William Wegman Retrospective Coming to Wexner Center in Only Midwestern Stop

Show Includes Wryly Funny Videos, Paintings, and Collage Works—and the Famous Dog Photographs

American Electric Power Foundation Supports Show With $100,000 Gift

Family Day, Cell Phone Tours, Talks, and More Planned

Columbus, OH—The Wexner Center for the Arts will bring the critically acclaimed exhibition William Wegman: Funney/Strange to Columbus in the fall of 2007. This nationally touring show, a comprehensive 40-year retrospective of Wegman’s wryly funny work, showcases his photography, painting, drawing, collage, and video from the 1960s to the present, including his famous photographs of weimaraner dogs in fanciful or surreal poses. The show—free to the public and on view September 20–December 30, 2007 in all four Wexner Center galleries—includes more than 200 artworks. Together, these pieces by this “inveterate jokester” offer “a total immersion in the fruits of his inquiring mind and sardonic eye,” wrote the New York Times last year. “Dogs or no dogs, Mr. Wegman is one of the most important artists to emerge from the heady experiments of the 1970s.” And in a review of the exhibition in May, Art in America wrote, “Conjuring a sense of magic from the everyday has long been a hallmark of Wegman’s work,” and described the gallery experience itself: “The ambience of a William Wegman exhibition is unlike any other. Adults and children of all ages gather, laughter rings out and the atmosphere is unusually animated.” For the Wexner Center presentation of the exhibition, Wegman will be creating a new, site-specific photographic installation for the Center’s café area.

Notes Wexner Center Director Sherri Geldin, “We are thrilled to present an artist of Wegman’s multifarious creative genius, and we see this exhibition as a major cultural opportunity for Columbus and the region. Although best-known for his witty and deliciously deadpan photographs of weimaraners in all manner of wacky guise, Wegman has also created an impressive body of equally clever and innovative work in video, painting, collage, and more. We believe visitors of all ages and backgrounds will find this exhibition a delight, and on multiple levels. Wegman is that unique example of a fundamentally conceptual artist with universal entertainment appeal.”

Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman says, "The arts can bring a community together in conversation and celebration, but few communities are as fortunate as Columbus with our Wexner Center for the Arts. Exhibits like Wegman's are just a piece of the great gift the Wexner represents to the world of art and our citizens. I encourage everyone to see this show, and to continue pushing the limits of what art means to our city."

The Wexner Center presentation of this show is made possible in part by lead sponsor American Electric Power Foundation, with a gift of $100,000. Says Kevin E. Walker, President and C.O.O. of AEP Ohio: "The partnership with the Wexner Center reaffirms the AEP Foundation's commitment to educate and enlighten Ohio residents through the wonderful arts programming in our communities."

Organized by the Addison Gallery of American Art (on the campus of the Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts), the exhibition opened at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in March 2006, traveled to the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. in the summer of 2006, the Norton Museum of Art in Palm Beach, Florida in the winter of 2007, and is at the Addison this summer before making its final stop at the Wexner Center. A catalogue published by Yale University Press, available now in the Wexner Center Store, accompanies the exhibition.

EVENTS FOR THE COMMUNITY, FAMILIES, AND STUDENTS

A full slate of events for various constituencies are planned to accompany the exhibition.

• Opening week will include a media preview September 18 (10 am–noon); an OSU student party September 18 from 8 pm to midnight; and a members’ opening party September 19 from 7 to 10 pm.

• A Family Day will be held Sunday, September 23 from 1 to 4 pm (members and donors only from 11 am to 1 pm), with interactive gallery tours, screenings of Wegman’s short films created in the 1970s and '80s for Sesame Street and Saturday Night Live, and a variety of workshops, including postcard pictures, "funney" photography, animal storybooks, and animal movement. Admission is free.

• Dog Day @ the Wex will be held Sunday, October 7 from 11 am to 4 pm Society, in conjunction with Ohio State's College of Veterinary Medicine, the Capital Area Humane Society, and other community partners. Visitors will be encouraged to bring their dogs for a pooch parade, pictures with pets, and other activities. A dog-sitting area will be available, staffed by kennel volunteers. Admission is free.

• Dr. James Serpell, a nationally known expert on human-animal interaction and a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine will give a public talk entitled "Why We Like Dogs (and They Like Us)" on Thursday, November 1 at 4:30 pm. Admission is free. Co-sponsored by OSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

• Additional walk-in tours will be offered during the run of the show, including two weekly walk-in tours (Thursdays at 5 and Saturdas at 1), teen programs, and programs for schools and teachers.

• An audio tour accessible via visitors’ cell phones will accompany the exhibition.

WEGMAN AND THE WEXNER CENTER

William Wegman received a Wexner Center Residency Award in media arts in the 1992–’93 season, during which he collaborated with Boston-based video and holography artist Betsy Conners in the Wexner Center’s Art & Technology facility. Together, they completed post- production of Made in Maine (1992), a video that appeared on the PBS series New Television, which the Wexner Center co-produced. During his visit, Wegman gave a public lecture about his video work, and examples of his photographs were also displayed in the center’s lower lobby. His photographic work was also represented in the touring group exhibition From Pop to Now, on view at the Wexner Center Galleries at The Belmont Building in the 2002–’03 season. See the attached biography for more about William Wegman.

VISITOR INFORMATION

THE EXHIBITION: William Wegman: Funney/Strange features more than 200 works in photography, video, painting, drawing, and collage by influential and widely popular American artist William Wegman. This marks the only Midwestern stop of this critically acclaimed and nationally touring exhibition.

DATES: September 20–December 30, 2007.

LOCATION: Wexner Center for the Arts, 1871 North High Street at 15th Avenue at The Ohio State University. Parking in Ohio Union Garage just south of the Wexner Center (starting September 22), or South Campus Gateway garage (just east of High between 9th & 11th).

GALLERY HOURS: Tuesday–Wednesday and Sunday 11 am–6 pm; Thursday–Saturday 11 am–8 pm. Closed Mondays, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Day (closes early Christmas Eve).

WALK-IN TOURS: Thursdays at 5 pm & Saturdays at 1 pm. Group tours available (614 292-6493).

ADMISSION: Free.

EXHIBITION ORGANIZATION AND SUPPORT [as of August 14, 2007]

 This exhibition was organized by the Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, with generous support from the Henry Luce Foundation. It is presented in Columbus with lead sponsorship from American Electric Power Foundation. Major support is provided by National City, Univar USA, and Wolfe Associates. Significant contributions are also provided by The Trueman Family, AT&T, Corporate Annual Fund of the Wexner Center Foundation, and Wexner Center members. Promotional support is provided by the Columbus Dispatch, Experience Columbus, NBC 4, Ohio Magazine, Orange Barrel Media, Time Warner Cable, and WBNS FM Mix 97.1. Accommodations are provided by The Blackwell Inn. Family Day is presented with support from Bob Evans Farms, Cardinal Health, and Time Warner Cable. Additional contributions are provided by Coca-Cola, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, the Corporate Annual Fund of the Wexner Center Foundation and Wexner Center members. Promotional support is provided by Columbus Parent and ThisWeek Community Newspapers.

Dog Day @ the Wex is presented with support from Bob Evans Farms, Cardinal Health, and Time Warner Cable. In-kind support is provided by Coca-Cola. Additional contributions are provided by the Corporate Annual Fund of the Wexner Center Foundation and Wexner Center members. Promotional support is provided by This Week Community Newspapers.