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About the Exhibitions:
The ICA presents Maira Kalman: Various Illuminations (of
a Crazy World), the first major museum survey of the
work of Maira Kalman. An illustrator, author and designer,
Kalman illuminates contemporary life with a profound sense
of joy and unique sense of humor. Like a gift, her work appears
to lift the spirits, no matter how ordinary or overwhelming
circumstances may be. This exhibition features a selection
spanning thirty years of original works on paper and design
production, along with less widely seen aspects of Kalman's
work in photography, embroidery, textiles, and performance.
As a context for this survey, Kalman is creating a special
installation. The space will be furnished with chairs, ladders,
and "many tables of many things"—such as fezzes,
bobby pins, balls of string, things that have fallen out of
books, lists, moss. Expressive of Kalman's habits as a collector,
traveler, reader, and avid walker, this installation offers
a view of how she sees the world, both in and outside of the
studio.
Maira Kalman (b. 1949 Tel Aviv) has lived in New York since
the age of four. She received no formal training as an artist
and identifies herself as an illustrator. Indeed just As Saul
Steinberg's graphic art iconically depicted a postwar generation,
so does Kalman's reflect the idiosyncratic style and substance
of life today. A generation grew up reading Oooh-La-La (Max
in Love), the adventures of Max Stravinsky the Parisian dog
poet and one of Kalman's twelve books for children. Countless
adults sport the M&Co. wristwatches she designed in collaboration
with Tibor Kalman as part of a line of accessories for the
Museum of Modern Art, New York. (Her late husband named his
company for the "M" in Maira.) Even our mental image
of Manhattan seemed different after her map of "Newyorkistan"
(with cartoonist Rick Meyerowitz) appeared in December 2001
on the cover of The New Yorker—a welcome burst of humor
after the tragic events of 9/11. In April 2007, she completed
a yearlong series of columns for The New York Times, since
published as the book The Principles of Uncertainty. She has
created an illustrated edition of the classic reference Stunk
and White's The Elements of Style; designed fabrics for Maharam
and for the fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi; created sets for
the choreographer Mark Morris; and collaborated with composer
Nico Muhly on a site-specific opera for the New York Public
Library. In Philadelphia, The Rosenbach Museum and Library
has commissioned her to be one of the respondents to their
outstanding Lincoln collection for a web project called "21st
century Abe" in 2009.
This exhibition is curated by ICA Senior Curator Ingrid Schaffner,
and will be accompanied by a fully-illustrated catalogue (co-published
with Prestel). It is one of the Independent Projects affiliated
with Philagrafika
2010, a citywide festival celebrating print in contemporary
art.
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