Renowned curator speaks about art exhibits at Roski


Photo courtesy of Dan Cameron Perfect canvas · Art curator Dan Cameron spoke at the USC Roski School of the Art and Design about the wide variety of exhibits he spearheaded. Many were inspired by Spanish and Latin American artists.

Photo courtesy of Dan Cameron
Perfect canvas · Art curator Dan Cameron spoke at the USC Roski School of the Art and Design about the wide variety of exhibits he spearheaded. Many were inspired by Spanish and Latin American artists.

Esteemed art curator Dan Cameron visited the USC Roski School of the Art and Design Tuesday evening to speak about the myriad of different exhibits he planned over the years. Cameron, a native New Yorker, has worked at U.S. and international museums to create unique, versatile collections.

Cameron began by discussing how exhibits, unlike many other art forms, are ephemeral by comparing them to fruit.

“The fruits of our labor, are well, like fruit,” Cameron said.

He said that it was important for him to make sure that his exhibits were as useful as possible. He strives to send a message and change the world with his collections.

Cameron has stuck to that philosophy since the beginning of his career in 1982 with his first exhibit, “Extended Sensibilities,” which focused on gay and lesbian sensibilities in contemporary art. Though controversial, the exhibit helped Cameron establish a name in the art industry.

“This was a time when no one wanted to talk about sexual identity,” Cameron said.

His next big project, “Art and Its Double,” was displayed in Madrid in 1986 at La Caixa. This was Cameron’s  first large international exhibit during a period when Spain was going through a political and cultural transition. As the dictatorship of Francisc Franco came to a close, the art in Spain changed from neo-expressionist and graffiti to a more conceptual, Art Pop style. Cameron brought the newest American art developments to Spain, and the exhibit was very popular for the year that it ran.

He was inspired by Spanish and Latin American artists after working with Felix Gonzalez-Torres, a renowned Cuban visual artist, in 1991. Cameron claimed that American art was “too limited” and that his time in Spain allowed him to view very different kinds of art that had not yet diffused to the United States.

His time with Gonzales-Torres helped him foment ideas for his next exhibit “Cocido y Crudo” in Madrid in 1994. This exhibit featured the work of Jimmie Durham, an exiled Cherokee whose work, “Self Portrait”, was a reflection of the American treatment of Native Americans and Xu Bing’s “Book From the Sky,” a collection of books full of Mandarin-looking characters that were actually meaningless.

After spending nearly a decade in Spain, Cameron returned to the United States to the New Museum of Contemporary Art. He wanted to create a collection that no other large New York museum had done yet by bringing back the important artists from the sixties and seventies. This included Faith Ringgold, who combined painting and quilt making in her piece “Dancing at the Louvre,” and David Wojnarowicz’s “Fever,” a collection of pieces that protested the homophobia of the Catholic church. 

From 2002 to 2011, Cameron worked on several projects. In the United States, he was the senior curator for the New Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Internationally, he designed the political exhibit “Poetic Justice” in Istanbul in 2003 before the advent of the Iraq War.

His next major endeavor, Prospect 1, has been very impactful. During the Hurricane Katrina cleanup in New Orleans in 2007, Cameron wanted to start the cultural rebuilding of the city. He knew that trying to rebuild from what was once there would not be enough.

“You have to bring collections, you have to bring artists, you have to bring curators,” he said.

He raised $4.5 million to use for the exhibit that has since then had a $25 million impact on the city. Though Cameron resigned from Prospect 1 in 2011, the project had a massive influence of the art culture of New Orleans.

Currently, Cameron is working on two exhibits in South America. The first XIII Biennial de Cuenca in Ecuador will open in late October. It features the theme of impermanence in art and includes pieces made of flimsy mediums such as cardboard and even an installation made from human hair.

The second project, titled “The Surroundings,” will take place on the small Chilean island Chiloe. Cameron is hoping that this exhibit will help develop the infrastructure of this economically devastated area.

This collection will open to the public in 2018. Cameron continues to ensure that his exhibits make a statement and has yet again shown how art can have an incredible impact on society.