Curated by Hou Hanru, Julio Cesar Morales, and Mary Ellyn Johnson
March 9–April 21, 2012
Opening:
March 8, 5:30–7:30pm
Campus-wide celebration:
March 8, 7:30pm–midnight
Walter and McBean Galleries
San Francisco Art Institute
800 Chestnut Street
San Francisco, CA 94133
The San Francisco Art Institute is proud to announce Living in Studio Kuchar, a new exhibition that celebrates the inimitable genius of late independent film legend and SFAI faculty member George Kuchar, who died in September 2011.
Coinciding with the exhibition is a campus-wide special event on March 8 featuring lectures, tributes, and film screenings. The program welcomes many of Kuchar’s former students, colleagues, and fans, including Lynn Hershman Leeson, Jennifer Kroot, Christopher Coppola, B. Ruby Rich, and his twin brother and early collaborator Mike Kuchar.
Kuchar’s wildly original vision—tawdry yet tender, perversely humorous, and deeply personal—fueled a body of work spanning more than 200 films and videos, as well as paintings, drawings, comics, and writing. Beloved by generations of students, Kuchar had taught at the San Francisco Art Institute since 1971, where he and his students in the courses “AC/DC Psychotronic Teleplays” and “Electro-graphic Sinema” made melodrama parodies with minuscule budgets and remarkable spirit.
Living in Studio Kuchar situates Kuchar’s work in the specific locale and community of SFAI, which for four decades served as a site of experimentation and collaboration. The exhibition will transform the galleries into an active experience for audiences: installations will reproduce Kuchar’s home studio, and there will be a self-serve VHS tape viewing area, a listening station of soundtrack records from Kuchar’s collection, and an interactive filmmaking space where visitors are invited to use costumes and props to make their own Kuchar-esque films.
Other works on view include seminal films such as Hold Me While I’m Naked (1966), ranked as one of the 100 Best Films of the 20th Century by the Village Voice; class films made with SFAI students; and selections from the long-running “Weather Diaries” project (including Hot Spell, the last video Kuchar completed before his death). The exhibition will also feature videos by local and international artists—John Waters, Todd Solondz, Lisa Blatt, Miguel Calderon, Tim Sullivan, and Nao Bustamante, among others—that focus on Kuchar’s influence and mentorship.
Kuchar’s work has been exhibited around the globe in cinemas, festivals, and major museums. Recent honors include the addition of his 1977 short film I, An Actress to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry and his selection for the 2012 Whitney Biennial, to be held March 1 through May 27, 2012 at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
San Francisco Art Institute
Founded in 1871, SFAI is one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious schools of higher education in contemporary art. Focusing on the interdependence of thinking, making, and learning, SFAI’s academic and public programs are dedicated to excellence and diversity.
For more information about SFAI, please visit www.sfai.edu or call 415.771.7020.
