Homage Claude van Lingen with Rebecca Marino, Jozef Winemiller, Laurel Brown, Chris Burch, Austin Nelsen, Vladimir Mejia, and Sean Gaulager
April 4th - 25th, 2020 Opening reception and first painting session: April 4th, 7-11pmPainting sessions occur sporadically during open hours on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays throughout the exhibition Closing reception and last painting session: April 25th, 5-7pm
Homage is a process-based exhibition conceived by South African artist, and long time Co-Labber, Claude van Lingen. Drawing upon historic traditions of durational performance, live painting, and collaborative art-making, Homage taps seven Co-Lab administrators/artists to participate in the process of repetitive mark-making and meditative contemplation commonly found throughout the arduous works of van Lingen. Often utilizing mediums such as gel medium thickened pigments, charcoal, and graphite Claude composes meticulously layered memorials to the most significant subjects, events, and people affecting his life and our world. Extending this process through collaboration with our team cements Claude’s legacy through our hands and further fulfills his lifelong fascination with the passage of time and its effects on art, society, and human beings.
During open hours eight artists will contribute layers to eight paintings over the duration of the exhibition. The resulting collaborative works will be auctioned to benefit our programs, artists, and development plans. Homage serves as both a passing of the artistic torch from one generation to another and a display of the mutual admiration, respect, and appreciation shared between Co-Lab Projects and Claude van Lingen.
“I see the final works made during Homage as a manifestation of the tremendous contribution Co-Lab has made to not only the Austin art community but Austin as a whole.” - Claude van Lingen
Claude van Lingen was born in Vereeniging, South Africa in 1931 and has been producing works of art since 1945. He attended Johannesburg College of Art, Academi Notre-Dame des Champs (Paris), and Pratt Institute (NYC) where he received his MFA. Claude's artwork can be found in the collections of the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, TX as well as museums in South Africa, such as the Johannesburg Art Gallery, and the Durban Art Gallery. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally including the 1975 Sáo Paulo Biennial, the National Museum in Johannesburg, John Weber Gallery (NYC), Public Image Gallery (NYC), White Box (NYC), as well as many galleries here in Texas including Cinnabar (San Antonio), Pump Project (Austin), Tiny Park (Austin), grayDUCK Gallery (Austin), and Northern-Southern (Austin). Claude has also spent his life educating multiple generations of artists starting at Dr. Malan High School in Meyerton, South Africa, then Johannesburg College of Art where he taught for 14 years. After relocating to the US he continued teaching at the School of Visual Arts (NYC) and most recently was an adjunct professor at Austin Community College. Claude was the recipient of the Austin Critics Table 2013-2014 Artist of the Year Award and the 2017-2018 Solo Exhibition of the Year Award for his retrospective “TIMEKEEPER” produced by Co-Lab Projects.
Rebecca Marino is a visual artist and curator who lives and works in Austin, Texas. Her artwork is primarily focused on cosmic perspective and has been featured in TX National, grayDUCK Gallery, Art Palace, MASS Gallery, Art Souterrain, Newfound Journal, and by the Humble Arts Foundation. Previously the Gallery Director for both Flex Space and Pump Project in Austin she is now the Associate Director for Texas State Galleries and the former co-editor and co-founder of Conflict of Interest, an online publication highlighting literature and visual art in Texas. Rebecca first met and befriended Claude while she was completing her BA at St. Edward’s University and volunteering as a bartender for nonprofit art spaces such as Pump Project and Co-Lab Projects. There she had the privilege of getting to know Claude as he indulged in many glasses of fine wine and one time even a shot block. While Gallery Director for Flex Space, Rebecca had the pleasure of showing Claude’s work in the Eye’s Got It! annual Group Hug!!! exhibition several times and has been an avid admirer of him and his work ever since.
Jozef Winemiller was born and raised in Austin, Texas. He became involved with the Austin art scene at a young age through mentorship with Chris Burch and the Advance Young Artists program at Arthouse, now The Contemporary Austin. Through his involvement in the program and Chris’ guidance, he started volunteering with Co-Lab Projects in 2011. While working with the organization in 2017 Jozef met and worked with Claude van Lingen on “TIMEKEEPER”, Claude’s vast retrospective at DEMO Gallery. Working to sort and pack the many drawings, sketches, and studies to develop the flat-file portion of the show Jozef got to learn about Claude’s early career and the range of work he produced over his lifetime. Jozef currently works in a number of fields including technical theater, art installation/handling, and construction. Interested in assemblage and refuse his artwork utilizes materials such as wood, concrete, metal, joint compound and various other found objects scavenged from construction sites and trash piles around Austin. Musically he creates experimental sound using pick-ups mounted to a bike wheel and can occasionally be found performing at Me-Mer-Mo. These various interests, skills, and desire to create a culturally inclusive atmosphere led him to open and operate a house gallery called Slantspace from 2018-2019, where he worked as the director and bartender. Jozef is currently involved in developing Mothership Studios, a studio and gallery complex in San Marcos, TX, slated to open in the summer of this year.
