(NEW YORK, NY – January 24, 2017)—A new installation by American artist Sarah Crowner will open at The Wright restaurant, located in the landmark Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, on January 29. Commissioned specifically for The Wright by the Guggenheim, the project consists of four works that will enter the museum’s permanent collection. The project is the second in a series of interventions in the restaurant that the museum opened in 2009 with an installation by Liam Gillick, with the intention of activating this social space as a platform for creative production.
Sarah Crowner physically dissects and reshapes the legacy of modernism in works that at first appear to be geometric paintings but are in fact meticulously sewn canvas collages. Informed by the interdisciplinary practices of earlier visual artists who engaged the applied arts, poetry, theater, and dance, she merges the rarified tradition of abstraction with techniques and materials common to decor and craft. Crowner is also interested in a painting’s potential to function as an environment or performative setting rather than a discrete object on a wall, frequently juxtaposing her canvas works with interventions to the floors and walls of a gallery.
Crowner’s installation for The Wright restaurant directly immerses the viewer in a dynamic composition. A curving backdrop formed from stitched, painted canvas is suspended along one of the walls. In line with the artist’s focus on reviving overlooked currents of 20th-century abstraction, this work splices and repeats motifs from a woven tapestry that Swedish artist Lennart Rodhe (1916–2005) created in 1961 for the sumptuous Operakällaren restaurant in Stockholm. Handmade terracotta tiles with white, blue, and yellow glazes comprise three additional works that complete the overall interplay of color, line, and pattern. Utilizing the architectural elements of a functional, inherently social space, Crowner expands the notion of what constitutes a painting and considers how the surrounding human activity might alter the experience of her work, and vice versa.
This presentation is organized by Katherine Brinson, Curator, Contemporary Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and Ari Wiseman, Deputy Director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.
Crowner’s installation in The Wright was made possible through the annual support of the Guggenheim’s International Director’s Council (IDC), as well as generous additional support provided by Mr. and Mrs. J. Tomilson Hill. Founded in 1995, the IDC is devoted to expanding and strengthening the museum’s contemporary collection in all mediums. The group is comprised of art collectors from around the world who share a commitment to the museum’s mission, which includes acquiring and preserving a collection that reflects the most important aesthetic achievements of 20th- and 21st-century visual culture.
About The Wright
The Wright opened in 2009 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Frank Lloyd Wright–designed Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Named in honor of the great American architect, the 1,600-square-foot restaurant is located in a modern architectural space designed by New York–based architect Andre Kikoski, who was awarded the James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Restaurant Design in 2010 for the project. The first artwork commissioned for The Wright was an installation by British artist Liam Gillick. Sarah Crowner is the second artist to be commissioned by the Guggenheim to create site-specific works for the space.
Offering a seasonal menu by Executive Chef Alejandro Cortez, The Wright is operated by Restaurant Associates. Located in the Guggenheim Museum on Fifth Avenue at 88th Street, The Wright is open during the following times:
Lunch: Friday–Wednesday: 11:30–3:30 pm
Brunch: Saturday & Sunday: 11 am–3:30 pm
Closed Thursdays
About Sarah Crowner
Sarah Crowner was born in Philadelphia in 1974. She earned a BA from the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1996, and an MFA from Hunter College, City University of New York, in 2002. Crowner recently received a solo exhibition at MASS MoCA, North Adams, Massachusetts (2016). Her work has also been presented in a number of group exhibitions including the Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2010); Abstract Generation: Now in Print, Museum of Modern Art, New York (2013); Excursus IV: Primary Information, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (2013); Painter Painter, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2013); Conversation Piece, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2014); Repetition and Difference, Jewish Museum, New York (2015); and Space Between, FLAG Art Foundation, New York (2015).
About the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
Founded in 1937, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation is dedicated to promoting the understanding and appreciation of art, primarily of the modern and contemporary periods, through exhibitions, education programs, research initiatives, and publications. The Guggenheim network that began in the 1970s when the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, was joined by the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, has since expanded to include the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (opened 1997) and the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi (currently in development). The Guggenheim Foundation continues to forge international collaborations that celebrate contemporary art, architecture, and design within and beyond the walls of the museum, including the Guggenheim UBS MAP Global Art Initiative and The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation. More information about the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation can be found at guggenheim.org.
