Always Being Relation: 50 Years of the Gallery at the CFA
Tuesday, January 30 – Sunday, March 3, 2024

Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery
283 Washington Terrace, Middletown, Connecticut

There is a tradition at the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery of celebrating anniversaries with exhibitions that reflect on the legacy of Wesleyan alumni artists. For "Always Being Relation," the gallery’s 50th anniversary exhibition, the notion of "alumni” expands beyond its conventional definition of University graduates, putting in dialogue work by artists who studied at Wesleyan with visiting artists who have exhibited in the gallery since its opening in 1973.

The title of the exhibition is a quote from Gertrude Stein’s "Lectures in America" (1935). In her talk “Plays,” Stein speaks about the function of relationality within landscape in the theater. Even without moving, the individual aspects of the landscape are always in relation to one another, “the trees to the hills the hills to the fields the trees to each other.” In Stein’s treatment everything is contingent except for the presence of relationality itself.

For the past 50 years, the gallery has presented the works of both students and visiting artists. Though these exhibitions are usually not at the same time, they have always been in relation. This exhibition will bring both together amidst ephemera and images from the gallery’s archives, examining the multifarious histories of the space and its role in bringing contemporary art into conversation with the liberal arts at Wesleyan for the last five decades.

Although it is not an exhaustive survey, the exhibition helps us to consider many different narratives that have transpired or are transpiring in the gallery, looking at how relationships between the gallery’s walls and the artists/artworks presented within them have formed. As Stein put it, “the story is only of importance if you like to tell or like to hear a story but the relation is there anyway.”

Artists include Janet Biggs, Daniel Buren, Julien Creuzet, Anthony Discenza ’90, Vincent Fecteau ’92, Tony Feher, Ariadne Fish, Renée Green ’81, Salim Green ’20, Lyle Ashton Harris ’88, Rachel Harrison ’89, Elana Herzog, Dana Hoey ’89, Kahlil Robert Irving, Karrabing Film Collective, Sol LeWitt, Glenn Ligon ’82, Hon. ’12, Alvin Lucier, Melissa Marks ’87, P ’23, Nick Raffel, Cameron Rowland ’11, Fred Sandback, Aki Sasamoto ’04, Beverly Semmes, Cindy Sherman, Diane Simpson, Jessica Stockholder, virgil b/g taylor ’15, Franz Erhard Walther, Andrew Witkin ’00, and Carrie Yamaoka ’79.

Curated by Associate Director of Visual Arts Benjamin Chaffee ’00, with Exhibitions Manager Rosemary Lennox. Special thanks to 2023 Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery Exhibitions Interns Madeleine Levinsohn ’23 and Emmett Levy ’24.

Read "CFA Exhibit Celebrates 50 Years of History" in The Wesleyan Connection

Andrew Witkin with Agnes Martin, Alicia Mihai Gazcue, Alissa Farber, Allan McCollum, Alvin Lucier, Amy Baker Sandback, Amy Witkin, Ana Tiscornia, Andrea Anastasio, Andrea Pitsch, Arthur Miller, Athena Kirk, Barbara Krakow, Ben Chaffee, Beth Kantrowitz, Beverly Bernson, Bill Callahan, Bill Jacobson, Bill Lassiter, Bo Jackson, Bob Monk, Bob White, Brendan Greaves, Brian Buckley, Brian Zink, Bronlyn Jones, Carl Andre, Cary Leibowitz, Ceal Floyer, Charles Mingus, Charmaine Wheatley, Constantin Brancusi, Daiki Suzuki, Damon Krukowski, Daniel Scholnick, David Gray, David Marks, David Cleaton-Roberts, David X. Levine, Dick Albright, Dina Deitsch, Dottie Witkin, Douglas Weathersby, Ed Ruscha, Elaine Sturtevant, Ellen Berkman, Erwin Heerich, F. Carlo Schmid, George Adams, Giovanni Anselmo, Giuseppe Penone, Hanne Darboven, Hans Memling, Herman Melville, Hiram Butler, Holly Getch Clarke, Jacopo Tintoretto, Jay Glushien, Jean-Yves Noblet, Jeff Bergman, Jen Mergel, Jenny Winkworth, Jeremy Ziemann, Jerry Wapner, Jerry Wexler, Jess Rosner, Jill Slossburg-Ackerman, Jim Harris, Joe Salonis, Joe Scanlan, John Cage, John Dewey, John Hanlin, John Kirk, John Kramer, John O’Neal, John Paoletti, John Stuart Gordon, Jordan Rosenblum, Josh Pazda, Judith Butler, Kaatje Cusse, Karen Nelson, Kate Shepherd, Kay Rosen, Kenneth Goldsmith, Kevin Garnett, Kimon Kirk, Klaus Ottmann, La Monte Young, Lara Cocken, Laurie Parsons, Leah Witkin, Lee Mingwei, Leslie Paoletti, Lila Kanner, Liliana Porter, Lisa Krakow, Lisa Theorle, Lisa Young, Luis Croquer, Marcel Broodthaers, Marcel Duchamp, Marsha Ginsberg, Martha Rosler, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Mary O’Grady, Masako Glushien, Mason Williams, Merce Cunningham, Micah Lexier, Michael Asher, Michael Bernstein, Michelangelo Antonioni, Michelle Fornabai, Mike Glier, Milton Kornfeld, Naomi Yang, Natalia Valeria Porter Bolland, Natasha Bernstein, Nina Felshin, Otomo Yoshihide, Paula Soares, Peter Ballantine, Peter Downsbrough, Peter Gidal, Peter Kaye, Peter Nesbett, Pieranna Cavalchini, Puffin D’Oench, Quincy Jones, Rachael Arauz, Randy Hopkins, Rebecca Solnit, Rei Kawakubo, Rob Alexander, Robert Barry, Robert Bauer, Robert Feldman, Robert Huot, Robert Lax, Robert Mangold, Robert Ryman, Robin Waart, Roger Conover, Ryan Cross, Samantha Topol, Sarah Baker, Shelly Bancroft, Simon Lince, Skyela Heitz, Sol LeWitt, Stephanie Theodore, Stephen Prina, Steve Lubar, Steve Reich, Susan Stoops, Susanna Singer, Sylvia Plimack Mangold, Tatyana Gubash, Terry Albright, Tim Albright, Tony Cokes, Tony Feher, Topher Cox, Walter Payton, Will Oldham, Yosef Glushien, and Yves Klein, among others

untitled 1969—, 2004—
Particularly arranged, commercially available long-playing vinyl records of Mason Williams’ “Music” as released, beginning in 1969, as printed, sold, and resold. With record sleeves, covers and various protection, as purchased “as is”.
Installation dimensions are variable, this presentation is 12 1/2 x 150 1/2 x 2 inches