Love, Desire, and Sorrow: Artworks from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation

Love, Desire, and Sorrow: Artworks from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation examines the notions of house, home, and the body to explore the factors and social entities that define them. As Gaston Bachelard observes in The Poetics of Space, a house is a site of intimacy and solitude, an ideal space for creativity. Bachelard writes, “If I were asked to name the chief benefit of the house, I should say: the house shelters daydreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace.” As he envisions, a house can provide shelter and protection for our bodies, and inspiration, thereby becoming a home.

Love, Desire, and Sorrow foregrounds the notion of home, broadly defined, to ponder the economic, social, cultural, and political structures, policies, and events that shape our current existence. Artists in the exhibition investigate colonialism, slavery, and the diaspora, evoking quilts or representing subjects under duress in situations where the home and body exist in a state of threat. Other artists comment on family relationships and their complex nature, such as Louise Bourgeois’s comparison of her mother with a spider or by reclaiming old linens to safeguard memories. As artists consider the nation, or the environment, as a home, they portray bodies as hybrid creatures or stylized motifs. Yet, other artists such as Tracey Emin and Silvia Levenson focus on seduction and intimacy. In sculptures, prints and textiles, artworks in the exhibition contest normative representations of home and body as the artists consider notions of belonging, justice, and healing.

Artists in the exhibition include vanessa german, Louise Bourgeois, Wangechi Mutu, Rufino Tamayo, Sandford Biggers, Enrique Chagoya, Tracey Emin, Kiki Smith, Alison Saar, Wendy Red Star, Malia Jensen, Edward Kienholz, Nancy Reddin Kienholz, Silvia Levenson, and James Luna. The exhibition is curated by Dr. Adriana Miramontes Olivas, Curator of Academic Programs and Latin American and Caribbean Art.