To the Editors,
In response to Bruce Gago's letter to the editor (The Dartmouth, Jan. 22), I want to clarify that the Studio Art Department oversees the five exhibition spaces in the Hopkins Center. The exhibitions in the Jaffe-Friede & Strauss Galleries, which include our artist-in-residence exhibitions, are chosen by a faculty committee (generally by consensus, occasionally by vote). The exhibitions in The Darling Courtyard, Upper Jewett Corridor, Lower Jewett Corridor and Barrows Rotunda are chosen individually by the faculty. There are eight to 10 student exhibitions in the five exhibition spaces per year. In addition there is the student-organized space at the top of the hop called "AREA." There is never a time when student work is not exhibited in the Hopkins Center.
I curated the Chawky Frenn exhibition in the Upper Jewett Corridor that Mr. Gago references in his letter. Briefly, the practice of painting carcasses goes back to Rembrandt, the practice of painting nudes goes back thousands of years. Both subjects have been exhibited publicy for centuries. From my point of view, Mr. Frenn's show is one of the most convervative exhibitions I've seen here in quite a while. The artist is dealing with themes of transience, beauty, violence and mortality. His approach is sincere with not a trace of irony or cynicism (nothing could be more un-hip in the context of the current reigning artistic discouse).
Every exhibition that we present is both praised (sometimes highly) and criticized (sometimes harshly). Mr. Frenn's exhibition has generated more extreme positions on both ends of the spectrum, and there seem to be fewer sitting on the fence, which I think is good. Every exhibition raises its own questions. I think the question raised by this exhibition, Mr. Gago's letter and Mr. Hashimoto's response might be: Is the value of art determined solely by ideology and taste?
I appreciate the time that both students took to respond, and I thank them for initiating an important discussion.
