FLUXUS AND THE ESSENTIAL
QUESTIONS OF LIFE

SEPT. 9—DECEMBER 3, 2011

Fluxus—which began in the 1960s as an international network of artists, composers, and designers—resists categorization as an art movement, collective, or group. It also defies traditional geographical, chronological, and medium-based approaches. Instead, Fluxus participants employ a "do-it-yourself" approach, relating their activities to everyday life and to viewers' experiences. Offering a fresh assessment of Fluxus, the show and its installation are designed to encourage multiple interpretations, exploring what they can teach us about our own position in the world and the works' relationships to key themes of human existence. Fluxus and the Essential Questions of Life features over 100 works, including documents, objects, event scores (short scripts outlining actions to be performed), and Fluxkits (collections of scores, games, and ephemera). Curated by Jaquelynn Baas and organized by the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College, the exhibition draws extensively on the George Maciunas Memorial Collection at the Hood and is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue.

Also on view at the Grey:
Fluxus at NYU: Before and Beyond

SOTO: PARIS AND BEYOND
1950–1970

JANUARY 10—MARCH 31, 2012

Comprised of some 50 works, Soto: Paris and Beyond, 1950–1970 is the first largescale exhibition dedicated to this major Venezuelan artist to be held at a New York institution in more than 35 years. Featuring works produced after Jesús Rafael Soto's move to Paris, the show highlights his visionary investigations into notions of movement, displacement, and instability. Drawing inspiration from optics, color theory, and phenomenology, Soto (1923–2005) developed a radically new relationship between the artwork and the viewer. The exhibition also explores reciprocal influences between Soto and other members of the Parisian avant-garde—such as Yves Klein and Jean Tinguely. Soto's groundbreaking achievements in the fields of perception and interactive art established his reputation as both one of the foremost proponents of kinetic art and one of the most influential 20th-century Latin American artists. Curated by Estrellita B. Brodsky, the exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue.

STORIED PAST: FOUR CENTURIES OF FRENCH DRAWINGS FROM THE BLANTON MUSEUM OF ART
APRIL 17—JULY 14, 2012

Storied Past presents an in-depth look at French drawing from the collection of the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas, Austin. The exhibition features approximately 60 works dating from the 16th to 19th centuries. Many stages of finish may be seen in the drawings—which range from preliminary sketches to compositional and figure studies to finished works—revealing the medium's versatility. Storied Past also conveys major narratives and themes in the art of this period through the works' subjects, which address religion, mythology, and history. In addition, the show provides valuable information about these drawings' status as material objects and about the practices of collecting. Included are French artists from diverse schools and styles, such as François Boucher, Jacques Callot, Jean-François Fragonard, and Jean-Baptiste Greuze. Storied Past is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue.