On October 29, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center opens Jack Smith: Flaming Creatures, a cross disciplinary retrospective exhibition of the work of the revolutionary American artist, Jack Smith (1932-1989). Flaming Creatures assembles hundreds of examples of Smith’s innovative work in photography, film, performance, drawing, collage, costume design, slide projection, sound and the written word, revealing the artist as a fountainhead of the American avant-garde.
The exhibition is complemented by the first complete retrospective of Smith’s restored films, as well as selected films which Smith influenced, appeared in and took inspiration from. The film component is organized by and presented at the American Museum of the Moving Image and will be on view from November 29 — December 14.
The exhibition is accompanied by a book of Smith’s collected writings, Wait for Me at the Bottom of the Pool, published by Serpent’s Tail, London, and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, and edited by J. Hoberman and Edward Leffingwell; and by the Serpent’s Tail/P.S.1 Contemporary Arts Center publication Jack Smith: Flaming Creatures, His Amazing Life and Times, a Lookout Book, edited by Edward Leffingwell, Carole Kismaric and Marvin Heiferman, with essays by Hoberman, Leffingwell, Nayland Blake, Ronald Tavel and Lawrence Rinder, with contributions by Penny Arcade, Stefan Brecht, Richard Foreman, Jonas Mekas, Susan Sontag and Jerry Tartaglia.
Flaming Creatures returns the spotlight to this strategically important, independent filmmaker, a brilliant photographer and performing artist, the man who defined the radical nature of the underground superstar as cultural phenomenon. Installed in eight adjoining galleries, this extensive exhibition traces the relationship of Smith’s early work in photography to his activities as actor and filmmaker, and, with the use of recent developments in display technology, explores the nature and context of his collaborations. Smith’s early work in film and photography is well represented in the exhibition, with particular focus on material assembled by Smith from sessions with his changing company of exoticism players.
Jack Smith captured the attention of the international avant—garde in 1963 with the presentation of his first major film, Flaming Creatures. Demonized by charges of obscenity, Smith’s film became a political tool of conservative politicians and campus radicals throughout the 1960s. In the face of such orchestrated opposition, and in testament to his unusual discipline, Smith’s absorption with film as process led him increasingly to experiments in performance, the manipulation of sound, projected slides and esoteric dialog to communicate core ideas regarding the evils of property, capitalism, the police, the church and art institutions.
The primary documents of these performances, and the work in still photography that preceded their creation, appear throughout this exhibition, in the forms of vintage photographic prints, video and enlarged, reconstructed contact sheets produced by a digital electrostatic printing process. The exhibition vividly explores the relationship between Smith’s costume illustrations and the actual wardrobes he produced. It includes reconstructed costumes, period designer gowns, wigs, hats and performance accessories. Smith’s ideas are presented throughout the exhibition, in the form of handwritten witticisms and observations, manuscript essays, letters and scripts. Magazines, newspaper articles, books and other objects provide further historical context for Smith’s achievements. Smith’s own archives are the basic source for this exhibition, provided in collaboration with James Hoberman and Penny Arcade of The Plaster Foundation, Inc., New York City.
The mounting of the exhibition demonstrates P.S.1’s great commitment to the project, which has evolved gradually over the past five years through the efforts of both Anthony Vasconcellos and Alanna Heiss, Executive Director of P.S.1. Robert Denison, Chairman of the P.S.1 Board, stated,“The Jack Smith exhibition is a perfect example of a P.S.1 show. On the one hand, it is intensely research-driven and historical; on the other hand, the subject, Jack Smith, continues to be one of the most provocative and controversial artists of our time, as are many of the artists whose work has come to a broader public through the exhibition programs of P.S.1.”
Edward Leffingwell serves as curatorial director; J. Hoberman as curator for film; Penny Arcade as curator for performance and Lawrence Rinder as curator of Smith’s early work in photography with Lisa Bateman as project coordinator.
Film restoration has been directed by Jerry Tartaglia, on behalf of The Plaster Foundation, Inc. and that of costumes, Mary Brecht. Slide programs have been edited by Leffingwell and formatted by Joseph Santarromana. Hoberman has collaborated with curator David Schwartz at the American Museum of the Moving Image in the presentation of the accompanying film program.
The exhibition will among other places travel to the Andy Warhol Museum (Pittsburgh), Kunstwerke (Berlin) and Berkeley Art Museum.
