest Lecture Hall
Free

Claire Schneider, associate curator of contemporary art at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, organized the 2005 exhibition Extreme Abstraction, which included the first presentation of work by Adrian Schiess in a United States museum. Schneider will conduct a public interview with Schiess to discuss his artistic process. Supported in part by the IMA Contemporary Art Society.

Also, October 18th...

Indianapolis Museum of Art to premiere twelve large-scale works in multiple locations in museum building and grounds

On October 18, 2007, the Indianapolis Museum of Art will unveil the latest site-specific art installation by Swiss artist Adrian Schiess—the artist’s first solo museum exhibition and largest installation in the United States. Sited throughout the IMA’s buildings and surrounding campus, the exhibition will feature video projections and ten works of Schiess’s signature “flat” paintings, which are large-scale panels made of mixed media. The exhibition will feature some new works that will be shown for the first time at the IMA. Off the Wall: Adrian Schiess will be on view at the IMA through April 27, 2008.

The artist Adrian Schiess has been exhibiting his trademark “flat” paintings internationally for more than two decades. The large panels, measuring up to 6.5 feet by 10 feet in size, are rendered in colorful enamel or digital prints covered with glossy lacquer. The paintings are not conventionally hung on the wall. Rather, the artist places the works on the floor or propped upright against a wall. Occupying various sites in the museum galleries and halls, as well as in Lilly House, a historic house museum on IMA’s campus, select works will be displayed in relation to windows and building architecture. The arrangement of the works is specifically intended to reflect changes of light, seasonal shifts, and human activities that will occur around them during their six months on display. A video installation by the artist also will be on view.

“Off the Wall: Adrian Schiess will create an engaging, responsive environment that explores the interaction of society and setting,” said Maxwell L. Anderson, the Melvin & Bren Simon Director and CEO of the Indianapolis Museum of Art. “As we develop a vibrant contemporary art program, we are excited to showcase artists such as Schiess, whose work provides visitors with an experience of art not normally found in an encyclopedic museum.”

For Schiess, the act of arranging his works produces an awareness of the environments around them. “For decades, Adrian has considered something that is now prevalent in discussions around art,” said Rebecca Uchill, assistant curator of contemporary art at the IMA. “He began early on to produce variable artworks that change with each installation. Viewers will have different personal experiences of the work and of the shifting landscape.”

Off the Wall: Adrian Schiess will be on view in the contemporary and European art galleries, museum hallways and Lilly House. The exhibition is the most recent initiative in the Museum’s contemporary program, which includes the Forefront exhibition series, an endowed installation series in the Museum’s principal entry pavilion, and the ongoing development of the Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park.

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