John Waters is seen at arrivals for the Elton John Aids Foundation 2017 Fall Gala in New York, N.Y. Credit: Courtesy of TNS
The Wexner Center for the Arts announced it will welcome back visual artist John Waters for the first major retrospective of his visual art for it’s winter 2019 season.
The campus-based multidisciplinary art space is one of only two venues to present Waters’ newest exhibit, “John Waters: Indecent Exposure.”
Beginning Feb. 2, Waters’ exhibition will reveal how he’s transformed his personal obsessions into a singular body of work through more than 160 photographs, sculptures, sound works and moving image pieces.
“John Waters: Indecent Exposure” is organized around themes of pop culture, the movie industry, the contemporary art world, the artist’s childhood and identity and the transgressive power of images.
In addition to photo assemblages, the exhibition will feature highlights such as a photographic installation in which Waters explores the auras and absurdities of famous films, directors and actors.
Organized by the Baltimore Museum of Art, the exhibition will debut there in October before it is moved to the Wexner Center for the Arts in the winter.
Waters recently visited the Wexner Center and elaborated on his excitement for his work to be displayed in Columbus.
“I’m really excited to have my show coming here right from the Baltimore Museum [in] my hometown,” Waters said in a press release.
In 1999, the Wexner Center curated Waters’ first one-person museum exhibition, “John Waters: Photographs,” detailing the continued relationship between the artist and the center’s director and curators as he served on their International Advisory Council.
Waters also worked closely with Wexner Center for the Arts Director Sherri Geldin for nearly 10 years on the board of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
“We’re thrilled to bring ‘John Waters: Indecent Exposure’ to Wexner Center audiences, allowing them an in-depth look at all the ways – aside from his classic cult films – that John has both reveled in and cast a bemused eye on the perversities of human nature,” Geldin said in a press release. “[The fact] that he manages to do so with such wit, compassion and indulgence makes him among the most incisive yet generous of cultural commentators and a sheer delight to be around.”
The exhibition opens in February and admission is $8 for the general public and free for college students and Wexner Center members.
