Vojtěch Kovařík → Warehouse Dallas Art Foundation

Vojtěch Kovařík
Group show
The Rachofsky Collection and the Hartland & Mackie / Labora Collection
Warehouse Dallas Art Foundation

The inaugural exhibition of the newly formed Warehouse Dallas Art Foundation offers a glimpse at two collections—The Rachofsky Collection, created over the past 40 years, and the Hartland & Mackie / Labora Collection, developed more recently over the last decade. The two collections overlap and diverge in inspiration, content, and style, yet are nuanced enough to reflect different points of view. This first look, as it were, is our opening chapter as we explore the art of our times.

As the exhibition unfolds, each gallery explores a theme or artist central to both collections. A number of galleries feature in-depth explorations of three central themes in contemporary art: the state of abstract painting, the reemergence of a surrealist sensibility, and a rebellious challenge to traditional Modernist sculpture. The show also includes several galleries that center on dialogues between two artists. These pairings set up a series of conversations between the two collections, as well as among artists of different generations who share a creative inquiry into themes like the figure, science, poetry, fragmentation, and the very nature of painting itself.

Rashid Johnson, an artist collected in depth by the Hartland & Mackie / Labora Collection, has made a selection of historical Japanese, Italian, and Korean works from The Rachofsky Collection that form a conversation with his own work. This “exhibition within the exhibition” shows Johnson’s deep engagement with art history and demonstrates an ethos that transcends historical eras and geographic boundaries.

Fittingly, the exhibition begins with a large-scale work by Howardena Pindell, co-owned by both collections, that is inspired by a Claude Monet waterlily painting. Pindell is a historically important artist who until recently was wildly under-appreciated. Made when the artist was in her late 70s, the work is in direct dialogue with the past as it looks for exciting new potential in the realm of abstract painting. In many ways, Pindell’s work embodies the spirit of the exhibition—and much of the work in it—with its deep appreciation for the gravity of history, while laying the groundwork for future explorations.

With the participation of: Kelly Akashi, Darren Bader, Louise Bonnet, Elaine Cameron-Weir, Alice Channer, Peter Coffin, Aaron Curry, Carroll Dunham, Urs Fischer, Wade Guyton, Jim Hodges, Marguerite Humeau, Alex Israel, Rashid Johnson, Jamian Juliano-Villani, Josh Kline, Vojtěch Kovařík, Siri Krishnan, Seung-taek Lee, Lee Kun-Yong, Lee Ufan, Hannah Levy, Li Hei Di, Charles Long, Piero Manzoni, Calvin Marcus, Nic Nicosia, Philippe Parreno, Howardena Pindell, Marc Quinn, Carol Rama, Sean Raspet, Sterling Ruby, Dana Schutz, Trevor Shimizu, Kazuo Shiraga, Emily Mae Smith, Cheyney Thompson, Banks Violette, Danh Vo, Anicka Yi.