Charlotte Holper

Adrian Piper Retrospective

11/26/2018

The 1965-2018 Retrospective of Adrian Piper was very well curated and also quite informative of the artist’s progression of work. The entrance to the exhibition shows a wide variety of her mediums and techniques. Walking through the show, the viewer is able to walk up to sculptures, paintings, photographs, comparing the works in a chronological order. The show also incorporates installations that allow the viewer to walk around and through them, engaging the viewer further. The beginning and end of the show fascinated me the most, showing an adventurous and creative way to show her work. Walking into her exhibition, I really enjoyed a compilation of paintings that incorporated colorful and vibrant imagery. From 1965 to 1966, Piper created works inspired from LSD. These works were segmented like stained glass windows, creating an all-over pattern on the canvas. Two of the paintings in the compilation stood out the most, Self-Portrait with Tamika and Steve Shomstein. Piper painted these two portraits with acrylic paint in 1966.

Many of the pieces in the exhibition incorporated a small amount of color, but held more formal traits of grayscale. The time when Piper completed these two works was during a movement of drug-inspired artwork. Piper transparently shows great influences from past art movements, such as Impression, Minimalism, Surrealism, and Fluxus. The two portraits, Self-Portrait with Tamika and Steve Shomstein, both portray images of people. The canvas is broken up into carefully painted lines, breaking up the figures underneath. The paintings also reference religious iconography through the stained glass features and colorful segments. The paintings also share a similar color palette of purple, yellow, black and white. Throughout the paintings, the artist incorporates swirls and patterns to move the viewer through the piece, creating a complete composition.
The work shows a complete Retrospective of Adrian Piper's work and shows her skill set and many different mediums. The exhibition showed Pipers technique and unique behavior.