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July 17, 2004 - October 10, 2004
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On July 17, 2004, the Frick Art & Historical Center opens an exhibition of new work by Félix de la Concha, an artist who lived in Pittsburgh from 1997 to 2001. Invited to participate in the Frick’s Visiting Artist program, de la Concha spent an intensive twelve weeks at the Frick in 2002 and 2003 interpreting Clayton, the restored Victorian home of industrialist Henry Clay Frick. The resulting exhibition, Félix de la Concha, A Contrarreloj: A Race Against Time, features 24 large-scale paintings — one for each hour of the day — that create a panoramic view of Clayton and the surrounding neighborhood, as well as 48 small-format, interior views of the house, each of which was completed in one day. The exhibition runs through October 10, 2004 at The Frick Art Museum.
Whether working en plein air or indoors (as he did for his small-format panels at the Frick), de la Concha always works directly in front of his subjects, not from preliminary studies. His interest is in capturing the particular qualities of light as it is perceived by the senses. He traces his artistic heritage back to the rich Spanish tradition, whose exponents include Velázquez, Zurbarán, Murillo, Ribera, and Sánchez-Cotán. Frequently he works in series that involve long passages of time — sometimes months, even years — to explore the fundamental aspects of looking. His canvases, recording subtle fluctuations of light and color, show his extraordinary assurance as a colorist and draftsman, characteristics for which he has become well-known across the United States and Spain.
For his residency at the Frick, de la Concha incorporated the concept of A contrarreloj, a Spanish expression meaning “against the clock.” Positioning himself on the northwest terrace of Clayton, the artist divided the 360-degree view into 24 sections and painted one section each hour of the day. Working against the clock both literally and figuratively, he turned his body to the left each hour, capturing subtle changes in light and color. Each view was painted twice, separated by the 12-hour interval of night and day. For example, the same view he painted at 3:00 p.m., he also painted at 3:00 a.m. The completed series of 24 large panels records an uncommon perspective of Clayton and the surrounding gardens, lawn and neighborhood as dawn turns into day and day passes into night.
The viewer’s experience of Clayton is also transformed by de la Concha’s treatment of the unique architecture of the house. Extremely close scenes of the massive walls and convex windows give a sense that these structures are organic and fluid. De la Concha’s naturalistic style lends itself well to a realistic rendering of the view before him in which he depicts the myriad details of an object, interior or landscape, and the effect of light as it falls on his subjects. A comparison of two panels from de la Concha’s exterior panorama shows the artist’s adeptness in capturing the details and effects of light on the same view in daylight (A Contrarreloj (12)) and at night (A Contrarreloj (24)).
In contrast to the visual rhythm created by the exterior panorama, 48 interior views of Clayton’s rooms capture a single day. For these smaller-format paintings (measuring at the most 18 inches each), the artist again applied strict time constraints, allowing himself only one day to complete each panel. Not unlike the impressions and daily occurrences that one records in a journal or diary, these paintings represent an artist's diary — a visual remembrance of a Victorian home in which the artist draws the viewer’s attention to the flow of the spaces and to intimate details of the house’s furnishings and objects.
EXHIBITION ORGANIZATION AND VISITING ARTISTS PROGRAM
Félix de la Concha, A Contrarreloj: A Race Against Time is organized by the Frick Art & Historical Center. Over the last several years, the organization’s Visiting Artist Program has invited contemporary artists to create new bodies of work in response to the Frick site. Previous visiting artists include visual artists Vik Muniz, Christian Milovanoff and Linn Meyers; performance artist Beth Amsbary; and poet Robin Becker.
Says Frick Art & Historical Center Director William Bodine, “In the tradition of past visiting artists, Félix de la Concha has used his extraordinary capacities to nudge us to another way of seeing and understanding what we see. His paintings not only train our eyes on exquisite details of the collections contained within Clayton but also reveal the house as a dynamic work of art and architecture in and of itself.”
