A POET’S PERSPECTIVE

Barry Schwabsky on his recent visits to North Texas.

INTERVIEW BY CHRIS BYRNE

Installation view of Nairy Baghramian: Modèle vivant, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, Texas, 2022. Nairy Baghramian, Se levant (jaune paille) / Standing (straw yellow), 2022, cast aluminum, bronze, steel, stainless steel, ceramic. Courtesy of the artist, kurimanzutto, and Marian Goodman Gallery. Photograph by Kevin Todora, courtesy Nasher Sculpture Center.

Barry Schwabsky is a New York–based distinguished poet, art historian, and art critic for The Nation and coeditor of international reviews for Artforum. His books of criticism include The Observer Effect: On Contemporary Painting (2019); Landscape Painting Now: From Pop Abstraction to New Romanticism (2019); and The Perpetual Guest: Art in the Unfinished Present (2016). Feelings of And (2022) is his fourth collection of poetry. He contributed essays to Amor Mundi: The Collection of Marguerite Steed Hoffman. His teaching experience includes Goldsmiths College, Yale University, and the Maryland Institute College of Art. Rose Wylie: Which One releases in January from David Zwirner Books.

Here Schwabsky discusses with Chris Byrne recent visits covering art in Dallas and Fort Worth:

Chris Byrne (CB): You recently traveled to Dallas to review Matthew Wong’s The Realm of Appearances at the DMA... Barry Schwabsky (BS): That’s right. I reviewed it for Artnet. It’s a remarkable show. It’s amazing how much Wong was able to accomplish in such a brief career, and the curator, Vivian Li, has presented his oeuvre in a really sensitive way. There’s a tragic side to Wong’s story, because he was just 35 when he died, but the exhibition makes clear how much beauty he was able to create in such a short time.

Matthew Wong, River at Night, 2018, oil on canvas. Collection of Shio Kusaka and Jonas Wood. Photograph © 2022 Matthew Wong Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

CB: And your first trip to Fort Worth? BS: Although this was my third visit to Dallas, it was the first time I was able to get to Fort Worth. And yes, the Kimbell turned out to be all it’s cracked up to be. Maybe I’m biased because I’m a longtime Louis Kahn fan—as a college student I even lived one year in a dorm he’d designed—but his building struck me as maybe the most beautiful museum space I’ve ever experienced. You just see everything so clearly in there. The newer building by Renzo Piano does an honorable job of living up to Kahn’s example. CB: This past year, you visited the Nasher Sculpture Center as well as Ilya and Emilia Kabakov’s Paintings about Paintings and Peter Halley’s Cell Grids at Dallas Contemporary. BS: Actually, my two previous visits to Dallas were occasioned by exhibitions at Dallas Contemporary. In 2018 I went to see Ian Davenport’s paintings there, as I was preparing an essay for a book about his work. And then in 2021 I wanted to see the Kabakovs’ show, which was amazing. But I was equally impressed with Peter Halley’s show there, probably the best presentation of his work that I’ve seen—and I’ve been following his work, like that of the Kabakovs, since the 1980s. I’ve known Peter Doroshenko since his days in Milwaukee. He’s always gone above and beyond expectations in any curatorial situation. He did a great job in Dallas. His successor, Carolina Alvarez Mathies, has a pair of big shoes to fill. She’s an impressive person, and I think she’ll succeed. CB: And I understand you recently completed the essay for Peter Halley‘s accompanying exhibition catalogue. BS: Yes, I was so happy that, unexpectedly, after the fact, I was invited to write something for the catalogue. That was lucky. I hope it comes out soon! CB: In addition, you had the opportunity to view Marguerite Hoffman’s collection. BS: That’s right. I had written short essays on works by Gillian Carnegie and Michelangelo Pistoletto for Amor Mundi, the big twovolume book on her collection, on Gavin Delahunty’s invitation, so I had an inkling of it. But what impressed me about seeing the collection on view at the house was that it represents a very personal feeling for art. It was amazing to see, among so many works by the likes of Jasper Johns, Brice Marden, and Cy Twombly—but very special works of theirs, not the most obvious things—there were so many beautiful pieces by more obscure artists. I mean, Polish fiber artists from the 1970s that were entirely new to me—and fascinating!— for instance.

One thing that floored me in Marguerite’s collection was Mandible, a gorgeous watercolor from 2020 by the Russian-born American painter Sanya Kantarovsky. As it happens, I was just about to write an article on his work for Artforum. When I went up to see Sanya upstate a week later, I mentioned it to him. He showed me a very similar piece that he keeps framed in his studio, saying he prefers the version he kept. But I prefer the one Marguerite has.

I should also mention that both last year and this year I visited an outstanding gallery, 12.26. The first time I was there, I saw a show by the LA–based artist Amy Bessone. This time, I saw work by the Dallas-based Canadian artist Keer Tanchak. Both were memorable…

Another thing I wouldn’t miss while in Dallas is a visit to the Nasher Sculpture Center. The current exhibition there, Nairy Baghramian, is beautiful and thought-provoking: a strange, abstract take on the figurative tradition in sculpture. CB: I recently saw As Above, So Below, the show you organized for Hannah Beerman and Rafael Vega, at The Arts Center at Duck Creek in East Hampton—are there other curatorial projects you’re currently working on? BS: No, I’m waiting for the next invitation! Maybe it will come from Dallas? P

Michelangelo Pistoletto, Venere degli stracci dorata (Golden Venus of the Rags), 1967–71, plaster, gold, and rags. Venus: 64.63 x 25.62 x 23.62 in. Venus with rags: dimensions variable. Collection of Marguerite Steed Hoffman.

As Above, So Below, Hannah Beerman and Rafael Vega, curated by Barry Schwabsky, July 23–August 21, 2022. Courtesy Arts Center at Duck Creek, East Hampton, New York.