ArtFiction: Ten Fictional Modernists
from Texas
Curated by Rino Pizzi
John M. O’Quinn Gallery
Participating writers: Janis Bergman-Carton , Edward Carey, Annette DiMeo Carlozzi, Robert
Faires, Pete Gershon, Saundra Goldman, Steve Harrigan, Kurt Heinzelman, Kirk Lynn, Mary
Mikel Stump and Katie Robinson Edwards
Participating artists: Leon Alesi, Stella Alesi, Brett Brookshire, Jules Buck Jones, Rick Mansfield, Amy Morrow, Jana Swec, Liz Ward, Steve Wiman, Caroline Wright and Sydney Yeager
Participating actors: Jennifer Balkan, Florinda Bryant, Cami Calys, Teresa Elliott, Van Harrison,
William Hoover, Jeff Mills, Amy Morrow, Nadine Mozon, Jason Phelps and William Tucker
ArtFiction is a collaborative project I developed over the last two years and involves
exchanges between writers, visual artists and actors/performers. This project
addresses a broad range of cultural perspectives on the relations between art
production and critical narratives and the effect of artists’ biographies on the public
perception of their work. Ten writers were invited to write about ten fictional Texas
artists supposed to be living and working any time between the 1940’s and the
early 1980’s. Ten actual artists responded by creating work that could be attributed
to the imagined artists, and ten actors sat for photographic portraits of the fictional
personas. Ten actors studied the biographies and impersonated the artists for
photo sessions in photographic styles current with their time and consistent
with their personas. There are two distinct contexts for ArtFiction. One relates to
the historical experience of art--its institutions, its established professional and
intellectual cultures, its modes of production and circulation, and the conflicting
claims in terms of value, authorship and historical relevance. The second is specific
to the cultural landscape and the communities where the project will be presented.
In the broad landscape of Texas modern art history, the narratives of the various
fictional artists are meant to create a symbolic counterpart to the actual historical
experience, which to date is still far from being fully researched and assessed.
A catalog for this exhibition is available for purchase.
Checklist
Morris Blodgett
Industrial Construction #3, 1948
Mixed media
8’ x 16’
Ernest Dodd
Grackle #334, 1960
Mixed media
18” x 24”
Morris Blodgett
For Chubby Jackson, 1974
Photograph of lost work
Mixed media
4’ x 3’
Ernest Dodd
Grackle #451, 1965
Mixed media
18” x 12”
Morris Blodgett
Klactovestedstene, 1975
Photograph of lost work
Mixed media
4’ x 3’
Bouillie
Oil and Spices, 1958
Oil and spices on linen
24” x 20”
Private collection
Bouillie
Oil and Ground Ginger, 1962
Oil and ground ginger on linen
24” x 20”
Private collection
Ernest Dodd
Grackle #5, 1950
Mixed media
12” x 16”
Private collection
Ernest Dodd
Grackle #32, 1951
Mixed media
18” x 24”
Ernest Dodd
Grackle #134, 1957
Mixed media
18” x 24”
Laura Fielding
Grief Exercise No. 2, 1986
Found objects, notions, wood and thread
10” x 3”
Laura Fielding
Grief Exercise No. 7, 1986
Found objects, notions, wood and thread
10” x 3”
Private collection
Laura Fielding
Grief Exercise No. 274, 1990
Found objects, metal, thread and wire
10” x 3”
Laura Fielding
There Is A Sacredness In Tears, 2015
Found objects, fabric, metal and thread
5’ x 2’
Laura Fielding
The Sudden Threshold of Seeing, 2005
Found objects, fabric, wood and thread
14” x 10”
Iris O’Connor Hardy
Trip to Chinquapin #3, 1951-1952
Oil on canvas
18” x 14”
Courtesy Kirk Hopper
Iris O’Connor Hardy
Trip to Chinquapin #1, 1951-1952
Oil on canvas
18” x 14”
Iris O’Connor Hardy
Trip to Chinquapin #4, 1951-1952
Oil on canvas
18” x 14”
