Jack Hallberg: Curated by Dave Hickey

2006–2007

511

west 25 th street, new york, ny www.cueartfoundation.org

10001

jac k h a l l b e r g

jac k hallberg

CUE Art Foundation

December 7, 2006 - January 27, 2007

Curated by Dave Hickey

this Exhibition supported in part by

Compass Diversified Trust

LEAD SPONSOR OF 2006-07 SEASON OF EXHIBITION CATALOGUES: KYESUNG PAPER GROUP (SOUTH KOREA) ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY ELIZABETH FIRESTONE GRAHAM FOUNDATION

Foreword

CUE Art Foundation

Artist Statement

Jack Hallberg

We are honored to host this exhibition generously curated by Dave Hickey. Mr. Hickey, a writer

The first painting that had an impact on me was Seurat’s La Grande Jatte. I was eight years old.

and critic, has chosen Jack Hallberg; an artist from Las Vegas, Nevada. Mr. Hickey’s appreciation

My class was on a field trip to the Chicago Art Institute. I didn’t respond at first glance but, as

of Mr. Hallberg’s work demonstrates how the Foundation’s discretionary selection process allows

I approached the painting, it seemed to come alive, to transform itself into a sea of pieces that

for a natural cross-pollination between differing forms of expression.

comprised the whole. I must have walked back and forth in front of Seurat’s painting a dozen

times watching it change, confused by the fact something could seem so complete and so

CUE appreciates that geographic location can sometimes limit an artist’s

exhibition possibilities elsewhere, thus CUE is pleased to offer Mr. Hallberg the opportunity for

fractured, intrigued by the fact that it could make me respond physically. I felt like I had a unique

his first solo exhibition in New York. Mr. Hickey and we, together, wish him a future of fulfillment

personal relationship with this inanimate object. I liked the dots and the spaces between the dots.

and success.

I liked the whole experience, and I am always trying to recreate that sense of wonderment in my own paintings, trying to make work that is visually and socially engaging, playful, artificial and well defined, like a welcome guest at a wonderful party.

Curator’s Statement

Dave Hickey

Jack Hallberg was my student in the early 1990s. He has been my friend and neighbor ever since.

He is also, for me, a living repudiation of the idea that artists develop. In fact, artists decide.

For about a year after Jack arrived in Las Vegas, he made bad paintings. Then one day he just got sick of it. He began making good paintings, and he has made them ever since, steadily and without complaint through a virtual tsunami of accident, illness and personal disaster. During this onslaught, Hallberg’s paintings never lost an iota of their goofy, meticulous, good-hearted, ebullience. I have no idea how he has managed this or where the paintings come from.

They are full of art history, of course, and I can cite references. Seurat? Certainly.

Pollock? Of course, but through Lichtenstein. West Coast abstraction? Absolutely. Ultralounge Vegas, Sci-Fi Surrealism and Kenny Scharf? Without a doubt. But none of these references address or explain the charm and equanimity of Hallberg’s paintings. I can only suggest that they share these virtues with paintings they do not much resemble by Elizabeth Murray, John Wesley and Peter Saul and that the work of all these artists exudes a level of good humor and self-possession that is daunting for its sheer lack of neediness and aggression. On a cultural battlefield full of striding warriors and calculating strategists who demand our awe and attention, strewn with bloody victims demanding our care and sympathy, high physical comedy can be challenging and intimidating. It can seem like an insult to the entire endeavor, because it is one thing to abandon drama for theater. That is the contemporary move. It is quite another thing to abandon theater for high-hearted conversation, because solemnity is not an option in everyday talk. So these questions arise. How dare these artists, at this rich and profligate moment, seem to need so little? How dare they seem be having so much fun? How dare they tempt us into the daylight?

1293…

2005 Acrylic on panel, 24" x 48"

1130‌

2005 Acrylic on panel, 24" x 48" Details at right

Water Street Bridge

2005 Ektachrome print 6" x 3.8" Edition of 10

931‌

2005 Acrylic on panel, 24" x 48"

Details at right

Water Street Bridge 2005

Ektachrome print

6" x 3.8"

Edition of 10

1007‌

2006 Acrylic on panel, 24" x 48" Details at right

545‌

2005 Acrylic on panel, 36" x 72"

Details at right

2103‌

2006 Acrylic on panel, 36" x 72" Details at right

2823‌

2006 Acrylic on panel, 72" x 84" (diptych) Details at right

Biographies

Jack hallberg

Jack Hallberg was born on May 17, 1963 in Rockford, IL. He grew up in Rockford with his parents and his three sisters in a house his father built. One of Jack’s earliest memories is of going up into the attic with his father. The floor joists were exposed and the ceiling topped out at five-feet.

