The Artists
Participating Artists (chronological)
1. Shane Guffogg
2. Lisa Adams
3. Margaret Lazzari
4. Jim Morphesis
5. Alison Van Pelt
6. Matthew Thomas
7. John Scane
8. Michelle Weinstein
9. Vonn Sumner
10. Ruth Weisberg
11. Stanley Dorfman
12. Kim Kimbro
13. Charles Arnoldi
14. Ron Griffin
15. Doro Hofmann
16. Paul Ruscha
17. Randall Cabe
18. Rhea Carmi
19. Dan Lutzick
20. Daniel Peacock
21. Susan McDonnell
22. Lynn Hanson
23. Michael Andrew Rosenfeld
24. Bari Kumar
25. Juan Carlos Munoz Hernandez
26. Andy Moses
27. Tim Isham
28. Cheryl Ekstrom
29. Greg Colson
30. Alex Gross
31. Gary Panter
32. Justin Bower
33. Lita Albuquerque
34. Kim Abeles
35. Deborah Martin
36. Jeff Colson
37. Eddie Ruscha
38. Billy Al Bengston
39. Christopher Monger
40. Todd Williamson
41. Jimi Gleason
42. Mark Licari
43. Virginia Broersma
44. Bruce Richards
45. Rives Granade
46. Robert Williams
47. Cal Lane
48. Lisa Bartleson
49. Ed Ruscha
Exhibition Proposal
The Circle of Truth is a wholly unique “collaboration” of 49 contemporary artists, each sequestered and unknown to one another, working in absolute secrecy. Taking a full nine years from launch to fruition, The Circle is a modern, visual take on a common childhood schoolroom exercise, wherein a secret message was whispered from student to student. Often referred to as the Rumor Game, or Telephone, the activity was intended to illustrate what happens to the Truth when passed through the filter of 30 or so children. The message revealed by the last child almost never resembled what the original held.
In the case of the Circle of Truth, the “whispered” message was imbued in the first painting, which was then delivered, along with a blank canvas, to the second artist who was given no direction other than to find the Truth in it, respond to what they perceived, and create a work, using the blank canvas, that would go to the next artist, also unknown to them. And so it went, through 49 artists, 48 of whom were confronted with a work from an unknown artist and a blank canvas. Participants were encouraged to work outside of their normal, comfortable styles. Once their creations were complete, each was asked to write an essay about their experience.
What transpired over the course of the project – what Truths were explored and discovered, how the artists were affected – broadened the scope of the Circle of Truth from an interesting exploration of sensitivity and creativity, into an unexpected examination of what Truth means sociologically and spiritually.
The Art
The 49 works of art were created specifically for the Circle of Truth by 49 different and often disparate artists. Mostly oil paintings, all of the works measure 20 inches square by 2 inches deep, and will be wall hung in chronological order. Please refer to the book mock-up for visual representations of the works.
Addressing contemporary issues
The Circle of Truth project opens a dialog regarding the nature of what we consider Truth to be, and even whether we think it exists. Of course as intelligent beings we understand the potential of rumors and the inherent flaws of receiving and retransmitting information. But few give more than a shake of the head in response. The Circle of Truth allows the viewer to witness each and every change in the seed of Truth.
Which brings us back to the ultimate question, “What is Truth?” How do people in our society feel about their access to Truth? What is our responsibility to preserve Truth? Is Truth still important or even relevant? How does the subtle erosion of our confidence in Truth affect our sense of wellbeing? The exhibition touches on a need that resinates deeply in the human psyche – access to meaningful, truthful contact with others. This truthful contact is the secret ingredient in the Circle of Truth project.
Using paint and words the artists speak to the viewers candidly, providing a rare perspective into their experience and thought processes. The accompanying book, with it’s sequential layout and essays by the artists, will provide a lasting record that visitors can take home.
Accessible to all
Viewers of all ages, backgrounds, ethnicities and levels of education will be able to quickly understand and appreciate the meaning of the Circle of Truth. There are no prerequisites or any fundamental knowledge needed to appreciate and recognize Truth. The Circle relies simply on the viewers’ inherent human nature. The project provides many levels of interest, from superficial amusement, to existential explorations.
The scholarship of contemporary art and art history
The Circle of Truth project is a microcosm of contemporary art, encompassing many artistic styles. It pushes beyond the post-modernist era, where all styles are relevant – from hyper-realism, to pop, to pure abstraction with the myriad overlapping styles which reside between.
The Circle of Truth project is a nostalgic nod to the Exquisite Corpse game of the surrealists of the early 20th Century, where artists came together to collaborate on an unknown and unpredictable outcome. The Circle of Truth will be remembered as a moment when generosity, goodwill and courage came together to make something bigger than the individual, while inviting the viewer to be an integral part of the outcome.
Facilitating community interaction and collaboration through programming and partnerships
The topic of Truth and its importance in the context of modern human experience is especially meaningful. The Rumor Game can be employed in a variety of creative ways to foster immersive and participatory experiences in the community, schools and via social media.
We will develop and design printed materials to assist and encourage visitors to the Museum to play the Rumor Game in small groups.
Each of the 49 artists and the curators have a wealth of experiences to share about their time with the Circle of Truth project. We feel these experiences would translate well into interesting speaking events with some of the artists. Audiences would be asked to play the Rumor Game at the beginning of speaking events.
