{"id":1097,"date":"2021-07-21T12:20:05","date_gmt":"2021-07-21T04:20:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/?p=1097"},"modified":"2021-07-21T12:20:05","modified_gmt":"2021-07-21T04:20:05","slug":"baltimore-museum-of-art-security-guards-take-the-helm-to-curate-exhibition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.atelierauction.com\/globalupdates\/artist\/baltimore-museum-of-art-security-guards-take-the-helm-to-curate-exhibition\/","title":{"rendered":"Baltimore Museum of Art Security Guards Take the Helm to Curate Exhibition"},"content":{"rendered":"

A museum\u2019s security guards are entrusted with safeguarding the institution\u2019s priceless treasures. In the course of their jobs, they spend countless hours with these collection of art objects. What stories might they believe are the most important ones for visitors to know about the art they see daily?<\/p>\n

\u201cGuarding the Art,\u201d a forthcoming exhibition at\u00a0the Baltimore Museum of Art<\/a>, will answer that question when it opens next March. Curated by 17 of the museum\u2019s guards,\u00a0the show\u00a0aims to highlight the perspectives of a critical yet overlooked workforce at the museum.<\/p>\n

Conceived earlier this year, \u201cGuarding the Art\u201d is part of the BMA\u2019s numerous diversity and inclusion initiatives that it has been rolling out over the past few years. These include controversial sales of artworks by white male artists to expand their holdings of works by women and artists of color in 2018 and a promise to raise wages for several of the museum\u2019s entry-level positions.<\/p>\n

In an interview, BMA director Christopher Bedford said that he wanted to push against the idea that the museum\u2019s curators could be the only ones qualified to organize an exhibition.\u00a0\u201cThe vast majority of people have a relationship to creative production that is intimate,\u201d he said. \u201cIn a sense it\u2019s an experimental show, but it\u2019s also entirely sensible given the familiarity the guards have with the objects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Art historian and curator Lowery Stokes Sims will act as an advisor to the exhibition, which will present works ranging widely in medium and historical period. The guards were given their pick of the collection to form the show, and they will also be involved in producing the exhibition catalogue, the installation design, and the show\u2019s accompanying public programming.<\/p>\n

Though the exhibition\u2019s planning is still in progress, a number of works to be included have already been announced. A focus on the passage of time has been a recurring theme in several of the works. So far, the curators have avoided selecting the museum\u2019s blockbuster pieces. Instead, they will focus on spotlighting lesser-known, though still inspiring, works from the collection.<\/p>\n

One of the guards working on the show, Dereck Mangus, chose an often overlooked painting attributed to local self-taught painter Thomas Ruckle. Titled\u00a0House of Frederick Crey<\/a><\/i>\u00a0(1830\u201335), the quiet scene offers an early glimpse of Baltimore\u2019s Mount Vernon neighborhood, with the city\u2019s iconic Washington Monument visible in the background.<\/p>\n

Alex Lei has selected one work that he said resonates with him while on the job. In Winslow Homer\u2019s\u00a0Waiting an Answer<\/i><\/a>\u00a0(1872),\u00a0a man and a woman\u00a0stand in the center of a lush field. Their silence hangs in the air\u2014it\u2019s not immediately clear which is waiting for the other to respond.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s framed as this moment of waiting\u2014I can relate to that,\u201d Lei said. \u201cA lot of my time is spent waiting for guests to come [into the galleries]<\/a>, waiting for someone to ask a question about the art. In the meantime, we\u2019re interacting with the artworks. We spend so much time with the art that we can offer more information than what\u2019s on the plaque.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lei, who is also a filmmaker, has worked at the BMA for two years\u2014more than enough time, he said, to study the art on the walls and develop an intimate relationship with it. Many might assume that a security guard\u2019s primary role is to keep visitors from touching the art, but in fact, very few people who come to the museum even attempt to do so. Instead, Lei said, guards at the Baltimore Museum of Art spend most of their time answering questions about the collections and helping guide the public through the galleries to help them best appreciate what\u2019s on view.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this show will help change people\u2019s perspective on us, and the art works at the museum,\u201d Lei said. \u201cSecurity guards are literally against the background at museums. We walk by them, we know they\u2019re there, but we don\u2019t always realize that they\u2019re more than just wall fixtures.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source\uff1ahttps:\/\/www.artnews.com\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A museum\u2019s security guards are entrusted with safeguarding the institution\u2019s priceless treasures. In the course of their jobs, they spend countless hours with these collection of art objects. What stories might they believe are the most important ones for visitors to know about the art they see daily? \u201cGuarding the Art,\u201d a forthcoming exhibition at\u00a0the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,13,7,4,3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1097","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artist","8":"category-auction","9":"category-events","10":"category-gallery","11":"category-latest-news"},"yoast_head":"\nBaltimore Museum of Art Security Guards Take the Helm to Curate Exhibition - Investable Art Auctioneer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A museum\u2019s security guards are entrusted with safeguarding the institution\u2019s priceless treasures. 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