Back to Press Room

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 24, 2005

PRESS CONTACT:           
Andrea Potochniak
607 254-4563
arp37@cornell.edu

Multimedia exhibition will feature 48 different works;
visiting artists to speak at Johnson Museum

Ithaca, NY—The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University will present Will Boys Be Boys? Questioning Adolescent Masculinity in Contemporary Art from November 5, 2005, to January 8, 2006. The exhibition is organized and circulated by Independent Curators International (iCI), New York.

Examining the nature of adolescent masculinity, Will Boys Be Boys? explores what defines “boy-ness” as a socially determined identity in terms of physical appearance (clothing, hairstyle, accessories), pastimes, behavior, and “toys.”

The exhibition brings together 48 works by 19 nationally recognized contemporary artists or artist teams: Slater Bradley, Larry Clark, Lilah Freedland, Tim Gardner, Luis Gispert, Anthony Goicolea, Janine Gordon, Ryan Humphrey, Nikki S. Lee, Matt Luem and Greg Fiering, Julia Loktev, Maria Marshall, Ryan McGinness, Chloe Piene, Jeff Reed, Tom Sachs, Dean Sameshima, Collier Schorr, and Type A (Adam Ames and Andrew Bordwin).

There will be three Artist’s Talks held in conjunction with the exhibition:

• Chloe Piene on Thursday, November 3 at 5:15 p.m., and on Saturday, November 5 at 4:30 p.m., before the opening reception (at 5:00 p.m.)
• Anthony Goicolea on Tuesday, November 8 at 5:15 p.m.
• Type A (Ames and Bordwin) on Tuesday, November 22 at 5:15 p.m.

Will Boys Be Boys? is curated by Shamim M. Momin, associate curator, Whitney Museum of American Art, branch director and curator of the Whitney Museum of American Art at Altria. and co-curator of the 2004 Whitney Biennial.

Andrea Inselmann, curator of modern and contemporary art at the Johnson, will lead a free tour on Thursday, November 10, at 12:00 noon as part of the Art for Lunch series.

Programs and participants are subject to change.

Will Boys Be Boys? Questioning Adolescent Masculinity in Contemporary Art is a traveling exhibition organized and circulated by Independent Curators International (iCI), New York. The exhibition was curated by Shamim M. Momin. The exhibition, tour, and brochure are made possible, in part, by The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation. The Johnson Museum’s presentation of the exhibition was funded in part by a grant from the Cornell Council for the Arts.

Independent Curators International (iCI) is dedicated to enhancing the understanding and appreciation of contemporary art through traveling exhibitions and other activities that will reach a diverse national and international audience. Collaborating with a wide range of eminent curators, iCI develops its program of innovative traveling exhibitions and substantial catalogues to introduce and document challenging new work in all mediums by younger as well as more established artists. Since its founding in 1975, iCI has created over one hundred exhibitions that collectively have included the work of more than 3,000 artists. iCI exhibitions have been presented by over 450 museums, university art galleries, art centers, and alternative spaces in the United States and abroad. Will Boys Be Boys?has toured to the Salina Art Center in Salina, Kansas, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver, Colorado. Following the Johnson Museum dates, the exhibition will be at the Indianapolis Museum of Art in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 2006.

The Johnson Museum has a permanent collection of over 30,000 works of art from Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America. The museum building was designed by I. M. Pei. Funds for the building were donated by Cornell alumnus Herbert F. Johnson, chairman of S. C. Johnson & Sons, makers of Johnson Wax. The building opened in 1973.

###

The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, located on the campus of Cornell University, is open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Admission is free. The Museum is completely accessible for mobility-impaired visitors, and a wheelchair is available in the lobby. Metered parking is available in the lot next to the Museum. For more information, please call 607 255-6464. Visit the Museum’s website at www.museum.cornell.edu. The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art is a member of Ithaca’s Discovery Trail: www.DiscoveryTrail.net

-30-