Laurel Brown is new to the Co-Lab team and is looking forward to getting to know Claude through working on this project. Originally from the Washington, D.C. area, she held positions at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden where she worked on the current exhibition Manifesto: Art x Agency and at Gallery Neptune & Brown. She recently moved to Austin to pursue a graduate degree in modern and contemporary Art History at UT. Laurel’s research focuses on how surveillance is shaped by and interacts with race and gender, and the relationships between technology and poetics. She completed her undergraduate degree at Barnard College, and worked during that time at La MaMa Galleria, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and Hemphill Fine Arts.
Chris Burch is a Director of Co-Lab Projects and a general scoundrel. He peddles whisky by day and when the opportunity arises makes objects that he and sometimes other people call art. He met Claude van Lingen in the early days of Co-Lab Projects and instantly fell in love with him. He first experienced Claude’s work at Co-Lab in 2011 during his exhibition marking 10 years since the attacks in New York on September 11th, 2001. He was silent and reflective and may have possibly wept. van Lingen’s work so impacted Burch that he vowed to get to know him better and possibly even become his friend. His favorite memories of Claude include a shot luge, all the warm hugs and conversations and the hours spent working with Claude to catalog his life in old photographs for van Lingen’s retrospective TIMEKEEPER at Co-Lab’s DEMO Gallery in 2017. He knew that Claude had lived an extraordinary life but never realized to what degree until that epic session of stories and images. Burch is proud to be called “BUDDY” every time he sees Claude and secretly appreciates when he chastises him for using foul language in “mixed company.” He has always considered Claude to be his “Art Grandfather” and is beyond honored to work beside him and so many other great friends for this show.
Austin Nelsen is the Director of Communication and Development at Co-Lab Projects. He is also a founding member of the curatorial design collective WARES, manages buildings and construction by day, and when time lends itself to such activities, creates conceptual objects and functional works of art. The first time he had the pleasure of meeting and working with Claude, albeit in an incredibly modest capacity, was for van Lingen's September 11th, 2011 "9/11 memorial installation". Nelsen was immediately taken by the scale and beauty of the work as well as the endurance and conceptual aspects of its creation. Claude's work and near omnipresence at shows and in the community were captivating for Nelsen, and this allure led to countless conversations of life, death, beauty, destruction, and clever limericks that remind you that both nothing and everything matter. Over the years Austin has appreciated a friendship with Claude that he believes rarely comes about more than once in a lifetime and is absolutely humbled to be working with him on a new body of work.
Vladimir Mejia is a Co-Lab Director and multi-discipline artist whose work while rooted in conceptual art attempts to incorporate elements that make his pieces relatable to both audiences versed in art history and those who may be unfamiliar with it. Using interaction, humor, abstraction and writing to tackle politics, race relations, generational divides and the ever-evolving relationship between people and technology. In 2013 a 21-year-old Vladimir was tasked with recording cable television programming for Claude's installation “1000 Years From Now, Now, Now, Now, Now…” at a time when American culture had become less attentive to political discourse. Claude installed many vertical mirrors in the Co-Lab Space while projecting a wide range of programming from news pundits debating the morality of Miley Cyrus to discussions about gun control. It is Claude's openness to the world around us that allows him to create relevant work at any given time in his career. Years later Vladimir was shocked to learn Claude worked as a designer for Scholastic and had a part in creating some of the most iconic covers etched in his mind from reading Goosebumps and Harry Potter books throughout his childhood.
Sean Gaulager met Claude and began to curate his work into exhibitions in 2006 when he relocated to Austin from NYC. Since that time Claude and Sean have worked closely on numerous projects as fellow artists, professional collaborators, and friends with a shared passion for art and politics. The two convene yearly to collaborate on Claude’s 1,000-year paintings which Sean is set to inherit when Claude concludes his work on them. Sean founded Co-Lab Projects in 2008 and currently serves as its Executive Director and Curator. As a co-founder of Pump Project Art Complex in 2005 and Cantanker Magazine in 2006, he has been closely involved with nonprofit art organizations and galleries for the last 15 years. During this span of time, he worked as the Assistant Director of Volitant Gallery, Assistant Preparator at The Contemporary Austin, and independently as a curator, consultant, technician, installer, and documentarian for countless other art organizations and private clients. Sean has served on committees and advisory boards such as the Texas Biennial, The Peoples Gallery at Austin City Hall, East Austin Arts, Conflict of Interest, and will be serving on the Admission Panel for Acre Residency (Chicago) in 2020.