Exhibit marketing
There are a number of ways to promote this exhibition:
1. Through the concept of the exhibition, the subject of Truth in the human experience
2. Through the multiple styles and techniques used by 49 artists
3. Through the names of the more established artists in the project
4. Through social media and community versions of the Rumor Game
Exhibit installation
The 49 works of art will be wall hung in a straight forward manner. Each of the 49 works in the exhibition were created within the borders of 20x20 inch aluminum strainers that will be hung in chronological order. Some artists removed the linen canvas to create their contribution using the framework of the aluminum strainers, but most used the linen as the foundation of their work. The pieces are not heavy and do not require any special preparation to be installed.
The exhibition can be presented to the public, in one of two ways, depending upon budget:
1. The project will consume approximately 165 linear feet of space and could make use of an existing interior space in the museum. The 49 paintings would be hung in chronological order approximately 20 inches apart – ideally with excerpts from the artists’ essays on wall labels between the paintings.
2. Alternatively, the exhibit could be viewed in a circular structure. Architect Christoph Kapeller, best known for his work on Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the Library in Alexandria Egypt, has done preliminary drawings of an installation structure for the exhibition. We would like to work with the Venue to make this option a reality by securing sponsors to underwrite the cost of construction.
Shipping
Because the 49 works that make up the exhibition are relatively small and housed in Los Angeles, shipping expenses should be quite manageable.
The Exhibition Catalog
The hardbound, 130-page exhibition catalog will be printed and ready for the exhibition. We ask that the book be made available to visitors in the venue’s bookstore, if applicable.
Our Sponsors
We are very grateful to the sponsors who supported our project from the onset. We will need to make sure their support is recognized in some way, though we will be looking to the venue for guidance as to the appropriate ways to do so.
1. The Lucius Hudson Company provided the 49 linen canvases
2. Enigma | LA provided the design of the book
3. Art Works Fine Art Publishing provided all of the digital capture of the art
4. Curatorial Assistance provided the shipping crate that was used to ship the art to
and from each artist’s studio
Participating Artists (chronological)
1. Shane Guffogg
2. Lisa Adams
3. Margaret Lazzari
4. Jim Morphesis
5. Alison Van Pelt
6. Matthew Thomas
7. John Scane
8. Michelle Weinstein
9. Vonn Sumner
10. Ruth Weisberg
11. Stanley Dorfman
12. Kim Kimbro
13. Charles Arnoldi
14. Ron Griffin
15. Doro Hofmann
16. Paul Ruscha
17. Randall Cabe
18. Rhea Carmi
19. Dan Lutzick
20. Daniel Peacock
21. Susan McDonnell
22. Lynn Hanson
23. Michael Rosenfeld
24. Bari Kumar
25. Juan Carlos Munoz Hernandez
26. Andy Moses
27. Tim Isham
28. Cheryl Ekstrom
29. Greg Colson
30. Alex Gross
31. Gary Panter
32. Justin Bower
33. Lita Albuquerque
34. Kim Abeles
35. Deborah Martin
36. Jeff Colson
37. Eddie Ruscha
38. Billy Al Bengston
39. Christopher Monger
40. Todd Williamson
41. Jimi Gleason
42. Mark Licari
43. Virginia Broersma
44. Bruce Richards
45. Rives Granade
46. Robert Williams
47. Cal Lane
48. Lisa Bartleson
49. Ed Ruscha
Contact
Laura Hipke
818 468-7863 | laura@hipkes.com
The contents of this proposal are proprietary, confidential, and intended solely for the recipient. The descriptions, specifications and details of this document, and the Circle of Truth concept, may not be divulged or shared with third parties without the express, written consent of Laura Hipke and Shane Guffogg.
©2017 Laura Hipke & Shane Guffogg. All rights reserved.
The Circle of Truth trademark and name are the property of Laura Hipke & Shane Guffogg.
Sizes & Specifications
Exhibit installation
The 49 works of art will be wall hung in a straight forward manner. Each of the 49 works in the exhibition were created within the borders of 20x20 inch aluminum strainers that will be hung in chronological order. Some artists removed the linen canvas to create their contribution using the framework of the aluminum strainers, but most used the linen as the foundation of their work. The pieces are not heavy and do not require any special preparation to be installed.
The exhibition can be presented to the public, in one of two ways, depending upon budget:
1. The project will consume approximately 165 linear feet of space and could make use of an existing interior space in the museum. The 49 paintings would be hung in chronological order approximately 20 inches apart – ideally with excerpts from the artists’ essays on wall labels between the paintings.
2. Alternatively, the exhibit could be viewed in a circular structure. Architect Christoph Kapeller, best known for his work on Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the Library in Alexandria Egypt, has done preliminary drawings of an installation structure for the exhibition. We would like to work with the Venue to make this option a reality by securing sponsors to underwrite the cost of construction.
Shipping
Because the 49 works that make up the exhibition are relatively small and housed in Los Angeles, shipping expenses should be quite manageable.
Exhibition Catalog
Randy's Hipke's brilliant design of the exhibition catalog devotes a full spread to each of the 49 artists. Most spreads include images of the visiting painting, the response painting and the artist's essay. The essays provide a rare gimps into the artist's experience and though process. The sequential lay out keeps the reader on track while the innovative "crawl" of paintings at the bottom of each page offers the reader quick reference and also context in the progression of the project.
Hardbound
8.5 X 11 inches
126 pages
$49.95
Support the exhibition and receive a 10% discount when you buy the catalog directly from us.
