American Falls :: Art by Philip Solomon and Robert Rauschenberg September 12-November 1 at Untitled ArtSpace

OKLAHOMA CITY— Untitled [ArtSpace] will exhibit works by two artists who collage American imagery and iconography into interpretations of cultural identity. American Falls will include a video installation by Philip Solomon accompanied by large-scale prints by the late Robert Rauschenberg. American Falls will have an opening reception at Untitled [ArtSpace] on September 12, 2008 from 5 pm to 8 pm and will be shown through November 1, 2008. The opening reception will include an artist talk with Philip Solomon at 6:30 pm.

Philip Solomon is an internationally recognized experimental filmmaker and a Professor of Film Studies at the University of Colorado, where he has been teaching since 1991. His video installation at Untitled [ArtSpace] is titled American Falls and he will be presenting an abbreviated 3-screen preview in Oklahoma before opening the complete film in the rotunda at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC in 2009. American Falls is a six-channel digital installation “cine-mural” of the 20th century that is both a celebration of the “American Dream” and a lament for where it has gone. The installation will contrast American optimism with the inevitable inequalities, failures, and disappointments of the American Dream. Using optical printing and chemical techniques, Solomon will give the film a gold plated organic texture with a three-dimensional quality that alternately allows iconic images to emerge and submerge on the film.

“My project, American Falls, is ultimately one of great hope, stemming from a life-long love for this American experiment of ours that seemed so vivid to me during my television-infused childhood; but it is also necessitated by my deepest concern for its present and future directions,” Solomon said.

Philip Solomon, American Falls
Still from video, 2008
© Philip Solomon

Solomon’s films include The Passage of the Bride, Nocturne, What’s Out Tonight is Lost, The Secret Garden, The Exquisite Hour, Remains to Be Seen, Clepsydra, Figure/Ground (The Snowman),The Twilight Psalms series, and the current digital video series In Memoriam. Solomon also collaborated with his former colleague, the late Stan Brakhage, on three films. Solomon has shown his films in every major venue for experimental film throughout the United States and Europe, including two Whitney Biennials, the San Francisco International Film Festival, the Viennale, and three Cineprobes at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Solomon received a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in 1994, an Artist's Fellowship from the Colorado Council on the Arts in 1997, and The Stan Brakhage Vision Award from the Denver International Film Festival in 2007. Additionally, he has received 10 first prize awards from major international film festivals for experimental film, including 6 Juror’s Awards from The Black Maria International Film and Video Festival. Solomon has also received two regional grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and was the 2007 recipient of the Thatcher Hoffman Smith Creativity in Motion Prize, an award supported by Jeanne Hoffman Smith of Oklahoma City.

Philip Solomon, American Falls
Still from video, 2008
© Philip Solomon

Robert Rauschenberg’s Soviet/American Array series also explores American identity and uses a collage of images to generate a commentary on this country’s culture. The colorful series of prints was published by Universal Limited Art Editions (ULAE) between 1988 and 1990 and span a range of printmaking techniques, including photogravure, intaglio, and etching. Untitled [ArtSpace] will exhibit seven of these large-scale works, which were created for the Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange (ROCI). ROCI showed exhibitions of Rauschenberg’s and other contemporary artists' works around the world to promote peace and cultural understanding. The Soviet/American Array series collage Rauschenberg’s vibrant photographs of the United States and the Soviet Union, merging the two long-disputing countries. Rauschenberg's work is exhibited at Untitled [ArtSpace] courtesy of the John and Maxine Belger Family Foundation.

Robert Rauschenberg is one of the 20th Century’s most prolific American modern artists. Over his long career, Rauschenberg explored and redefined a variety of artistic media, including painting, photography, sculpture, printmaking, and choreography. He often merged these art forms into new genres, such as with his “combines” of the 1950s that collaged found objects, paint, and sometimes taxidermy into works that were simultaneously sculptures and paintings. His experimental work is considered a transitional link between Abstract Expressionism and the Pop Art of the later half of the century. By using everyday objects, which he often found on the streets of New York City, he showed how art could transcend beauty and how these discarded things could aspire to be art. His work is included in many prominent museum collections around the world, including the Guggenheim Museum in New York and Spain, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, and the Tate Modern in London. Rauschenberg died in May of 2008 at the age of 82.

Untitled [ArtSpace] is a nonprofit arts organization in downtown Oklahoma City committed to stimulating new ideas and creative thought through contemporary art. Untitled [ArtSpace] is dedicated to providing access to quality exhibitions, educational programs, performances, and publications and to involving the community in collaborative outreach efforts. Untitled [ArtSpace]’s exhibitions are free and open to the public Tues-Thurs 11 am–6 pm, Fri 11 am–8 pm, and Sat 11 am–4 pm.

For more information about Untitled [ArtSpace] or American Falls visit www.1ne3.org or call 405.815.9995. For more information about Philip Solomon, visit www.philsolomon.com.
Images from Robert Rauschenberg's Soviet/American Array can be found on the Universal Limited Art Editions website, http://www.ulae.com/robertrauschenberg/index.aspx.

American Falls is made possible in part by support from the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oklahoma and Jeanne Hoffman Smith.