Five exhibitions in 2004 series explore art of today

Published December 1, 2003; Category: HOOD MUSEUM OF ART

Lateral Thinking: Art of the 1990s

Jan. 17-March 14

Hood Museum of Art and Jaffe-Friede and Strauss Galleries, Hopkins Center

This exhibition features 40 contemporary artists from North, South, and Central America, Cuba, China, and Europe, including Matthew Barney, Vanessa Beecroft, Roman de Salvo, Zhang Huan, William Kentridge, Byron Kim, Jean Lowe, Vik Muniz and Cindy Sherman. The works defy categorization by style, school or medium, but a number of key ideas recur throughout, like the body; the construction of identity (gender, personal, social, ethnic); the role of the artist; and our relationships to everyday occurrences and objects.

Lateral Thinking is presented in partnership with the Studio Art Exhibition Program, and it is partially installed in the Jaffe-Friede and Strauss Galleries in the Hopkins Center. This exhibition was originated by the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. The National Endowment for the Arts provided major support. Additional funding came from the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture, the County of San Diego, the California Arts Council, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Its presentation at the Hood Museum of Art and Jaffe-Friede and Strauss Galleries is supported by the Ray Winfield Smith 1918 Fund and the Leon C. 1927, Charles L. 1955, and Andrew J. 1984 Greenebaum Fund, and the Studio Art Exhibition Program.

Dreaming of Country: Painting, Place, and People in Australia

March 6-Aug. 29

Gutman Gallery

"The Dreaming," the genesis of land and humanity, is the most powerful means of organizing, understanding, and reconstituting the significance of place and people in many Australian Aboriginal societies. This exhibition reveals how contemporary Aboriginal painting in Australia celebrates the consciousness and identities intrinsic to the country and its peoples.

Crossing Currents: The Synergy of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Ouattara

March 30-June 6

A selection of works by African American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and Cote d'Ivoirian artist Ouattara that ponder African colonial and postcolonial histories and cultures.

Luis Gispert/Loud Image

June 5-Sept. 19

This exhibition includes approximately 30 works by the young artist whose vividly colored photography and booming sound sculptures captivated critics at the 2002 Whitney Biennial. Gispert's art evokes a wide variety of issues, including his own Cuban American background, youth and subcultural resistance, and the art historical canon, blending humor and sharp critique.

Beyond East and West: Seven Transnational Artists

Oct. 9-Dec. 12

New work by seven contemporary artists with an intimate knowledge of the East (the Middle East to Pakistan) from which they come and the West (Europe and America) in which they live and work, explores the use of art to cross cultural boundaries.

BY SHARON REED