Enter code: RKYVCW
for your 10% discount
Catalog front cover - verso detail photo of Shane Guffogg’s painting
Catalog back cover - verso detail photo of Ed Ruscha’s painting
Circle of Truth catalog “crawl”
Instructions Given to the Artists
Artist Instructions & Description
Truth — Most people have their own idea of what truth or “the truth” is. People might argue that truth itself doesn’t change, but what people perceive as truth can change. Sharing one’s perception of the truth may change it even further. Even a person who does not mean to change it may unconsciously affect the way others receive their message. Now add to this equation the filter of biases and life experience through which the truth must pass when being received by another person and it is little wonder why truth is such an illusive target.
This artistic exploration of truth is not that different from a game some of us played in school, where a whispered story made its way around the classroom. By the time the story made it to the last person it had evolved, sometimes containing nothing of the original message.
The catalyst for the Circle of Truth will be kept secret until the show opens. The process will begin with the first artist in the Circle receiving the catalyst. He or she will take some time to reflect upon their personal visualization. They will then attempt to convey this truth in their painting. The painted canvas will then be passed on to the next artist in the Circle along with a blank canvas. The second artist will then spend some period of time contemplating and absorbing the truth they see in the painting by the previous artist, and will endeavor to convey that truth in their painting to the next artist in the Circle . And so it continues, each artist only having access to the painting of the immediately preceding artist, without benefit of any verbal dialog to help them interpret what they are seeing. Paint and intuition will be their only tools. Seeking truth within the painting and within themselves will be their challenge.
There will be forty-nine artists participating in the Circle of Truth . Each artist will receive a 20 x 20 inch linen canvas on which to make their contribution. We ask each artist to respond honestly to what they see in the painting they are presented. This is not a time for an artist to make another painting for which they are known. Our hope is that in the end viewers will see the seeds of truth being conveyed and evolving as the paintings are passed from one artist to the next – experiencing the bond the artists share as caretakers of the truest form of dialog between artist and viewer. It’s a dialog that reaches deeper than words, as each person in the Circle becomes both viewer and artist.
Each artist will have two weeks to complete his or her part of the Circle . There are only fifty-two weeks in a year and with forty-nine artists in the Circle time starts to be an important aspect of this project. Each artist must adhere to this schedule. If an artist is not able to work on their painting during the two weeks it is scheduled to be in their studio, then it will go to the next available artist in the Circle and the artist who was skipped may be put back in line later. Of course each artist will be given a rough idea of when the project will be coming to their studio and as that date draws near we will keep everyone abreast of the schedule. The project will take roughly three years to complete.
As the Circle makes its way through each of the forty-nine studios, the completed paintings will be numbered and stored until the show opens. When the show opens the paintings will be hung in the order in which they were painted. Only then will the artists know the identity of the other artists and be able to share their experiences with one another. This should make for a unique and compelling catalog, as well as a lively panel discussion.
S P E C I A L I N S T R U C T I O N S
We will pick up both paintings from you on at a time to be arranged. If you finish your painting before this date please contact us and we will pick it up and deliver it to the next artist in the Circle. This will allow us to complete the project and schedule the exhibition at an earlier date.
-DO NOT SIGN THE CANVAS-
In order to conceal your identity from the next artist in the Circle please do not sign your painting. The curators are planning an event at the opening of the exhibition where all the participating artists will have an opportunity to sign their paintings.
-WRITE AN ESSAY-
After you have finished your painting please write an essay about your experience. (What was your starting point? What did you feel was being conveyed in the previous artist’s painting? What were your revelations, struggles etc.?) We may use the artists’ essays in the show catalog. When you are finished with your essay email it to laura@hipkes.com (Word document preferred).
Laura Hipke Essay
THE ARC
The Circle of Truth project is a nostalgic nod to the Exquisite Corpse game of the surrealists of the early 20th Century, where artists came together to collaborate on an unknown and unpredictable outcome. The Circle of Truth will be remembered as a moment when generosity, goodwill and courage came together to make something bigger than the individual, while inviting the viewer to be an integral part of the outcome.
________
I never imagined that the Circle of Truth would take nine years to complete. There are so many moments that come to mind, I hardly know where to start. But if I had only one thing that I could talk about, it would be how much I admire and respect the artists who took up the challenge of this project. They were willing to work completely in the dark – knowing nothing about the “visiting painting,” knowing nothing about the artist who painted it, or why it had been painted. But they realized that the success of their work would be judged by the truth they were able to call on within themselves. That moment of risk and inner challenge, the dialog that occurs between the work and the artist when everyone else leaves the room, is the secret ingredient. The truth of each artist’s effort cannot be hidden. And so, in the end, it is the courage and willingness of these 49 artists that has made this project so remarkable.
The Circle of Truth is, at first glance, a take-off on a childhood game that demonstrates how rumors develop – an amusing idea for sure, but for my co-curator, Shane Guffogg, and me it was more than just a look at rumors. From its inception, the Circle of Truth was a vehicle to try to corner truth – a way to trap it on canvas in hopes of getting a better look at it. A rumor might seem to be at the opposite end of the spectrum from truth, but they are not strangers. Most rumors start out as truth. Once truth is handed from one to the next, it is gradually transformed into a rumor. When you look at the Circle of Truth project I would argue that the rumor never develops. The Circle of Truth started with the very essence of truth, Shane Guffogg’s Truth painting, #1 in the Circle. If you read what Shane wrote about his painting, you will quickly see that he infused truth into every molecule of his contribution – the Golden Mean, that magic equation, upon which everything in the universe is based. It is there for all to see in his painting, but Lisa Adams, #2 in the Circle, picked up on something different. Perhaps Lisa did not notice the Golden Ratio, hovering quietly just below the veils in Shane’s offering, but what Lisa gathered from his painting was the absolute truth. It was her truth. And so in Lisa’s painting, truth was not transformed into a rumor, it was transformed into another, absolute truth.
