Taste Matters

Exhibit dates: January 18-February 15, 2008
Hours: Tues.-Sat. 12:30-6 p.m.

 “Taste Matters,” is an unusual exhibit of art that was purchased in thrift stores specifically for this exhibit. The exhibit features approximately 50 artworks, mostly paintings and drawings in addition to photographs and sculptures. While most connoisseurship is based on the maximum available knowledge, “Taste Matters” was conceived as an exhibit that embraces the ambiguity of “found” art.  For each artwork, it is typically unknown who made it or under what circumstances. While the artworks chosen demonstrate what appear to be varied levels of training, in many cases it is difficult to surmise whether it was created by an amateur or professional artist, though clues can be found in the level of skill and finish, the subject matter, and the artistic style.  Some of the artworks show real ability but appear to have been painted quickly, possibly for sale to tourists. Other works are done by unskilled amateurs but show such verve as to be compelling. One purpose of this project is to recognize that amateurs and professionals share certain traits, namely the desire to create and to make something of quality, however that might be defined.

This exhibit playfully celebrates the creativity of amateurs and anonymous professionals, seeing such artwork as not wholly distinct from what is more typically presented in art galleries. “Taste Matters” combines elements of exhibits, art auctions, and the venerable tradition of the “door prize.” At the conclusion of the exhibit, the artwork will be given to the audience. Beginning on Saturday, February 16 at 12:30 p.m. anyone can choose an artwork from the exhibit and it will be theirs to keep. The exhibit was envisioned as a gift-system, which is made possible by the fact that Future Tenant is an alternative, noncommercial enterprise.

“Taste Matters” was inspired by the generosity of spirit in artworks by Felix Gonzalez-Torres, who invited the audience to take away a poster or a candy from his sculptural piles and stacks, and Rirkrit Tiravanija who has fed the audience—including as part of the “1995 Carnegie International”--and used variations on the “free box/exchange” that dates back to the Free Store of the Diggers in San Francisco in the 1960s. “Taste Matters” is an attempt to think outside the box, in the free box.

“Taste Matters” is generous in its assessment of the art—including the idea that the art might be interesting in ways that the artist did not intend. In the lack of any known context of where the art originally came from or why it was produced, this exhibit creates a new context of ambiguity and freedom in which all interpretations and suppositions are valid because they cannot be verified. This along with the possibility of taking the art home are meant to stimulate a more active engagement with the audience.

“Taste Matters” is guest curated Robert Raczka, an artist who is professor of art and gallery director at Allegheny College. Raczka, who divides his time between Shadyside and Meadville, has been interested in amateur art, which he has collected intermittently, for over 20 years.

Raczka is participating as a guest curator for Future Tenant, a space managed entirely by students from Carnegie Mellon’s Masters of Arts Management program.  The gallery’s new location on 819 Penn Avenue, a once empty storefront in the heart of Pittsburgh’s Cultural District, now provides countless opportunities for both emerging artists and managers to hone their skills in a hands-on setting.