Issue 27 - Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art

98
always looked at curating as collaborative, thinking of a theme and
finding artists who fit that criteria. I'm usually inspired by one
person and it springboards into different ideas. I see associations.
Clues from one person lead to another person.
C: Did that happen with your current show?
BK:Yes, it was pretty much Michael Ashkin and Brad Kahlhamer,
dealing with the landscape and the environment in a certain way.
I think of them as more or less creating their specific worlds and then
populating them. Roxy Paine is much more ironic. They seem to
be surrounding themselves, it's their way of understanding their
world by surrounding themselves with these things.
Untitled, Ellen Berkenblit
COURTESY OF BRONWYN KEENAN GALLERY, NEW YORK
C: What is your responsibility as the curator?
BK: You have to show work in the right context. There's nothing
worse than a show where everything is just put up on the wall, and
there's a certain vibe of "everything must go," like a warehouse.
The purpose of a group show is to have a theme, but not to be
obvious. I don't like themes that hammer you over the head.
C: You've described your role as one of giving artists a "home."
Does that metaphor extend to make you and the exhibiting artists
a family?
BK: That happens at small galleries like mine, but I don't think at
the large, major ones. My purpose is also to find artists. I shownew
artists, people who haven't been exposed, and I really like
taking new people on. There's only so much you can do of that,
but I really like it.
C: Does showing together spur artists to work together?
BK: Definitely. I hear the artists in my show talking about
collaborating, not just showing together but actually doing.
C: Like a bloodline.
BK: Yeah, exactly.
C: What is your vision as a gallery director in New York City,
specifically?
BK: Everything changes so quickly. When I started (last year), I
thought I didn't want to represent particular people, I wanted to
do group shows and show a lot of different work by a lot of
different artists. Then I started to discover that there's only so
much that I really connect to, and I want to work with some
people long term, not have it slip away.
C: How much of your work is affected by being in New York?
BK: You have access to the artists. They're here. You don't have
problems just getting the work. New York is the only place I'd
want to be.
C: You worked at a gallery in London. How did that affect your
perspective here?
BK: Young artists in London are really responding to Damien
Hirst and the whole white cube crowd. It's very different from
what's happening here. They're using different materials, and in