Another great example is Stanley Dorfman’s contribution (#11). He responded to a painting by Ruth Weisberg. Ruth painted a truth that resonates deeply in her. But Stanley rejected that truth and painted truth as he sees it – as he believes it – a well-reasoned and heartfelt truth. In that way he did not paint a rumor either. He transformed the message into truth from a different perspective. As we stand back and look at these contributions we can see that they are valid in their own right, which gives rise to the question, “What is truth?” Perhaps truth is not something that can ever really be cornered or trapped. Perhaps truth is simply what we believe to be true.
I have puzzled over the subject of truth for many years. Much of my work contains a question about truth, as if asking the question might someday return an answer. The Circle of Truth project started as one of those questions. Truth itself is a complex idea that can be contemplated every day for the rest of one’s life without exhausting all of its many facets. Does truth exist? If it does exist, who decides what truth is? Is it us, or does our concept of truth rely on the fulcrum of an omniscient being? In my childhood I was given to believe that God would judge all – that God sees all, knows all. I found comfort in this idea, but as I grew so did the questions about truth. Is truth an inalterable constant, or is it subjective? I had always reasoned that truth was a constant and could not be changed. It could be concealed or dressed up, but underneath it would remain unchanged. My husband, Randy, has always argued that truth is subjective – that it is different depending on who you are, and when and where you live. Both sides of the argument seem to be true. Clearly more pieces of the puzzle were needed.
The Circle of Truth is a simple concept. It’s based on a lesson from grammar school. Some people know it as the Telephone Game. In my grade school, our teacher called it a Rumor Circle. Her intent was to teach us not to believe stories we heard on the playground, hopefully causing us to question what we believed to be true. In this exercise we sat in a large circle in the middle of the room. The teacher whispered a story into the ear of the student to her right. That student whispered the story into the ear of the student sitting to his right and so on. The story went around the room, whispered from one student to the next, until finally the last student in the circle told the story he heard out loud. Of course that account was completely different from the story that had been whispered into my ear. It captured my imagination completely, but the thing I longed for, was to know how the story had evolved. I wanted to understand how and where each change to the story had occurred. Afterward, I was able to collect bits and pieces of what the other students heard but it was not enough to give me the whole picture, or to quiet the angst that had been stirred in me.
For years after that day I would lay on my bed and puzzle over how the story could have changed so completely. I began to wonder about truth as a concept. Of course, I understood that what people told me might not be true, but the rumor circle had awakened something in me. I realized that I could explore truth as a subject.
As the years passed, I contemplated the Rumor Circle on a much larger scale. I wondered about history, the Bible, or other ancient stories. How had the narratives that shape our societies and belief systems evolved as they were whispered from one generation to the next? Once this question made its way into my consciousness, how could I be sure of anything? I concluded that inner truth was the only truth that really mattered. My work as an artist began to change. Inner truth became the focus of my explorations, and with each painting I was rewarded with another piece of the puzzle. I came to understand that inner truth is the single most important element in art. I looked for it in the work of other artists, and gathered around me the ones that I could see were investigating the same things. I wondered what would happen if a visual rumor circle was executed by the artists I admired. What truths would become visible? A circle of artists “whispering” a painted truth – a “Circle of Truth.”
________
I came to Pharmaka in 2005. Pharmaka was a painter’s group which also ran a non-profit museum/gallery from 2004-2009. The Pharmaka gallery was located on the corner of 5th and Main in downtown Los Angeles and was said to be the epicenter of the Downtown LA Art Walk. In 2007, Pharmaka was in need of exhibition ideas and I decided it was time to explore the Circle of Truth as an exhibition. I had never curated a show before, so I asked Vonn Sumner, one of Pharmaka’s founding members, to collaborate on the project with me. Vonn is wise and easygoing, with a wry sense of humor.
For the next year or so, we would meet and discuss the project. Vonn and I agreed on many things and made a number of decisions, but the one thing we could not agree on was the concept of Truth. Truth carries baggage with it, and Vonn felt that the “Rumor/Telephone Game” was a strong enough idea for an exhibition, and suggested that we drop “Truth” from the title. At first it didn’t seem like a big deal to come up with another name. But the more I tried, the more I came to appreciate how important the concept of truth was to me. I struggled to imagine the project without allowing truth to be part of the question. Vonn and I continued to work on the project, but the wind went out of my sails and progress was slow. Then, in February of 2009, Vonn announced that he would be moving to Pennsylvania with his family. His leaving put an end to our partnership as co-curators of the project.
In March of 2009, I asked Shane Guffogg to take up the project with me. Shane was also one of the founding members of Pharmaka, and in my mind, the driving force of the group and the gallery. Shane and I were on the same page in so many ways. He possesses a wonderful quality of accepting each day as it comes to him and his take on truth was exactly what I was looking for. From the start we decided to allow truth to be the guiding force of the project. At every crossroad, truth would be the compass.
