They Knew What They Wanted
One Exhibition Curated Across Four Galleries by the Artists Robert Bechtle, Shannon Ebner, Katy Grannan and Jordan Kantor
July 1 &ndash 31, 2010
John Berggruen Gallery is pleased to announce THEY KNEW WHAT THEY WANTED, a collaborative exhibition across four galleries. Each location is curated by a selected artist: Robert Bechtle representing John Berggruen Gallery, Katy Grannan representing Fraenkel Gallery, Shannon Ebner representing Altman Siegel Gallery, and Jordan Kantor representing Ratio - 3. This exhibition showcases these four artists utilizing the inventories of each respective gallery program to create one unified exhibition. The exhibition will be on view from 1 July through 31 July 2010.
San Francisco, California based artist, Robert Bechtle, is a foremost photorealist artist. He creates paintings that reveal his perspective of the color and the light of a commonplace scene. Bechtle has curated this exhibition at John Berggruen Gallery based on pieces that are of interest to him and in turn create a dialogue with each other. Bechtle believes that the artworks chosen lean toward what he might call the "formality of the ordinary;" an underlying interest of many artists, both historic and contemporary, with whom he feels a kinship.
When Bechtle began the process of visiting the backrooms and racks of these four galleries, he found himself drawn predominantly to artists whose work seems to call attention to circumstances of our everyday world. It is evident in this exhibition that there are works that do not share this predilection, however, Bechtle feels that these pieces fit in and compliment the pieces that do. In the end, Bechtle's selections speak of his own practice as a painter as much as the works on display. Specifically they highlight his interest in photography and ordinary life.
This exhibition not only creates a dialogue with the artists included in the show, but with the curator as well. Bechtle's exhibition will feature work by artists Robert Adams, Miriam Böhm, Gregory Crewdson, Shannon Ebner, Lee Friedlander, Isca Greenfield-Sanders, Matt Keegan, Tom McKinley, Richard McLean, Richard Misrach, Mitzi Pederson, Trevor Paglen, Pine & Woods, Garth Weiser, and Paul Wonner. Artists whose works are seen across the four galleries include Robert Adams, Diane Arbus, Lutz Bacher, Bernd and Hilla Becher, EJ Bellocq, Alighiero e Boetti, Miriam Böhm, Vija Celmins, Gregory Crewdson, Jim Dine, Lee Friedlander, Maureen Gallace, Sam Gordon, Isca Greenfield-Sanders, Charlie Harper, Peter Hujar, Jordan Kantor, Matt Keegan, Los Carpinteros, Henri Wessel, Barry McGee, Tom McKinley, Richard McLean, Richard Misrach, Takeshi Murata, Manuel Neri, Trevor Plagen, Mitzi Pederson, Robert Rauschenberg, Linda Ridgway, Will Rogan, Ed Ruscha, Iran Do Espirito Santo, Photographer Unkown, Sara VanDerBeek, Garth Weiser, Rachel Whiteread, William Wiley, Steve Wolfe, Paul Wonner and others…
For further information and photographs, please contact the gallery at (415) 781-4629 or info@berggruen.com. The gallery hours are Monday – Friday, 9:30-5:30, and Saturday, 10:30-5:00.