This title was digitized by the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia (MOCA GA).
About Atlanta Art Workers Coalition newspaper. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1978-1980 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1980)
I would also like to write about the new involvement with means of at taining deep space, a very interesting concern. I think there is some very good work being done in playing with illusion, yet not losing control of the two-dimensional field. Jack Tworkov’s latest work is a case in point. There is now a great wave of new image painting, all sorts of quasi abstract, quasi-representational paint ing. Very little of the work comes up to the level of Susan Rothenberg, Lois Lane and Jon Borofsky. But I think from talking to dealers that that’s what they’re inundated with now in terms of portfolios. The best term I’ve heard for this type of painting was what Tom Hess called it, not long be fore he died, “eclectic abstraction.” I think the return to oil paint, the oili ness of oil paint, is also a very inter esting manifestation. AAWC: How would you evaluate the collection of contemporary art in the collection of the High Museum? PM: Well, I think there are signifi cant gaps. Of course, we have that beautiful Jim Dine, a wonderful messy Dine. I love that picture. But we need, 1 think, broader representations—a good Lichtenstein, a good Rauschen berg, and certainly more from the ab stract expressionists, too. That Gott lieb and the Guston are both of ex tremely high quality. The Gottlieb is as good as any Gottlieb 1 know aside from some of his early mysterious pic- tograph pictures which have a won derful, elusive quality. The Guston is very close to the best of his work, al though I love some of his recent patin- ings too. Clearly given the two fine Stellas that are here now, we really should have a more recent one as well as an early copper or black Stella. One should build on existing strengths. And certainly we need an Agnes Mar tin, even one of the drawings. Our Dan Flavin is also very good. The Estes is a wonderful picture, a shrewd acquisi tion—expensive, but very, very good. Vigtel has bought well. He has a good eye. What is here in terms of the over think of it as a base for future growth. 1 suspect that, in the next five years, the collection is going to grow very, very rapidly. There seems to be, from everything I’ve read, a widespread recognition of the fact that, given the size of the city and its prominence as a commercial center, its cultural assets, while of high caliber, are not commensurate with the city’s stature. There seems to be a growing recogni tion of this on the part of the business community, which is in a position to be generous. I think it may be an up hill struggle because there doesn’t seem to be a great tradition of accept ing contemporary art nor a great fashion for collecting it. One thing I am hoping to do is form a contempo rary arts society in hopes of encourag ing collecting for those who are begin ning to collect. AAWC: A patrons group? PM: Yes, and hopefully one which will make contributions and perhaps mu tually decide upon purchases with their funds. It could be a bridge, in some sense, between artists and col lectors. I hope we can do this because I feel there is such a need. AAWC: Do you see the planned new museum space contributing to the size and quality of the collection and the public’s appreciation of that collec tion? PM: Absolutely. It’s an unwritten rule in the museum field that once you build a good, innovative space people get excited, and soon it is filled up with good work. AAWC: Is there any estimate of when this new building will be completed? PM: I think that depends on the con tribution of funds at this point. I un derstand that completion is planned for 1983. Clearly it’s going to be a long, long battle. Museums are like baseball teams—a winning season is a great occasion for civic pride. If Atlantans are going to take pride in their city which ob viously they do, they must support their art institutions. Installation of The Avant-garde: 12 in Atlanta. Pictured: Parallax by Maria Arte mis and Gravity’s Vision Swinging Blue by William A. Brown (Photo: Gerald Jones). Atlanta Art Workers Coalition News paper ©1980 by the Atlanta Art Work ers Coalition. Ltd. All rights reserved. Information to be included in the AAWC Newspaper should be sent to the Coalition office one month prior to the publication date. The AAWC New spaper is published bi-monthly by the Atlanta Art Workers Coalition, Ltd., 972 Peachtree Street, N.E., Suite 214, Atlanta, Ga. 30309. The AAWC Newspaper is funded in part through grants from the Atlanta Department of Cultural Affairs, the Georgia Council for the Arts and Hu manities, and the National Endow ment for the Arts. OPEN mon—sat 12-7 pm 1160 Euclid Avenue NE Atlanta. GA. 30307* 404 • 688-4929 STEf AIN'S cheap chic clothing for that hot classic look allyn y day composition Annette Allyn Day 1121 Columbia Avenue, NW Atlanta, Georgia 30309 897-1817 ri^J^enue A Unique Progressive Clothing and Accessory Shop 1544 Piedmont Avenue (Ansley Mall) Atlanta, Georgia 30324 Hrs. Mon-Sat 10-8 892-2918 The Atlanta Art Workers Coalition Newspaper, January/February, 1980 4
