As Lee Bontecou stepped up to the microphone in front of
admiring guests at her art exhibit in the Hammer Museum, she
realized her lowly position relative to the sound piece.
“I’m too short,” Bontecou said.
The assembly of onlookers chuckled at her self-deprecating
humor, but they may very well have been laughing at the irony of an
artist, whose talent stands so tall among her that of her peers,
proclaiming her short stature.
Arguably the most prominent female artist of the 1960s, Bontecou
captured early critical attention only to avoid the spotlight after
a decade of recognition. The Hammer is now presenting “Lee
Bontecou: A Retrospective,” an exhibition chronicling 50
years of her art. The collection includes the debut of several
works created during her 30-year seclusion, the majority of which
was spent in rural Pennsylvania.
“I had enough of talking about my old work, and I wanted
to experiment,” Bontecou said. “It couldn’t be
done constantly talking about the old work. It was unconscious. A
lot of people do this. Businessmen get tired of these horrible jobs
sometimes, and they go and do something else. No one talks about
that.”
After moving out of the New York art scene in the early 1970s,
Bontecou rarely visited museums or art exhibitions. Instead, she
was exposed to art students’ works at Brooklyn College, where
she taught until her retirement in 1991.
“I think I really lucked out in teaching at
Brooklyn,” Bontecou said. “I don’t think I
would’ve lasted in another place … The art facilities
weren’t that great. We didn’t have that nice facility
that so many people had. And in some ways, it was better. It was
really better. They had to use their imaginations. How to get
materials? What to do? They had a chance of seeing what it was like
being an artist, where you don’t have the money, you
don’t have the space, and you have to work.”
Bontecou continued producing art while teaching. Her signature
painting/sculpture hybrids constructed by stretching canvas over
welded metal armatures gave way to innovations of a wider range of
media. While her works in the ’60s and early ’70s look
like machines with organic characteristics, her newer works show
organisms appearing mechanic.
With a bulk of her new work completed, Bontecou readied herself
for a return to the art world. The retrospective exhibition was
partly prompted by an illness as well as a visit to an exhibition
featuring her work at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary
Art.
“I had been ill, and I thought, “˜Gee, I don’t
want to leave this (exhibition) to my husband and my daughter to
handle,'” Bontecou said. “There wasn’t any
real decision either. The moment struck.”
Apparently, the moment occurred when Bontecou visited an
exhibition of her works at the Los Angeles MoCA in 1993, and was
thoroughly impressed by the detailed efforts of curator Elizabeth
Smith, who is also co-curating the current exhibition with Hammer
Director Ann Philbin.
It undetermined whether or not this comprehensive exhibition (70
sculptures and 80 drawings from private, public, and the
artist’s own collections) means the end of Bontecou’s
long exile. The dimunitive artist still appears to be shy and
uncomfortable in front of large crowds, especially when talking
about her work.
Regarding the question of what students with limited art
backgrounds should take from her work, Bountecou advocates allowing
imagination to dictate interpretation.
“For (students), just look at things and let their
thoughts carry them instead of me trying to force something on
them,” Bontecou said. “That’s sort of why I
haven’t named (my pieces), there is no title. Just to be as
free as they can when they come and let their minds and
imaginations go with it ““ put their own signatures on
it.”
Bontecou even admits she is sometimes uncertain of what a
certain piece of art is attempting to convey.
“Hopefully (students) will get something from it, and if
not, it’s not them,” Bontecou said. “It’s
just timing and maybe interest. You guys can go out and look at the
mountains and get exactly what you see here. It doesn’t have
to be hanging on walls. Just be more aware and let your own
imaginations figure things out.”
“Lee Bontecou: A Retrospective” is now open at
the Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd. through Jan. 11, 2004. UCLA
students, faculty and staff are admitted free. For more information
call (310) 443-4201 or visit www.hammer.ucla.edu.