PREVIEW: Barbara Stauffacher Solomon-Exits Exist
Barbara Stauffacher Solomon has been a Renaissance person for decades, adeptly defying labels – be it artist or graphic designer, or standing alone on her creative merit as a person, not as a “woman.” Stauffacher Solomon has led a rich 20th-century life; its twists and turns have been a constant, dynamic play between experiences feeding her creative process, and her creative process defining new experiences.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: The Graham Foundation Archive
The exhibition “Exits Exist” by Barbara Stauffacher Solomon features site-specific super-graphics for the Graham Foundation’s Madlener House, and is accompanied by a selection of works on paper, a new series of sculptures, and artist’s books she has made over the last decade. “Exits Exist” is the title of the first chapter of Solomon’s experimental autobiography. She begins the story of her life with her move to Switzerland to study design with Armin Hoffman at the Basel School of Design in the 1950. She began her nearly 70-year exploration of letterforms. Armed with the rules of Swiss graphic design, Solomon went on to break them as she combined her training as a dancer and painter, with her study of architec-ture to establish her own oeuvre. From her work on 8 ½ x 11 inch sheets of paper, to the pioneering supergraphics at The Sea Ranch in the 1960s, Solomon shifts in scale from the page to the wall—to make, as she says, the invisible visible. Here, in the former living room and music room, on the first floor, the bold, hard-edged abstracted letters of black and vermillion painted on the walls proclaim, “EXITS EXIST.” She manipulates the bare white expanse of the walls for her compo-sition to completely transform the 1902 interiors of the Prairie style mansion. On the second floor, the letterforms envelop the viewer—from the walls to the ceilings—and extend out into the space in a new series of three-dimensional objects. If the supergraphics are punctuated with empty space, the works on paper, also on the second floor, fill space with complex grids and collage in “an infinite collection of infinite collages.” Her penchant for wordplay and graphic invention is in full force throughout the exhibition, including artist’s books on display in the bookshop, such as Utopia Myopia, with the subtitle: 36 Plays on a Page, Typography & Pornography, Lines & Lies & Clues to Use, Nonsense Invents Events, A Kind of Novel Novel. Originally planned for the spring of 2020, the exhibition was realized through Barbara Stauffacher Solomon’s Graham Foundation Fellowship—a program that provides support for the development and production of original and challenging works and the opportunity to present these projects in an exhibition at the Graham’s galleries in Chicago. The Fellowship program extends the legacy of the Foundation’s first awards, made in 1957, and continues the tradition of support to individuals to explore innovative perspectives on spatial practices in design culture. The presentation also reengages with research that Solomon received support for in 1993, when she was first awarded a grant from the Graham Foundation for her work.
Photo: Barbara Stauffacher Solomon, Exits Exist, installation view, The Graham Foundation-Chicago, 2020, Courtesy The Graham Foundation
Info: Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, Madlener House, 4 West Burton Place, Chicago, IL, USA, Duration: 25/2-9/7/2023, Days & Hours: Wed-Sat 12:00-17:00, http://grahamfoundation.org/