Bodine adds, “By supporting the creation of this work, the Frick is pleased to contribute to de la Concha’s growing iconography of Pittsburgh, which also includes a panoramic series of views of Penn Avenue and the monumental 365 Views of the Cathedral of Learning. Furthermore, exhibiting Félix de la Concha’s exquisite images of Clayton in the galleries of The Frick Art Museum furthers our efforts to present the Center as a unified entity — as one museum comprising several varied collections of art. ”
WORLD PREMIERE OF A RACE AGAINST TIME: FÉLIX DE LA CONCHA AT THE FRICK
As part of its interpretive program for the exhibition, the Frick Art & Historical Center commissioned local film makers Julia Love and Kenneth Love to produce a film documenting the artist at work. Their 25-minute documentary, A Race Against Time: Félix de la Concha at the Frick, will premiere at The Frick Art Museum on Friday, July 16, 2004 during the opening celebration of the exhibition. It will then play continuously in The Frick Art Museum auditorium.
Julia Love has completed four documentary films. Her first film, the 1997 Women in the Wings, is a documentary about women who made glider wings during World War II. She also made a film about Nobel laureate, Dr. Herbert Simon. Julia Love spent much of 2003 in Bolivia as a Fulbright scholar, working on a film about women leaders in small rural villages.
Based in Pittsburgh, Kenneth Love has worked as a filmmaker for thirty years. He has received Emmy awards for Individual Achievement in Sound Recording for two National Geographic Specials — Serengetti Diary and Realm of the Alligator — and has received Emmy nominations for other National Geographic Specials including Living Treasures of Japan, Egypt: Quest for Eternity and Jane Goodall: Among the Wild Chimpanzee, among others. His local film credits include Brilliant Fever: W. Eugene Smith & Pittsburgh; One Shot; The Life and Work of Teenie Harris; and Fallingwater; A Conversation with Edgar Kaufmann, jr.
A Race Against Time: Félix de la Concha at the Frick is available for purchase on DVD at the Museum Shop for $12.95. It will also be available for purchase on the evening of the opening celebration at The Frick Art Museum.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Félix de la Concha was born in Leon, Spain in 1962. From 1981 to 1985, he studied at the Facultad de Bellas Artes in Madrid. In 1989, he was awarded the prestigious Prix de Rome at the Academia de Bellas Artes and lived and worked in Rome until 1994. While there, de la Concha created large-scale works including Nine Months in Donna Olympia, The Cypress at the Circus Maaximus, and A Promendae at Doria Pamphili, all of which have been exhibited in museums around the world. Another of his most important works, Patios de la Lonja, is on permanent display at the Lonja de Alicante in Spain.
Drawn to the architecture of Pittsburgh, de la Concha lived in the city’s Bloomfield neighborhood from 1997 to 2000. His documentation of the Pittsburgh landscape includes a 2001 exhibition of panoramic views of Penn Avenue at Garfield Artworks and Farewell to Pittsburgh, presented by the Concept Art Gallery in 2003. His monumental display, One a Day. 365 Views of the Cathedral of Learning, first exhibited at Carnegie Museum of Art in 1999, is now on permanent display at the Old Masonic Temple in Pittsburgh, and The Last Supper, a work created in 2000, is permanently installed at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.
Although de la Concha currently has residences in New Hampshire and Madrid, he continues to live and work in different locations where he creates his projects.
THE FRICK ART MUSEUM
One element of the Frick Art & Historical Center in Pittsburgh, The Frick Art Museum contains the fine and decorative art collection of Helen Clay Frick, daughter of Henry Clay Frick. In addition to exhibiting its permanent collection, which concentrates on Italian Renaissance and French eighteenth-century works, the Museum has an active program of temporary exhibitions.
Admission to The Frick Art Museum is free to the public. Free, docent-led tours of Félix de la Concha, A Contrarreloj: A Race Against Time will be offered every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. Group tours (for five or more) and tours of the permanent collection are available for $5 per person and must be scheduled two weeks in advance.
Exhibitions at The Frick Art Museum are made possible, in part, by annual operating support grants from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and the Allegheny Regional Asset District.
FRICK ART & HISTORICAL CENTER
The Frick Art & Historical Center is located at 7227 Reynolds Street in Point Breeze. Free parking is available in the Frick’s off-street lot, or along adjacent streets. Effective July 1, 2004, general hours of operation are Tuesday – Sunday, 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. The site is closed Mondays and major holidays.
For information and reservations, call 412-371-0600, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Monday through Sunday.
For further information or images, please contact Greg Langel, Public Relations and Publications Manager in the External Affairs department at the Frick Art & Historical Center, at 412-371-0600, ext. 524, or at
glangel@frickart.org.
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