The Menil Collection Presents ‘Tacita Dean: Blind Folly’ – A Visionary Exhibition Bridging Analogue Art and Modern Reflection
October 10, 2024
In an era dominated by digital media, The Menil Collection in Houston presents a revelatory exhibition that reaffirms the enduring relevance and power of analogue art. Opening on October 11, 2024, "Tacita Dean: Blind Folly" marks the first major U.S. museum survey of the renowned British European visual artist's work, offering visitors a rare glimpse into Dean's unmediated and chance-based drawing processes across various mediums.
Curated in close collaboration with Dean herself, the exhibition is a reflection of the artist's innovative approach to creation. The exhibition presents a curated array of Dean's oeuvre, spanning from monumental blackboard drawings to intimate sketches on found postcards, each piece a testament to her distinctive artistic lexicon. The show's title, "Blind Folly," encapsulates Dean's philosophy of allowing her mediums to guide the creative process, embracing the role of chance and fate in art-making.
At the heart of the exhibition are new works inspired by Dean's time in Houston, some born from her residency at the Menil's Cy Twombly Gallery. These pieces engage in dialogue with rarely exhibited drawings from her studio, weaving rich visual narratives. Patrons of the exhibition will find themselves enveloped in Dean's meticulously crafted universe.
Michelle White, Senior Curator at The Menil Collection, elucidates the artist's approach: 'Weaving together an array of subjects, from classical mythological narratives to natural phenomena, Tacita Dean's work presents a poignant and urgent reflection on experience in an increasingly virtual and ecologically volatile world.' White further emphasizes, 'In this moment, she shows us the power of analogue through the act of drawing.' This curatorial insight underscores the exhibition's significance, revealing how Dean's art serves as a compelling commentary on our contemporary condition while championing the enduring relevance of analogue processes.
One of the exhibition's most striking features is a series of new chalk drawings on found pieces of worn green slates. These works, with their snaking, spiraling forms—some created by the artist's finger trailing through dust—serve as a direct response to Dean's engagement with Cy Twombly's oeuvre and her experience of the total solar eclipse in Texas. The result is a mesmerizing blend of celestial wonder and terrestrial texture.
Tacita Dean, Hooker’s Green, 2024. Spray chalk, white gouache, and charcoal pencil on found painted slate, 14 3/8 × 18 in. (36.5 × 45.7 cm). Courtesy of the artist. © Tacita Dean. Photo: Fredrik Nilsen Studio.
Tacita Dean, Green Folly, 2024. Spray chalk, white gouache, and charcoal pencil on found painted slate, 14 3/8 × 18 in (36.5 × 45.7cm). Courtesy of the artist. © Tacita Dean. Photo: Fredrik Nilsen Studio.
Tacita Dean, Blind and dusty, 2024. Spray chalk, white gouache, and charcoal pencil on found painted slate, 51 1/8 × 51 1/4 in. (129.9 × 130.2 cm). Courtesy of the artist. © Tacita Dean. Photo: Fredrik Nilsen Studio.
The exhibition continues with Dean's large-scale "portraits" of trees, where photographic prints of blossoming cherry trees, jacarandas, and ancient oaks are adorned with hand-drawn marks. These pieces speak to the artist's deep connection with nature and her desire to capture the essence of these mighty, often ancient beings through the intimate act of drawing.
In a separate gallery, visitors can experience a rotating selection of Dean's 16mm films, including "The Green Ray" (2001), "The Friar's Doodle" (2009), "Edwin Parker" (2011), and her latest work, "Claes Oldenburg draws Blueberry Pie" (2023). This curated film program offers a comprehensive view of Dean's cinematic practice, further illuminating her multifaceted approach to art-making.
Rebecca Rabinow, Director of The Menil Collection, expressed her enthusiasm for the exhibition: "Over the past seven years, during multiple visits to the Menil, Tacita and curator Michelle White have developed an extraordinarily beautiful and thought-provoking exhibition. I am particularly intrigued by the many ways in which Tacita has drawn inspiration from the Menil's permanent collection and green spaces, as well as from Houston more generally."
The journey through Dean's artistic landscape continues with monumental chalk drawings on blackboards, depicting ever-changing natural formations such as mountains, icebergs, and clouds. These works, some spanning twenty-four feet, showcase Dean's virtuosic application of chalk lines and erasures, creating geological and celestial formations that seem to teeter on the brink of disappearance—a poignant metaphor for our changing world.
The exhibition culminates with a small postcard titled "Found Cy, Houston, 2024," a serendipitous discovery that encapsulates the theme of chance encounters running through Dean's work. This piece, found in an antique shop in Houston's Heights neighborhood, bears an uncanny resemblance to Dean's own handwriting, creating a mysterious connection between the artist, her subject, and the city of Houston.
"Tacita Dean: Blind Folly" is a welcome invitation to slow down, to observe, and to reflect on the act of creation in an age of instant gratification. Through Dean's eyes, visitors are encouraged to see the extraordinary in the ordinary, the cosmic in the mundane, and the enduring relevance of analogue art in our digital world.
The exhibition will be on view at The Menil Collection from October 11, 2024, through April 19, 2025, accompanied by a rich program of lectures, performances, and conversations that further explore Dean's artistic practice and its significance in contemporary art.
