PEEKSKILL, NY .- Hudson Valley MOCA is presenting How We Live: Selections from the Marc and Livia Straus Family Collection. The exhibition is on view from October 12, 2019 to July 19, 2020.
How We Live is a sculpture and video exhibition from the Marc and Livia Straus Family Collection. It includes artists from around the globe who explore the particularities of their individual cultures through art. 34 sculptures by 31 artists along with six video artists showcase unique heritages, and in doing so enrich our understanding of the world.
The Strauses have always been interested in art that fosters cross-cultural dialogue. They started collecting at age 20, taking risks to buy work that was not yet understood, often being amongst the first collectors for many artists. Their collecting practice extended beyond just purchasing, as they underwrote the fabrication of some of the works included. In each instance their choices were prescient and remain among the most seminal works by the artists.
This exhibition combines the curatorial vision of Omar Lopez-Chahoud, Independent Curator and Artistic Director and Curator of Untitled, Art, and Nicola Trezzi, Director and Chief Curator of the Center for Contemporary Art Tel Aviv, in collaboration with the Marc and Livia Straus Family. Featured in this exhibition are works such as Global Encoder (1994) by Nam June Paik, monument to v.tatlin (1966) by Dan Flavin, Cradle (1999) by Janine Antoni, Felt Floor (2003) by Rachel Whiteread, and Traitment Musicale (1997) by Chen Zhen. Each work is in part an exploration of an artist’s life through the lens of their practice, a poignant reflection of how cultures shape lives and are in turn molded by those living in them.
How We Live follows the exhibition Death is Irrelevant, a show of contemporary figuration from 21 countries which celebrated the 15th anniversary of Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, and marked its renaming as Hudson Valley MOCA. Hudson Valley MOCA was founded in Peekskill, NY in 2004 by Marc and Livia Straus, and this exhibition and the preceding exhibition are the first from the Straus Family Collection since the institution’s inception year.
Featured Artists: Janine Antoni (the Commonwealth of The Bahamas), Richard Artschwager (United States), Tamy Ben-Tor (Israel), Katinka Bock (Germany), Louise Bourgeois (France), Michael Brown (United States), Dan Flavin (United States), Tom Friedman (United States), Jeffrey Gibson (United States), Robert Gober (United States), Sonia Gomes (Brazil), Kristján Guðmundsson (Iceland), Rachel Harrison (United States), Jenny Holzer (United States), Yu Honglei (China), Alex Hubbard (United States), Daniela Kraay (the Netherlands), Annika Larsson (Sweden), Lynn Hershman Leeson (United States), Maria Marshall (United Kingdom), Haroon Mirza (United Kingdom), Ciprian Muresan (Romania), Bruce Nauman (United States), Paulo Nazareth (Brazil), Jong Oh (South Korea), Claes Oldenburg (Sweden), Nam June Paik (South Korea), Magali Reus (the Netherlands), Anne Samat (Malaysia), Ben Schumacher (Canada), Jeanne Silverthorne (United States), Michael E. Smith (United States), Susana Solano (Spain), Moffat Takadiwa (Zimbabwe), Rachel Whiteread (United Kingdom), Bryan Zanisnik (United States), Chen Zhen (China)