I spent about three months putting together the sponsors, while Shane and I hammering out the remaining details of the project. We compiled a wishlist of both abstract and representational artists that we wanted in the Circle. It didn’t matter to us what type of work they did, or how big their careers were. We felt that inner truth was the most important element. As the project unfolded, we contacted them one-by-one. Initially, we were concerned that some artists might eschew the challenge and merely paint something that was within their comfort zone. We believed that if the artists didn’t respond honestly, that the project would not be true to its concept. But we came to appreciate that every contribution would possess its own truth. Viewers of the exhibition would be able to see which artists gave an honest effort and which ones did not. In that way truth would add yet another layer to the project. So we vowed to take a “hands-off” approach, resolving to accept whatever the artists did, no matter what.
It was decided early on to withhold the identity of the artists participating in the Circle of Truth. We wanted each artist to work in a vacuum and didn’t want the name of the previous artist to inform anyone’s response. The idea was to “sneak up” on the innocence of every artist in the Circle, and not letting them know who painted their “visiting painting” would help a great deal. The art community is surprisingly small and we realized that keeping the project a secret would be especially challenging. To ensure that no word leaked out, we asked that no one sign their painting or talk about the details of their experience.
We crafted a uniform set of instructions that accompanied the project to each artist’s studio. Just as with the Rumor Circle of my childhood, each artist would receive a “whispered” truth in what we termed the “visiting painting,” created by the previous artist. Each artist would then have to determine for themselves what truth it possessed, interpret it and imbed the seed onto the blank canvas that we provided them. Once their piece was complete, we asked each artist to write an essay about their experience.
The last order of business was to try to figure out how to begin the project. What would be the catalyst for the first painting? The initial painting would set the tone for the entire project. Shane suggested that I paint it, but I felt that given the importance of the first painting, Shane’s beautiful work and thought process would be the ideal beginning. So we decided that Shane would create the first painting, and that I would decide what he would respond to. From the beginning of our collaboration, truth was the question, the guiding force and the motivation for the project, and I realized that we had been staring at the catalyst the whole time – Truth. So, Shane got to work, quietly gathering his thoughts, and after several weeks of collecting scattered pieces of the universe, he finally called me to come and see his painting. It was the first big thrill of the project. Shane’s Truth painting, #1 in the Circle, was different than anything I had imagined (an experience that was to repeat itself many times over the course of the project). It was beautiful, filled with thought and meaning, the perfect beginning for our project.
We were ready at last to release the project “into the wild.” Lisa Adams was the first artist to receive the project, and her painting holds a special place in my heart. Delivering the crisp white shipping crate to Lisa marked the moment when the project no longer belonged to Shane and me. It was the moment when we let go and waited to see what would happen. Margaret Lazarri came after Lisa, and by the time we got to Jim Morphesis (#4), the project was already more amazing than we could have imagined. But the most surprising part of the early results was how powerful the essays were. The artists were earnest and candid in what they shared. The essays provide a rare look inside the studios and thought processes of these unique and private people.
We estimated that the project would take three years to complete but it didn’t take long for us to realize that our estimate was optimistic. The first sign of delay came early on. One artist had the project for a week and was making good progress when she received word that her mother had died suddenly. Not knowing how long it would take to settle her mother’s affairs, she suggested that we discard her unfinished contribution and start again with a different artist. It only took a minute for Shane and me to decide that the integrity of the project was more important than the schedule. We put the project on hold until she returned three months later. We found that delays were going to be an ongoing issue. Many of the artists on our wish list had busy exhibition schedules to work around. There were times when progress slowed to a snail’s pace, especially as we approached the end of the project and our list of artists began to narrow to the final few candidates.
Shane and I were committed to allowing the Circle to take its own course, saying as little as possible, and allowing each artist to struggle through whatever obstacles they encountered. Our laissez faire approach was put to the test midway through the project. One artist had the project for several days when he announced that he was unable to respond to the visiting painting. He asked Shane to come pick up the project and give it to someone else. Shane told him that whatever was on the canvas when we came to pick it up in two weeks would be his contribution, even if the canvas was blank. When we came to pick up the crate we were relieved to find that he had chosen not to return a blank canvas.
________
What I witnessed during the nine years we worked on this project has affected me so deeply that I cannot reconnect with what I did not know in the beginning. The bits and pieces of the experiences have found their way into every corner of my thinking and creative process. I do remember that when we launched the project we had no idea what would happen. So much of the outcome was outside of our control, but we were confident that what we were doing would reveal something wonderful – something we could not see without the participation of the other artists. We held on tightly to the framework of truth and the results demonstrate beautifully the effects that time, mortality and human intervention have on truth.
The Circle of Truth explores the effects of the human filter on the framework of truth, as well as the added pressures of time and mortality. Now maybe you are thinking, “Um, mortality…? How did mortality find its way into this project?” Mortality in this case is the moment when the project was taken away from one artist and given to the next. In our human experience, we are given a window of time, to live out our lives. During that time, we gather information, witness events and suffer the realities of flesh. Then we die, taking all that we know with us into silence. Only the seeds we planted or wounds we inflicted are left to speak for us. The same is true for each artist and their contribution to the Circle. Each had a measured amount of time to gather information from the previous artist’s work and then leave a mark behind for the next artist to decode.
When I talk about a framework of truth, I am not only talking about what we commonly believe to be true, I am also referring to a framework of truth that exists invisibly throughout societies. It informs our conscious and subconscious experiences of life – right and wrong, love, fashion and acceptance. Artists are especially tuned-in to the underlying currents of this truth. Most people can recognize trends once they see them, but artists are often the first to pull them from our subconscious and bring them to light. Truth, the elusive and abstract element that is the ruler by which we measure reality, is present and suspended for all to see in this project. It exists in a variety of layers, not only in the work of the artists, but also in what they have written and in the arc that is clearly visible between them. In addition, there are the truths that were not meant to be revealed. The viewer plays the most important role in the project. Whereas the artists worked in a bubble, knowing only what they could gather from the visiting painting, the viewer serves as the omniscient one – the keeper of truth and knowledge – judging each generation, seeing truth and or deception from a great distance.
The artists who took up the call of the Circle are unique, sage shamans and scribes. Individually, they were each charged with keeping and conveying truth – discovering, analyzing, conceptualizing, creating and passing it along. The Circle preserves their careful contemplation and concern for truth as they encountered it. This truth was subject to 49 wholly different voices. No artist, no matter their reputation, critical acclaim or popular success, was better than another. Each of the 49 was stripped of their trappings and comforts. Each was adrift and on their own, seeking sight of something that was familiar in the piece that confronted them. They were all equals, subject to the same doubts, fears and challenges of their charged tasks. The 49 seemingly imperceptible arcs, when juxtaposed to one another, trace a common curvature that is the Circle of Truth.
– Laura Hipke
Shane Guffogg Essay
TRUTH
That was a word disguised as a question, posing as a potential art exhibition that was presented to me in 2008, when I was captain of the ship for a place called Pharmaka. Pharmaka started as a group of painters getting together every Tuesday night to look at and discuss art, drink some beer, and have some pizza—all the while moaning about the all-elusive art world. Those moans became words that took the form of a statement that morphed into a manifesto. Once we had the manifesto, we needed a name, and settled on Pharmaka, which is Greek for “a poison or remedy,” but in ancient Greek also means “an artist’s colors.” As “painters,” we were all after that ever-elusive idea of truth in our work. We used the word in our manifesto multiple times, stating, “Painting has always served as a conduit between the artist’s need to express some inner truth and the audience’s ability to share in that truth.” We then went on to say, “Postmodernism teaches us that the idea of unassailable Truth (with a capital “T”) is untenable. But that only means if there is a “truth” to extol in the world of art, it is the truth of an honesty that can exist between the artist and the viewer, and between the artist and the medium. Thus, truth in art can have the luxury of not being preoccupied with the idea of a Truth for all people; rather, it can be defined by and exist in the moment of interaction between artist and artwork, and then between artwork and viewer.”
To finally drive the point home, we added, “The public has become more sensitive to this truth than ever. The relentless bombardment of media truths (advertising, news, images, and commentary from all sides) has so inured the public to media manipulation that scarcely anyone expects to find truth in the massage parlors of the media marketplace (or as Marshall McLuhan once wrote, “The media is the massage.” [pun intended]). When artists are not being “honest” to themselves or “true” to the medium, the media-savvy public takes little notice of their work.”
This quest for truth was the presetting of a stage in 2004 that would culminate in a curatorial adventure begun in 2008 and brought to a close finally in 2015.
Now back to a little more history. The Pharmaka group of painters opened a gallery space in downtown Los Angeles in December 2004, thus creating a meeting and exhibition space. Suddenly we had the daunting task of curating shows to keep things moving, fresh, and interesting for our growing audience. When we opened the doors for the first art walk, we had 12 people walk in, look around, and walk out. Two years later, we were getting 4,000 plus people walking in between 6 and 9 pm on the second Thursday of each month. We had an audience who was eager to see what we would do next, which meant we had pressure to produce meaningful exhibitions that would back up our original manifesto. It was the success we all hoped for—but if you are not careful, it can sweep you away and out to sea.
We were in need of exhibition ideas, and I was encouraging everyone in the group to step up onto this platform we had created and be heard and seen—in other words, curate a show. My plea for fresh ideas didn’t fall completely on deaf ears. One day, I received a call from Laura Hipke asking if I would be at the gallery that day because she had an idea for a show she wanted to pitch to me. I agreed and she gave me her pitch. Truth, what was it? Was it universal or personal? Was it definable and, if so, would we know it if we saw it? Is great art truth? Is bad art truth? What is it? She needed to know, and her need had led her to this moment of speaking her truth to me about her idea for an exhibition. She didn’t know how to go about putting it together or make it happen because she had never curated a show before. I had a little voice in my head telling me to suggest a more conventional show, but that would be too easy, and she was set on truth, so there it was: Truth. The word I had used so many times in the Pharmaka manifesto and spouted over and over while discussing art. Truth. An idea that was potentially on its way to becoming tangible.
I suggested she start writing down all her thoughts about truth and partner with one of the other artists who had curated a show and knew the necessary steps. She agreed and asked the painter Vonn Sumner to co-curate and they started the conversation about the whats and hows. It didn’t take long for them to work out the details of Laura’s idea; it would start with one artist painting a predetermined-size canvas, then giving that painting to the next artist, with their own canvas of the same size, and then having them respond to what they were seeing. The catch was they couldn’t know whom the artist was they were responding to. It was a visual game of Telephone. This idea was proposed to me, and I thought it had some potential, so I encouraged them to refine it and define the show from start to finish. Laura came in and measured the walls of the gallery, and calculated that, if she had 20"x20" canvases, and had them spaced a foot or so apart, there was room for 49 canvases, which translated to 49 artists. I agreed to the show, got out the calendar, and we tentatively penciled in a date.
Then, as if preordained, the first snag happened. Vonn was struggling with the idea that an art exhibit would or could define truth. On top of that, his wife had been offered a teaching job in Pennsylvania, and they would be moving soon, so he would have to bow out of the project. Laura came to me, quite upset over this change of course, but I told her to move forward with it on her own because, if she was that passionate about it, she must see it through. She seemed relieved by my words of encouragement and said she would indeed carry on.
But there was a storm brewing out over the horizon; few saw it coming nor could anyone predict the catastrophic damage it would cause. The day Lehman Brothers announced they were finished, the economic lifeblood of western civilization was suddenly poisoned with mercury, and the chance of life as usual was looking bleak. When the economy goes over a cliff at 100 miles an hour, the majority of the art world follows at 150 miles an hour. And that is indeed what happened, as galleries began closing because people stopped buying art. It started on the west side of Los Angeles, where the rents are highest, and started heading east like a tsunami, until it hit the corner of 5th and Main and I had to close the doors of Pharmaka in October of 2009.
But I digress. There was another key event that happened before the closing of Pharmaka, which was Laura asking for my help in contacting artists for her show, called The Circle of Truth by that time. I agreed, but realized if I was going to be attached to this project, then we had to really tighten it up and have a mission statement that would be our go-to place for any questions we might encounter. Laura agreed and I began by reading what she had, then writing my own draft of it, then giving it back to Laura and her husband Randy, and then back to me for a final okay. Then the real issue came up: who was going to be the first artist to kick this off? I assumed it would be Laura, since it was her project, but she was as resistant to that idea as a man getting into a filled bathtub with a plugged-in electric appliance sitting on the bottom of it. Her self-protecting intuitive mechanism kicked in and she politely said no.
A few names were tossed around but they weren’t sticking. Then Laura brought up a very good point: if I was going to participate, I wouldn’t be able to follow someone because I would know who they were, being part of the “which artists to choose committee.” She then smiled and her eyes got big and bright as if THE universal light switch had been turned on, and she looked at me and said that I should start it off. She spent the next few minutes arguing her case until I agreed I would be artist #1.
Suddenly, I was strapped with this task of defining, via paint on canvas, what my idea of truth was, and that idea could potentially set the tone for the entire project. I realized that this would require some soul-searching of my own, but I had a handful of other brush fires I was trying to stomp out. One was how and when to close Pharmaka, the next the end of my 14-year marriage, and, topping it off, a world economy that was hemorrhaging. At that place and time, truth with a capital “T” was living in another dimension.
From the start, the Circle of Truth was to be a microcosm of the ideas that Pharmaka embodied. A predominant idea was that art exhibitions would be judged on the art, not the names of the artists. This was the same approach used for choosing artists for the Circle of Truth. I knew we needed to have some known artists in the mix but just having who’s hot this month was not something I thought would make for an interesting exhibition. And who is to say whether someone who is unknown today might be a household name in 5 to 10 years, or vice versa.
In the beginning, I presumed this would be straightforward, and we would choose one artist to follow another, and follow the list that Laura and I had drawn up. But much to my surprise, some artists delivered works back to us I didn’t expect, causing an atomic-swerve of sorts.
Giving my painting to Lisa Adams was a mutual decision between Laura and myself. I had an idea that if we gave an abstract painting to a representational artist and vice versa, it would keep everyone slightly off balance and force him/her out of their comfort zone. What we got back from Lisa was a surprise, as I wasn’t expecting her to focus on the cascading veils in my painting. I assumed she would pick up on the white square in the upper left hand corner, and see that each square or rectangle decreased in size as it went out across the canvas. And I wrongly assumed she would recognize it as the visualization of the Golden Ratio, which is why I painted the cascading veils over them as a means to camouflage the true meaning.
But for Lisa, the veils were the “thing” that she couldn’t get past—her interpretation of translucent free-form lines became tightly measured bars hovering over snowflake-like patterns. It was the opposite of what I gave her, yet it was very similar—like half-siblings. We gave Lisa’s painting to Margaret Lazzari and she dismantled Lisa’s structured lines, pushing the paint towards a state that hovered between a loose figurative image and pure abstraction. We next gave Margaret’s painting to Jim Morphesis, who picked up on the figurative part and painted a skull, which was fascinating for me, since my painting was based on the ratio of the human face.
In short order, the original idea embedded in my painting became a subconscious undercurrent. As we progressed, this continued to happen over and over, with one painting informing the next without knowing its true origins. And that, I realized, was the key to what we were doing—creating a microcosm of what civilizations do over generations and decades, if not centuries. We forget where our language comes from, and, as an American that speaks primarily English, I think most people tend to think of English as its own thing. Actually it is a fusion of many different languages and cultures that span hundreds of years—all mashed together under one umbrella. The idea is this exhibition is the umbrella and all the art under it is the different ways people see, think, feel and respond to their environment.
Artists are usually thought to be more sensitive, aware, and questing for unanswerable questions that have the potential to give our lives a deeper meaning and purpose. As human beings, we are a continuous summation of our experiences, and the way we look often gives only small clues about what the impact of those experiences is. This exhibition breaks the facade open, giving us a glimpse, not only into what these artists saw and how they responded, but I think on a much deeper level, to a visual micro of the macro. It is a truth that is without an agenda, but instilled with a purpose.
– Shane Guffogg
June 14, 2014 Venice, Italy
Randy Hipke Forward
Truth. It’s a simple enough word – one syllable, five letters. Intuitively we think we know what it means, what truth is. Truth is the neighbor of reality, seemingly incontrovertible. But is truth really a constant? Is it universal? Does truth transcend time, place, culture, race or circumstance? Is your truth the same as my truth?
The dictionary describes truth as: 1. Conformity to fact or actuality. 2. A statement proven to be or accepted as true. 3. Sincerity; integrity. 4. Fidelity to an original or standard. 5a. Reality; actuality. 5b. That which is considered to be the supreme reality and to have the ultimate meaning and value of existence.
Conformity? Accepted? Reality? Who decides what is real, how truth is proven? Conformity makes truth sound more like quantified popular opinion than constant. Is it really truth that we uncover, or is it only our perception of truth that we see? It’s been said that a lie, repeated enough times, becomes the truth. Can we know the truth or are we limited to merely believe what is true? Can we trust truth?
Many of us experienced the elusiveness of truth when we played the rumor game, what some called telephone. In my case it was in Mrs. Pew’s second grade class. We sat in desks arranged in the customary neat rows, about 30 of us. Mrs. Pew whispered something into the ear of the student in the first seat of the front row. That truth was then to be conveyed to the person behind her, and the message zigzagged back and forth, up and down the rows to the last seat in the last row. That person then announced what they had heard from the one before them. When Mrs. Pew revealed to us what she had started around the room, it of course in no way had anything to do with how it ended up. We all laughed.
Mrs. Pew was trying to teach us a lesson, one I’m not sure that any of use knew the importance of – or perhaps even learned. I wondered how my teacher’s message had gotten so fouled up. Was it a case of mere semantics, differences in connotation, of faulty encoding and decoding? Or had one or more of my classmates deliberately changed the message they heard in order to send the truth off in some other direction?
Truth, if it actually exists, is dangerous. “The truth hurts.” Truth can do more than hurt. Truth has become a form of currency – withheld, saved, revealed, spent. “Do you solemnly swear that you will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?” We’ve heard these words in just about every courtroom movie and TV show we’ve ever watched. How can anyone swear to know the whole truth? Based upon what? Are we omniscient beings, seeing all, knowing all? Is anything less than the whole truth really the truth at all? Is a half-truth even fractionally true?
As the designer of this catalog I’ve had the unique opportunity of seeing the Circle of Truth unfold. I’ve seen the paintings come in and go out, I’ve read each and every artist’s essay. 49 intrepid creative souls, bound by risk and courage. In their essays almost every artist expressed the fear they faced in trying to discover the truth in the painting to which they were charged with responding. The nature of that truth was unrevealed to them. Was it a color, a shape, a technique? Was the truth serious or silly? There are sequences of paintings where one would assume that three or four artists might have created their works in the same room at the same time. Their truths are overtly evident and profoundly expressed. At other junctures, it’s apparent that the truth took a left turn, as it must have in Mrs. Pew’s class so many years before. In those cases, was truth subverted by rebellious will, playful caprice, inability to comprehend the “visiting painting,” or their unwillingness to take the project seriously? No matter the response each artist created his or her own truth.
Whatever truth, or truths, the Circle holds will be subject to the bias, sophistication and sensitivity of the viewer. The viewer is the final arbiter. As in all art, that is the way it should be.
– Randy Hipke
Paul Ruscha Preface
Randy Hipke’s Foreword defined “truth” for me, and I’m glad I read it because, unintentionally, I’m a born liar. After perusing it, I knew the definition differences, and from now on I’m only telling the truth and not telling any more lies. The negative level my own lies might have attained was beginning to besmirch my credibility. One year, 1973 to be truthful, my brother Ed did one of two paintings titled TRUTH. On the back of one of the canvas was written by him, “It rhymes with Tooth,” and that particular one went into the collection of our family dentist.
After our dentist had sold that Truth to a producer, later on the good Dr. and his wife missed it so much that Ed painted them a bygones-be-bygones canvas titled TOOTH. So, to me, the Truth of the Circle is always in jeopardy because of how it is perceived by the one hearing it. My lies were usually told to appease their recipients, or to calm down anyone fraught with angst. Or to excuse myself from showing up at events which I did not care to attend.
With the assurance of one who has excused his brother in order to placate people who are trying to get him to respond, I will fabricate “bow-outs” for him. Then the interviewer will become softened to his often-steely resolve to not idly chatter about his work. You might call my excuses “white lies,” to lighten the blacker truths of any heavier meaning in the subject matter he creates. That he has not responded to any comments about his Circle painting doesn’t surprise me, therefore I feel that his canvas validates the word he’s chosen to paint: In – which leads the observer back to the original canvas, and thus invites the circle to be reviewed and repondered again.
I am happy that Laura Hipke has taken the thankless task of putting words into Ed’s mouth to fill in his unwritten essay about his Circle painting #49. Truly, his bulging-cheek lifetime career of words that inhabit his art allow him to remain monosyllabic and often silent. I’m surprised that he agreed to take part in the Circle because he has many projects ahead and he rarely has time to stop and answer questions or do interviews. When he does, then it is obvious that he is a man of few words, yet when he does speak, he often quietly constructs Will Rogers-like aphorisms, which can sometimes be found in his art.
After all these years, the Truth has finally come full Circle. And I’m glad I don’t have to lie about remaining cool while I’m anxiously anticipating the end of this multi-artist participation. It is quite interesting to see how the truth is parsed by each artist in their interpretation of the previous canvas. I’m sure it must have taken a load off Shane Guffogg’s mind (painting #1 in the Circle) in creating his version of truth which had no other gods before it.
I participated in the first half of the Circle of canvases, and I quite liked being curious about what would be interpreted by the one I had painted – then sent on – and so on. I was perplexed that there wasn’t a 50th canvas, but I surmised that it was because we’re all 49ers in this continual state of the Art of California.