The Artist’s Eye: Tammy Rae Carland, David Huffman, Lava Thomas, John Zurier

March 19–July 17, 2022

Curated by four established Bay Area artists, this exhibition centers their respective artistic visions and engages the space where the artist—as curator, collector, and maker—meets the museum.

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Tammy Rae Carland, David Huffman, Lava Thomas, John Zurier
David Ireland: Good Hope, 1990–91; concrete, wire, copper, broom, painted wooden stool 76 x 24 in.; BAMPFA, Museum purchase: Bequest of Thérèse Bonney, Class of 1916, by exchange
Studio of Georgios and Constantinos Zangaki: Sphynx et pyramide de Cheops (Sphinx and Pyramid of Cheops, with figure), c. 1865–80; albumen print, 8 11/16 x 10 15/16 in.; BAMPFA, William K. Ehrenfeld M.D. Collection
Betye Saar: The Liberation of Aunt Jemima, 1972; mixed media; 11 3/4 x 8 x 2 3/4 in.; BAMPFA, purchased with the aid of funds from the National Endowment for the Arts (selected by The Committee for the Acquisition of Afro-American Art).
Theresa Hak Kyung Cha: Secret Spill, 1974; single-channel video: black-and-white, sound; 25 min.; BAMPFA, gift of the Theresa Hak Kyung Cha Memorial Foundation.

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Past Events

Sunday, June 19, 3 PM
Curatorial Gallery Talks: Tammy Rae Carland

Artist Tammy Rae Carland speaks about her selections from BAMPFA’s collection and from her own oeuvre for the exhibition.

BAMPFA
Sunday, May 22, 3 PM
Curatorial Gallery Talks: Lava Thomas

Artist Lava Thomas speaks about her selections from BAMPFA’s collection and from her own oeuvre for the exhibition.

BAMPFA
Saturday, May 14, 11:30 AM
Gallery + Studio: Live from Somewhere

Inspired by Tammy Rae Carland’s art and her selections for The Artist’s Eye, create a stage set for imaginary action!

BAMPFA

For ages 6–12 with accompanying adult(s)
Sunday, May 1, 3 PM
Curatorial Gallery Talks: David Huffman

Artist David Huffman speaks about his selections from BAMPFA’s collection and from his own oeuvre for the exhibition The Artist’s Eye.

BAMPFA
Sunday, April 10, 3 PM
Curatorial Gallery Talks: John Zurier

Artist John Zurier speaks about his selections from BAMPFA’s collection and from his own oeuvre for the exhibition.

BAMPFA
Saturday, April 9, 11:30 AM
Gallery + Studio: Textured Mixed-Media Painting

Discover the images, textures, symbols, and layers in David Huffman’s art, and compose your own visual story in a mixed-media painting.

BAMPFA

For ages 6–12 with accompanying adult(s)
Sunday, March 27, 3 PM
Stephanie Cannizzo, Claire Frost, and Lynne Kimura on The Artist’s Eye

Join the co-organizers of The Artist’s Eye from BAMPFA's curatorial staff for an engaging tour of the exhibition.

BAMPFA
Guided Tours: The Artist’s Eye

Join us for guided tours of The Artist's Eyeled by BAMPFA curatorial staff and UC Berkeley graduate students.

BAMPFA
March 17 & 18, 11 AM–7 PM
BAMPFA Member Preview of The Artist's Eye

BAMPFA members enjoy exclusive preview access to The Artist’s Eye: Tammy Rae Carland, David Huffman, Lava Thomas, John Zurier Thursday and Friday, March 17 and 18.

BAMPFA

BAMPFA Member exclusive

Past Films

The Artist’s Eye: Tammy Rae Carland, David Huffman, Lava Thomas, John Zurier

March 19–July 17, 2022

Curated by established Bay Area artists Tammy Rae Carland, David Huffman, Lava Thomas, and John Zurier (who are all represented in BAMPFA’s collection and have been featured in exhibitions at the museum), this exhibition centers the artistic vision of each artist and engages the space where the artist—as curator, collector, and maker—meets the museum. For The Artist’s Eye, each artist was invited to organize a section of the exhibition, using artworks and archival material from BAMPFA’s collection, as well as select works from their own collections, that range across diverse media, approaches to making, and historical time periods.

Working in collaboration with the museum’s curatorial staff, the artists brought their curiosity and critical eye to BAMPFA’s holdings and together defined the layout of the exhibition around their unique visions and priorities. Carland chose works that involve language and wordplay—including pieces by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Sarah Charlesworth, and Yoko Ono. Huffman’s selection creates a personal, nonlinear reflection on art history, African American experience, and his own memories, featuring works ranging from a Francis Bacon painting to a nineteenth-century albumen print of an Egyptian sphinx. Thomas’s presentation addresses BAMPFA’s relationship with Black artists, and women in particular, highlighting work made by Black female artists—including Erica Deeman, Betye Saar, and Carrie Mae Weems—that takes the experience of Black womanhood as its subject. Zurier selected works from BAMPFA’s extensive collection of traditional Chinese and Japanese landscape painting, in addition to several modern and contemporary landscapes that reflect on quiet, solitude, weather, near and far distance, and nature in art. The artists’ own work will also be displayed in the exhibition, providing further insight into their practice and perspective.

The Artist’s Eye continues BAMPFA’s legacy of working with living artists to underscore the dynamic relationships between artworks, museums, and the communities of which they are a part, while also shaping and developing new historical and cultural narratives.

Artists in this exhibition

Zarouhie Abdalian, Diane Arbus, Francis Bacon, Yamamoto Baitsu, John Baldessari, Sadie Barnette, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Romare Bearden, McArthur Binion, Yosa Busan, John Cage, Tammy Rae Carland, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Constance Chang, Sarah Charlesworth, Barbara Chase-Riboud, Robert Colescott, Willem de Kooning, Erica Deeman, Jay DeFeo, James Ensor, Paul Gauguin, Felix Gonzales-Torres, Kenyatta Hinkle, Mildred Howard, David Huffman, David Ireland, Gao Jian, Yuan Jiang, Dai Jin, Sun Junze, Arnold J. Kemp, Caroline Kent, Jacob Lawrence, Zoe Leonard, Mary Anne Levine, Mary Lovelace O’Neal, Adrian Piper, Fan Qi, Betye Saar, Pascal Sébah, Hu Shicha, Lorna Simpson, Lava Thomas, Rosie Lee Tompkins, Sojourner Truth, Unidentified Artist (China), Unidentified Artist (China), Unidentified Artist (Democratic Republic of Congo), Unidentified Artist (location unknown), Unidentified Artist (United States), Carrie Mae Weems, Franklin Williams, Charley Wilson, Fred Wilson, Lena Wolff, George Wright, Ren Yi, Georgios Zangaki, Constantinos Zangaki, John Zurier.

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Download the exhibition brochure (PDF)

The Artist’s Eye is curated by artists Tammy Rae Carland, David Huffman, Lava Thomas, and John Zurier and organized by Claire Frost, curatorial assistant, and Stephanie Cannizzo, associate curator, with Lynne Kimura, Carmel and Howard Friesen Collections Engagement Associate and academic liaison. The exhibition was conceived by Apsara DiQuinzio, currently senior curator of contemporary art, Nevada Museum of Art.

The exhibition is made possible with lead support from Dr. Rosalyn M. Laudati and Dr. James Pick and with additional support from Pamela and David Hornik.