 |
|
Sue de Beer answering teens' questions during an Artist+Youth Dialogue
|
Sue de Beer
On Friday April 8th, 2004-05 Youth Insights Students led their second Artist+Youth Dialogue with contemporary artist Sue deBeer. Her work "Black Sun," which was on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art at Altria, presented a combination of childhood remembrances tied together in a loose narrative that spoke to issue of growing up, fear, budding sexuality, death, and fantasy. But, get this, all of it came together under one roof literally! Ms. De Beer, as a part of this rather interesting installation, constructed a huge house within the gallery inside of which was a video installation that you could watch while sitting on huge velvet poufs (courtesy of the artist).
Sue deBeer earned her B.F.A. from the Parsons School of Design in 1995 and her M.F.A. from Columbia University in 1998. Her work has been exhibited at the Center of Contemporary Art in Seattle, the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco, Museo Rufino Tamayo in Mexico City, Reina Sophia Museum in Madrid, and the 2004 Biennial of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. However, on this day she sat down for an engaging and interesting conversation with Youth Insights students and their teen audience. Since her art deals with issues of adolescence it made for an interesting dialogue. Here are some thoughts from the Youth Insights leaders of the discussion.
Diane
Want to head out to a graveyard in Queens? You would definitely say yes if you were at the Artist + Youth Dialogue with Sue de Beer. She is an up-and-coming artist whose installation Black Sun was on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art at Altria through June 17, 2005.
Preceding the dialogue were a viewing of the artist's video in a house she constructed herself and a discussion about it in the sculpture court which was filled with trees and life-sized horse heads. Played on dual channel screens, the video is interesting to say the least, with scenes ranging from a dancing pony to a deeply personal monologue. Ms. de Beer used familiar images of kittens, "horsies," and the color pink to recreate the curse and gift that is adolescence.
This isn't the artist's first experiment with nostalgia. As a video artist, her previous works, one of which was in the Whitney Museum's biennial in 2004, have often dealt with teen angst and growing up. It is a stage of life that interests her, which is one reason why this Artist + Youth Dialogue was so entertaining. Questions about the title of the work, inspirations, and process were raised and intelligently answered by a woman who found a way to mention her dreams about a cat playing the piano. Gender, age, memory, and love are just some of the issues addressed in Black Sun and discussed in the dialogue. It was interesting to hear the different reactions of the young men and women in the audience. It was also interesting to learn about the roles of sound and music in this installation as she explained why it's secretly acceptable to sing a Phil Collins song.
Sue de Beer had a chance to turn the tables and ask the audience some questions. The crowd of urban teenagers was shy, but she did manage to squeeze out a few personal opinions. Coming from a small town in Massachusetts, Ms. de Beer wanted to know about city teens—where we hang out, what we do. She seemed surprised that we weren't overcrowding the local cemeteries on Friday nights. We seemed surprised that people actually crowd cemeteries on Friday nights.
There were differences between the audience, the artist, and the moderators that made for enlightening conversation, so enlightening that I would love to write more about it, but I might miss my ride to the graveyard. See you in Queens!!!
Roxanne
Before the Artist and Youth Dialogue with Sue De Beer, we were able to visit her during the installation process down at Altria. She talked about her art and herself. She was smooth, calm, and homey. So was her art. The way she showed how she was as a teenager and what she did was cool, showing that she still understands us teenagers now and has been there, done that. Sue made me feel comfortable, relaxed, and excited to interview her at the Artist + Youth Dialogue, since I knew something about who she is as a person and as an artist. By that I felt like she was not only an artist but a friend whom I had never met. At the event I thought everyone was able to ask what they wanted and get to know the Sue that they don't know. That's what the Artist + Youth Dialogues are for. We are able to learn about the artists work and the artist. After that she inspired me to not be afraid to show people who I am and how my life was.
Will
Sue De Beer is a young, up-and coming artist whose video instillations have been exhibited in the Whitney's 2004 biennial and even more recently in the Whitney Museum at Altria. Her videos often are composed of many different elements of memory of the adolescent years, so it was very fitting for her to do a dialogue conducted by a group of teens. As a interviewer on this dialogue, I found Sue to be very truthful, and willing to go into depth about her art, which deals with some very intimate and personal aspects of her own teenage years.
The work displayed at the Altria branch of the Whitney was an instillation video, titled Black Sun, combining the space in which it would be viewed and the video itself as one artwork. The video was on two screens side-by-side in a cookie-cutter style house with carpeting on the floor. This allowed for a very comfortable and different kind of viewing experience from what one might be used to in a museum. Black Sun dealt with issues such as teen angst, being a teenage girl, and the suburban lifestyle.
©2005 Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York
|
![[ Youth 2 Youth ]](../images/inner_template/inside_logo.gif){kind=logo}