Over the course of the weekend, his father single handedly raised the roof four feet in preparation for two new bedrooms and a bathroom. From this, Hallberg drew the inference that people could, if they wished, do what they wanted to do. In public school, Hallberg tested high and scored low.

He was considered a “problem child” but he could draw like an angel. After high school, he went to work, made some money, bought some things, and decided he would rather be an artist.

He attended the University of Illinois, won a graduate scholarship to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and began exhibiting his painting. Today he lives in Las Vegas, teaches part time and makes paintings.

Dave Hickey

Dave Hickey is a freelance writer of fiction and cultural criticism, a curator and lecturer. He has written for most major American cultural publications about a great many artists, writers and musicians. He has published a volume of short fiction, Prior Convictions: Stories from the Sixties (Southwest Life and Letters), with the SMU Press. His critical essays on art have been collected in two volumes published by Art Issues Press, The Invisible Dragon: Four Essays on Beauty (1993) and Air Guitar: Essays on Art and Democracy (1998). His book, Stardumb (Artspace Books, 1999), is a collection of stories with drawings by artist John de Fazio. He has two books in production at the University of Chicago Press: Connoisseur of Waves: More Essays on Art and Democracy (2006) and Feint of Heart: Essays on Individual Artists (two volumes) (2008), as well as a new edition of The Invisible Dragon. His curating projects include: Beau Monde: Toward a Redeemed Cosmopolitanism, SITE Santa Fe’s Fourth International Biennial in Santa Fe, NM (2002); The California School (2004) and Step into Liquid (2005) at the Ben Maltz Gallery at the Otis College 1023…

2004 Acrylic on panel, 24" x 48"

Details at right

of Art & Design, CA; and Edward Ruscha: The Long View at the Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo in Mexico City (2006).

Mission Statement

CUE Art Foundation

CUE Art Foundation, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit arts organization,

Board of Directors

is dedicated to providing a comprehensive creative forum for

Gregory Amenoff

contemporary art by supporting under-recognized artists via a

Theodore S. Berger

multi-faceted mission spanning the realms of gallery exhibitions,

Patricia Caesar

public programming, professional development programs and

Thomas G. Devine

arts-in-education. The Foundation was established in June of 2002

Thomas K. Y. Hsu

with the aim of providing educational programs for young artists

Brian D. Starer

and aspiring art professionals in New York and from around the country. These programs draw on the unique community of artists,

Advisory Council

critics, and educators brought together by the Foundation’s season

Gregory Amenoff

of exhibitions, public lectures, workshops, and its studio residency

William Corbett

program: all are designed to be of lasting practical benefit to

Vernon Fisher

aspiring and under-recognized artists. The entire CUE identity is

Malik Gaines

characterized by artistic quality, independent judgment and the

Deborah Kass

discovery of genuine talent, and provides long-term benefits both

Kris Kuramitsu

for creative individuals associated with CUE and the larger art

Jonathan Lethem

marketplace. Located in New York’s Chelsea gallery district, CUE’s

Irving Sandler

4,500 square feet of gallery, studio and office space serves as the nexus for educational programs and exhibitions conducted by CUE.

executive Director

Jeremy Adams Director of development Cover image: 2823… (detail), 2006, Acrylic on panel, 72" x 84"

Elaine Bowen

ISBN: 0-9776417-7-5 programs All artwork © Jack Hallberg

coordinator

Photo credit: Max Bromwell

Beatrice Wolert-Weese

Catalog designed by Elizabeth Ellis programs assistant Printed on TriPine paper of KyeSung Paper Group (South Korea) Cover: TriPine Art Nouveau 209gsm (78lb), Text: TriPine Silk 157gsm (106lb) Printer: Yon Art Printing (South Korea)

Kara Smith