Welcome. The exhibition here is itself an experiment. Rather than presenting work organized by theme or style it endeavors to create a framework for artists to explore new corners of their creative practice. This itself is not new, however it is the mechanism here that is a bit different.

The idea was to create a "circle" of artist collaborations. The artists were matched one-on-one with two of the other members in the group, and were paired only after they agreed to participate in the show. Most met their associates just a few months ago and each had to work on two separate collaborations simultaneously. Artists were invited with an eye towards diversity while also considering what in-roads to working together may already exist. The collaborators all differ in background, technique, working practice and style. Each was also asked to choose items of their previous solo work as examples for comparison.

My attraction to a show of collaborations was that it allows an artist to explore multiple new directions (perhaps completely opposing ones) simultaneously. I believe an artist will also be more likely to take risks if their effort and reputation is not invested in only one work to show. Collaborations are a naturally risky approach to art making and they do not always succeed, but that does not matter here. The exchanges of vision, of taste, of skills and of experience never fail to benefit everyone involved, no matter what the final product. I also saw this show as an opportunity to bring some of the spare ends of the Pittsburgh artist community together.

I asked the artists to loosely discuss how they approached the collaborations and about the work produced. A video of those conversations is presented here as well.

My great thanks goes to the Future Tenant gallery and its directors for the opportunity to test new waters.

Owen Smith
Curator

Artists: