Samuel Beckett, the late dramatist and writer, is represented by an historic video of his dramatic monologue Not I. This work features a pulsing fourteen-minute monologue spoken by a woman who is only visible as a mouth on a black background. The phrases she speaks, though obscure and fragmented, take the shape of a story: an older woman is trying to recount the memory of a traumatic event. This unexplained event seems to be responsible for her inability to emerge as a fully functioning person, as an "I" in the world. Though Beckett worked outside the field of visual art, his interest in how human beings attempt to make meaning out of their world speaks directly to the interests of contemporary artists.
Samuel Beckett (Irish, 1906 - 1989) was a dramatist, poet and novelist considered one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. Though best known for his 1952 play Waiting for Godot, his work continues to inform and influence the trajectory of contemporary art.
Samuel Beckett's exhibition is one of six exhibitions focused on the metaphysics of the human figure grouped under the title Looking for the Face I Had Before the World Was Made. Each of the artists explores how depicting the human figure can offer something more consequential than a simple catalogue of physical features. Each work in the exhibition tells a human story while de-emphasizing the likeness of any particular person. Using a wide variety of styles, the artists are joined by an interest in creating a sense of a phenomenon deeper than the surface image, capturing a presence prior to the appearance of the fully formed individual. The line "Looking for the face I had before the world was made," is a quote from the late poet and dramatist, William Butler Yeats, from his poem "A Woman Young and Old." It can be understood as either a statement of faith or a philosophical riddle related to the formation of the self.
Looking for the Face I Had Before the World Was Made opens January 29, 2009 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver. The exhibition is sponsored in part by Amber & Michael Fries, Emily Sinclair & Jay Kenney, and MCA Denver's Director's Vision Society.
Members Reception Friday, January 29 · 6-8 pm
Public Opening Friday, January 29 · 8-10 pm
For more info please visit mcadenver.org
