My first thought was, Huh, this doesn’t smell as much as I thought it would. But then, it’s cooking or decomposing that creates the aroma – 60 pounds of fresh, raw meat[1], as it turns out, is more of a visual spectacle. Especially so when laid out on a table in the Walker’s basement photography studio, having already been tenderized and in the process of being assembled into a dress.  Vanitas: Flesh Dress…

Over the years, Sol LeWitt developed relationships with a cadre of assistants that he trusted to create his wall drawings — or more precisely, to carry out his legendary instructions for making them. Among them are Sachi Cho and Chip Allen, who cane to the Walker last November to install three wall drawings in the Walker collection; they’re part of the exhibition Sol LeWitt: 2D+3D, on view through…

After a recent visit to the Walker,  Kari Adelaide Razdow, an EdD candidate in Interdisciplinary Studies atColumbia University’s Teachers College/Department of Arts and Humanities, wrote the commentary below.   In his book Towards a Philosophy of Photography, media philosopher Vilém Flusser emphasizes how “the significance of images is magical,” and that “the magical nature of images must be taken into…

Professors, writers, artists, curators, and graduate students exchanging their ideas about contemporary art and culture at this year’s College Art Association conferencein New York, lent some insight and reflection on the progress of this ever-in-the-making collection catalogue that the Walker Art Center is in the midst of producing. My session itinerary included presentations related to digital…

Artist Aaron Spangler recounts his inspiration for the carved and painted basswood sculptures currently featured in the exhibition The Spectacular of Vernacular. Spangler, whose work is shown at theGalerie Michael Janssen in Berlin and at Horton Gallery in New York City, lives 20 miles outside of Park Rapids, Minnesota, on 150 acres of land. “These three sculptures came into focus while I was digging…

After making sure that all the artworks from Yves Klein: With the Void, Full Powers are safely crated and transported back to their respective (and far-flung) homes, registrar Gwen Bitz brings her own career to a close at the Walker at the end of the month. Recognized globally as a leading registrar, her receipt last year of the Dudley Wilkinson Award of Distinction was only the cap on an amazing…

In the late ’70s, Sol LeWitt was invited by choreographer Lucinda Childs and composer Philip Glass to collaborate on what would become a landmark work,Dance(presented at the Walker April 7 – 9). In “Sol LeWitt’s Expanding Grid,” critic Ann-Sargent Wooster wrote about how the artist’s film-as-set design forDancewas “a radical and innovative departure from his previous work”; her essay — excerpted here – was…

Embracing the rustic and the humbly homemade as well as the clash of street spectacle and commercial culture, the new exhibitionThe Spectacular of Vernacularexplores the role of vernacular forms in works by more than two dozen artists. It focuses primarily on pieces made since the 1970s that incorporate—and at times revel in—craft, folklore, roadside kitsch, and other, often-overlooked relics of…

Yves Klein reveled in provocation throughout his short artistic career—his 1960 “leap into the void” and his use of nude women as “human paintbrushes” being only two of the more notorious examples. What has been explored less often is the devout Catholicism that compelled him to create a contemporary votive offering, which he quietly donated to an Italian monastery. In this interview, originally…