Notes From the Archive: Greer Lankton

In 1996, the Mattress Factory had the good fortune to work with Greer Lankton as part of a group show that was guest-curated by Margery King. Greer's piece in that show, It's all about ME, Not You, was a large-scale recreation of her Chicago apartment/studio and housed dozens of the artist's hand-made doll figures, photographs, collectibles, and -- perhaps the focal point of the installation -- an addict in a bed surrounded by pill bottles. Shortly after the show opened, Greer Lankton passed away and upon the close of the show, we put the entirety of her piece in storage.

The Lankton Family has generously given Greer's final piece to the Mattress Factory and with the amazing help of several other supporters, we will be adding It's all about ME, Not You to the museum's permanent collection. The opening reception is next Friday, October 9th. You can RSVP and share the event with your friends over on FaceBook.

My role as archivist here at the museum involves documenting, preserving and cataloging artworks or, in most cases, artifacts of artworks. Because of the volume, diversity and fragility of the materials she used, Greer's piece has proven to be a labor of love for me. Many of her doll sculptures are made from delicate materials like toilet paper so implementing proper handling and preservation processes are very important.

And from an interpretive standpoint, this piece is dynamic to say the least. Curator Margery King states in her original exhibition essay:

When faced with the prospect of creating her first large-scale installation at the Mattress Factory, Lankton knew that she wanted to re-create her studio, in an ideal form, designing an environment of "artificial nature/total indulgence," filled with "dolls engrossed in glamour and self abuse." Like the artist herself, Lankton's dolls and environments possess a disarming mix of innocence and decadence, hope and pathos. She said her work was "all about me," reflecting her life as an artist, a transsexual, and a drug addict. But beyond this, from her position as an outsider, Lankton eloquently explored and questioned accepted norms of gender and sexuality, as well as the powerful imagery of popular culture and consumerism. Her work also describes the difficult mandate of these pervasive, seductive models and the pain of those who do not conform. It is tempting to think that Lankton created her installation at the Mattress Factory as if she knew it was her last (she died in late November, a month after the exhibition opened), filling the space with a retrospective selection of her beloved dolls and everything that was most meaningful to her.

In this video, shot at the 1995 Whitney Biennial, Greer talks about two of her sculptures: a bust of Candy Darling and one she calls Blue Babe. The audio and camera quality are a bit shaky, but it's really great to hear the artist herself speak about these works. A great moment comes at 1:06 when a gallery attendant tells Greer not to touch the art and she says simply, "It's mine!" Coincidentally, this Candy Darling sculpture is now on view as part of It's all about ME, Not You.



Speaking for all of us here at the Mattress Factory, we feel very lucky to have the ability to show It's all about ME, Not You permanently. Greer's work has touched many people's lives over the years and we look forward to helping enable that connection for new generations into the future.

POSTED BY LEAH Read All Posts by Leah

Movin' and Shakin' at the MF

Whoever said the dog days of summer were supposed to be slow-paced and relaxing has obviously not spent much time around the MF! Things are moving along at break-neck speed here at the museum -- and that's just the way we like it. In six short weeks from now Pittsburgh will have hosted a monumental event for a city of our size (the G20 Economic Summit -- more on the MF's role in this below) and the Mattress Factory will have opened two new exhibitions. This pace is not for the weak of heart, so fasten your seat belt and hold on.

G20 Pittsburgh Summit
On September 24 + 25, the G20 Economic Summit will be held here in Pittsburgh. This is a pretty big deal for a city of our size. During these two days in September, millions of people around the world will be watching the proceedings of the summit against the backdrop of our city. Thousands of people (from credentialed media to peaceful demonstrators) will descend upon Pittsburgh in late September and we thought we'd give them a street-level view of the city produced by people on the ground.

So last week we (in collaboration with our good friends at deepLocal) launched http://myG20.org, a real-time crowd-curated guide to Pittsburgh. Anyone can participate through several different social media platforms. And if you're not a "My-Twitt-Flick-Face-Tuber," have no fear. We've created a simple web-form that will automatically post your message to the content stream.

In the first 90 minutes after we released the link to the MF Twitter Posse, more than 100 people posted to the site. Pretty cool. So cool, in fact, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette took notice. So check out the site, use it, tell your friends and we'll see how it pans out leading up to and during the G20 in September.

Greer Lankton: It's all about ME, Not You
Last week we also announced the addition of Greer Lankton’s It’s all about ME, Not You (1996) to the museum's permanent collection. First shown as part of a group exhibition at the museum in 1996, the large-scale installation was recently given to the Mattress Factory by the late artist’s family.

Greer Lankton devoted most of her artistic life to creating highly expressive mannequin-like figures with full make-up, wigs, jewelry, and clothing. Her figures populated her tiny studio/apartment in Chicago surrounded by a decorated tableau of stenciled walls, autobiographical drawings, shrines to the likes of Candy darling and Patty Smith, children’s toys, hundreds of fashion magazines, and books on Egon Schiele and other favorite artists. Modeled after her apartment, It's all about ME, Not You opens with a public reception on October 9, 2009.

LIKENESS (October 9,2009 - March 21, 2010)
Portraits are everywhere. They are in our wallets; on our computers, cell phones and desktops; on the walls of corporate offices, banks and schools. But what precisely is a portrait or image of likeness? How do artists’ methods and materials evolve as technology progresses with quickly? And in this age of user-generated content, who exactly is the artist?

LIKENESS is a group exhibition that aims to examine human depiction during a post-Warholian era in which new technology has played an influential role. It includes the work of artists Jim Campbell, Paul DeMartinis, John Herschend, Nikki S. Lee, Joseph Manino, Greta Pratt and Tony Oursler. Elaine A. King, who is a freelance critic and curator as well as a professor at Carnegie Mellon University teaching Art History/Theory/Museum Studies, will curate the exhibition. LIKENESS opens with a public reception on October 9, 2009.

POSTED BY JEFFREY Read All Posts by Jeffrey