“Fun is something I really like,” says Stephen Hepworth, the new curator
for the University Art Gallery, recently recruited from London. “And fun is
hard work—it’s not easy to do.”
Hepworth put his sense of fun on display in January with “In the Beginning,” a show featuring artists who demonstrate “wit and play” in their work with text. Shuttered since 2006 for extensive renovation and reorganization, the gallery is once again aligned with the Department of Visual Arts and will also now feature a year-round schedule of exhibitions.
“We’re very excited,” says Lesley Stern, who as chair of Visual Arts serves as the gallery’s director. “Once again the gallery will become a lively part of the University and of the larger San Diego-Tijuana-L.A. region.”
Hepworth was recruited, in part, for his international sensibilities. He has served as curator at London’s Jerwood Gallery and Bloomberg SPACE, and
as director of the large nonprofit The Tannery. At UC San Diego, he is planning five gallery exhibitions per year—three seven-week shows and one 10-week show, along with an annual four-week showcase of graduating UCSD M.F.A. students. He also aims to program a number of art projects by invited artists, including outdoor murals, and deck chairs and flags.
“These things will happen throughout the year,” Hepworth says. “These will not be permanent, like the University’s amazing Stuart Collection. They will colonize the campus briefly and then disappear again.”
Before Hepworth turned his creativity to curating, he had been a successful artist (showing in such spaces as the Serpentine Gallery in London and the ICA in Amsterdam). Some of his curatorial philosophy seems to spring from those roots. In addition to having a new floor installed in the gallery, Hepworth has reconfigured the interior so that a passersby on Ridge Walk can get a peek at what’s inside.
“I want people to be able to drop in and experience the gallery,” Hepworth says. “Art is not just something that sits on the wall. It’s something you can interact with. You have to puncture art’s ‘aura’ a little or you can’t get closer to it.”
— Inga Kiderra
The University Art Gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information go to: universityartgallery.ucsd.edu or phone 858-534-2107
|
