717 Fifth Avenue, New York

April - September 1999

Artists as Teachers aims to open the doors to the educational environment, revealing advanced critical thinking by artists that is often ignored in commercial galleries. Here, the Lobby Gallery at 717 Fifth Avenue becomes a site for the experimental merger of intellectual capital between the art and corporate communities.

Art is a demanding endeavor. In the late eighties artists shifted their emphasis from personal expression to theoretical and conceptual work. This intellectual focus on an historical and political context generated art about gender, identity, and race. In the nineties, theory became more pragmatic and artists themselves became more engaged – critically and psychologically - with the actual place of their exhibition site.

The works in the exhibition focus on some of the major considerations in a business environment: knowledge, discipline, control and discovery. Donald Traver’s repeated vessel motifs are suggestive of building and containing knowledge. Margaret Evangeline’s diptych of a grid and large vase reflects a humanistic discipline of defining space before refining it. Melissa Meyer’s work reveals how elusive veils of color resolve in controlled square shapes. Lucio Pozzi, who uses the Socratic method of teaching, relies on discovery rather than pre-established values. According to Pozzi, his work speaks to the attentive observation that is key to our increasingly exponentially complex time.

Boardroom Chats
Art Assets envisions artists as guest lecturers giving a lecture once a month in the various boardrooms of participating corporations. Any tenant at 717 Fifth Avenue may sponsor one or more of these lectures. Lecture topics will address how artistic intellectual capital can be a useful tool in business and everyday corporate culture. Lectures may also be scheduled for brown bag lunches.