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Spring 2024 Exhibition
Teach Art
February 6 - May 18, 2024
It is 1968. In the pages of Artforum magazine, anonymous ads begin to appear. Each ad includes a singlular statement: ART WORKS, Build a reputation, Become a legend, Teach Art…
Skip ahead to 1970. Artist Stephen Kaltenbach returns to Northern California from New York City, after receiving considerable recognition as a conceptual artist. He declares himself a “regional artist.”
In 1971, Kaltenbach is hired by the Art Department at Sacramento State. He teaches classes on performance and sculpture.
In 1972, Kaltenbach embarks on a large-scale portrait of his deceased father. The painting will take 7 years to complete.
Now it is 1981. An exhibition in the Robert Else Gallery on the Sacramento State campus presents a gallery-sized installation that includes living room features: a painting, a credenza, a mirror, a rocking chair. The work brings the viewer into a familiar setting that is seemingly unremarkable. The piece is credited as an anonymous installation.
Into the present. For over 30 years, Stephen Kaltenbach used the teaching environment at Sacramento State as a springboard to explore ideas and create new work. Some of Kaltenbach’s projects were collaborations with students. Some invited student participation. Some were prompts for assignments. But can pedagogy and teaching be considered an artistic strategy?
Building on his conceptual experiments with anonymity, influence, and targeted audiences (referred to by the artist as Casual Art), Kaltenbach pursued teaching as a new way of practicing art. This exhibition reflects on “teaching moments” between 1971-2005 where Kaltenbach’s students became accomplices, witnesses, and participants in an ever-evolving art/life pedagogical experiment.
Teach Art as it was first encountered in the pages of a magazine was more than an action or a command—it is a credo.
We would like to thank the artist for his incredible generosity and participation in organizing this exhibition. We also thank the lenders to the exhibition, Stephen and Mary Kaltenbach, The Crocker Art Museum, and David and Cathy Stone.
IN CONVERSATION:
Artist Stephen Kaltenbach with Curator Francesca Wilmott
Thursday, March 14, Noon-1:30 PM
Kadema 145
Exhibition Reception Thursday, February 8, 5-8PM