Iris O’Connor Hardy
Trip to Chinquapin #12, 1951-1952
Oil on canvas
18” x 14”
Courtesy Kirk Hopper
Iris O’Connor Hardy
Trip to Chinquapin #5, 1951-1952
Oil on canvas
18” x 14”
Private collection
Iris O’Connor Hardy
Trip to Chinquapin #7, 1951-1952
Oil on canvas
18” x 14”
Iris O’Connor Hardy
Trip to Chinquapin #2, 1951-1952
Oil on canvas
18” x 14”
Courtesy of Leila McConnell and Henri
Gadbois, Houston, Texas
Iris O’Connor Hardy
Trip to Chinquapin #10, 1951-1952
Oil on canvas
18” x 14”
Courtesy of Leila McConnell and Henri
Gadbois, Houston, Texas
Iris O’Connor Hardy
Trip to Chinquapin #7, 1951-1952
Oil on canvas
18” x 14”
Florian Kundert
Blue Boule, 1947
Watercolor
15” x 10”
Private collection
R. Ronald Musgrave
Paleo/Piscine Pathology Playset, circa
2006
Mixed media
2’ x 4’
Collection of Jeanne and Michael Klein,
Courtesy Annette DiMeo Carlozzi
Marie Santerre
I’ll lead you if you guide them, 1975
Acrylic and ink on panel
15 ½” x 15 ½”
Private collection
Marie Santerre
Waiting, 1982
Acrylic on panel
15 ½” x 15 ½”
Marie Santerre
Left Right Behind You, 1976
Acrylic and Ink on panel
27” x 34”
Photographs
(All Photographers unknown unless
otherwise noted.)
Morris Blodgett, 1951
Morris Blodgett, 1975, Photo by Professor
Michael Smith
Bouillie in her studio, 1959
Dinner party at Bouillie, 1959
Batsheva, 1973
Batsheva at work, Loft Series, 1972-1974
Ernest Dodd in London, 1939
Ernest Dodd in Austin, Texas, 1947
Laura Fielding, 1974
Florian Kundert, 1931
R. Ronald Musgrave, 1987
Iris O’Connor Hardy in her studio, 1959
Faye Renaldo, 1972
Faye Renaldo’s performance at local
Pharmacy, 1971
Faye Renaldo and two unknown
collaborators before street theater
performance, circa 1973
Faye Renaldo mugshot, Austin, TX, 1974
Faye Renaldo mugshot, Austin, TX, 1975
Faye Renaldo’s campus performance,
1970
Marie Santerre, 1985
Bio
Rino Pizzi is a photographer and independent curator living and working in Austin,
TX. From his early experiments in portraiture, Rino Pizzi developed fundamental
ideas for his concept of collaborative art. Rather than considering a photographic
image as the point of arrival of his creative process, he regards photography as
an open medium, available by its nature to further processes and transformation,
from becoming the raw material for different media, to standing as a focal
point for conceptual work that demands the intervention of other modes of
authorship. His recent collaborative projects include The Mona Lisa Project (2011),
transFIGURATION (2013), and Visitors (2013). Rino Pizzi’s work has been exhibited
at the Austin Museum of Art (now The Contemporary Austin), the Grand Rapids Art
Museum and Lewis Carnegie Gallery (Austin, TX).
www.facebook.com/www.ArtFiction.org
Acknowledgements
ArtFiction was possible thanks to the support of The City of Austin, Cultural
Arts Division, The Center for Women and Their Work, The Contemporary Austin,
Lawndale Art Center, Pentagram, and the following individuals: Teresa Elliott, Bill
Nemir, Nancy Wilson Scanlan, David and Ellen Berman, Patty Olwell, Sue Lambe,
Margaret Keys, Valerie Chaussonnet, Renee Trepagnier, and Anna Carroll.
A special thanks to those who have helped the development of the project with
their generous encouragement and in-kind donations of their time and resources:
Bill Haddad, Nau’s Drugstore, Fado Irish Pub, The Theater and Dance Department
of the University of Texas at Austin, Facepainting by Arvis, Pecha Kucha, Lana
McGilvray, Billy Baschnagel, Susan Taylor, Thomas Evans, Susan and Jahsenta
Brewer, Chris Lambe, Jordan Gasc, Jonathan Pascoe, Dave Wight, Butch Lawson,
Bill Nemir, Valerie Chaussonnet, Hal Strickland, Lisa Auchincloss, Conor Lambe,
and Don and Lori Wade.