The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) to Host Retrospective of Iain Baxter&

Written by Felix Bauleitner Sunday, 30 October 2011 00:24

Chicago, Illinois.- The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) is proud to present the first retrospective of one of Canada's most compelling artists, when "Iain Baxter&: Works 1958-2011" opens on November 5th. The exhibition will remain on view through January 15th 2012. Iain Baxter legally changed his name to Iain Baxter& in 2005. He appended an ampersand to his name to underscore that art is about connectivity and collaboration with the viewer."Iain Baxter&: Works 1958-2011" is a survey of all major phases of his work. Baxter&'s consistent emphasis is on reaching out to the viewer, his core concern with ecology and the environment and his belief that art must be made in many kinds of media, inform his early understanding that "art is all over."

Collapsing the boundaries between art, commerce, and everyday life, Baxter&'s ever-changing body of work over the past 50 years has not fit traditional art historical categories. This exhibition assesses the remarkable achievements of his radically open creativity, and establishes his reputation in conceptual art, photography, and installation art. In 1966, Baxter& formed a collaborative art-making partnership called IT Works which then evolved into N. E. Thing Company Limited, or NETCO, a corporate-styled entity whose co-presidents were Baxter& and his then-wife Ingrid. The N. E. Thing Company offered a new model of art production, allowing the artists to remain anonymous and masquerade in the guise of business people. In 1970, N.E. Thing Company participated in the International Data Processing Conference in Seattle, a technology industry trade fair, dispensing creative and inspirational counseling from a standard booth. This innovative crossing of boundaries reflected NETCO's conviction that art may best be understood not as objects but as Visual Sensitivity Information -- aesthetic and experiential insight transmitted through a variety of media.

This approach shows Baxter&'s deep embrace of media theory developed by Marshall McLuhan. N.E. Thing Company was prolific and influential, producing a diverse array of projects that humorously appropriated and subverted the corporate paradigm and commented on art and art making. Their work included conceptually based photography, pioneering works of appropriation art, and gallery transforming installations before NETCO dissolved in 1978. After NETCO, Baxter&'s artistic production involved neon signs, 'animal preserves,' a grocery cart of genetically modified organisms, and installations using obsolete technology. He also produced extensive bodies of work with Polaroid film, created numerous installations that blended painting and sculpture, and made teaching a focus of his creative enterprise. At the University of British Columbia, Baxter& had experimented with non-verbal teaching methods, and throughout the 1990s he continued to explore radical teaching techniques. Despite the diverse range and originality of his work over five decades, he has stayed with certain themes: ideas (how to think about art), the environment (how to inhabit and treat it), commercial systems and everyday objects, and for art that is accessible and free of polish. His work is often: landscapes (urban, suburban, and rural), still lifes (household utensils, tools, furniture, food, industrial products) and figures (people, animals).

Baxter& was born in England in 1936, and emigrated with his family to Calgary in Alberta, Canada, in 1937. He currently lives and works in Windsor. He received a BS in zoology (1959) and a Master of Education (1962) from the University of Idaho. He studied art and aesthetics in Japan in 1961, and got an MFA at Washington State University in 1964. He has taught at Washington State University (1962-64), the University of British Columbia (1964-66), Simon Fraser University (1966-71), York University (1972, 1974-76), Emily Carr University of Art and Design (1978-79), Alberta College of Art and Design (1981-82, 1985-88), and the University of Windsor (1988-present). He is the recipient of numerous awards, including an Officer of the Order of Canada (2003), a Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts (2004), the Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prize (2005), the Gershon Iskowitz Prize at the Art Gallery of Ontario (2006), and the Companion to the Order of British Columbia (2007).


One of the nation's largest facilities devoted to the art of our time, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) offers exhibitions of the most thought-provoking art created since 1945. The MCA documents contemporary visual culture through painting, sculpture, photography, video and film, and performance. Located in the heart of downtown Chicago, the MCA boasts a gift store, bookstore, restaurant, 300-seat theater, and a terraced sculpture garden with a great view of Lake Michigan. The mission of the MCA is to be an innovative and compelling center of contemporary art where the public can directly experience the work and ideas of living artists, and understand the historical, social, and cultural context of the art of our time. The Museum boldly interweaves exhibitions, performances, collections, and educational programs to excite, challenge, and illuminate our visitors and to provide insight into the creative process. The MCA aspires to engage a broad and diverse audience, create a sense of community and be a place for contemplation, stimulation, and discussion about contemporary art and culture. The Museum of Contemporary Art Collection has outstanding examples of visual art from 1945 to the present with a strong focus on surrealism, minimalism, conceptual photography, and work by Chicago-based artists. At the time of its opening, the Museum claimed 7,000 objects, including works by Marcel Duchamp, Bruce Nauman, and Alfredo Jaar. Today, the museum's collection consists of 2,345 objects, as well as about 2,500 artist's books. The collection features visual art from 1945 to the present, including work by artists from Lee Bontecou to Robert Smithson. Notable works in the museum's collection include, "Polychrome and Horizontal Bluebird" by Alexander Calder, "Cindy" by Chuck Close, "In Memory of My Feelings - Frank O'Hara" by Jasper Johns, "Study for a Portrait" by Francis Bacon and "Campbell's Soup Cans II" by Andy Warhol. During the 2008 fiscal year the MCA Celebrated its 40th anniversary, which inspired gifts of works from artists such as Dan Flavin, Alfredo Jaar, and Thomas Ruff. Additionally, the museum expanded its collection by acquiring the work of some of the artists it presented during its anniversary celebration such as Carlos Amorales, Tony Oursler, and Adam Pendleton. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.mcachicago.org

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