THE WAREHOUSE
Open Storage: 25 Years of Collecting
Curated By: Allan Schwartzman | August 26, 2022 - April 29, 2023
Typically, presentations of The Rachofsky Collection have featured few works, purposefully installed with ample space between them. These past installations have highlighted historical moments in postwar art that serve as focal points for the collection. They have also taken the visitor on thematic and often poetic journeys through the collection in search of fresh insights on a given topic. The current installation, by contrast, includes as many collected works that could fit respectfully in the space — 216 works by 148 artists representing nearly 20 percent of the collection — in order to represent the collection as a whole, primarily according to the chronology by which the works were acquired.
As you wander through the exhibition, you will encounter rooms that are very tautly installed, and others that may at first seem random in their acquisition logic. Over time, however, various historical and thematic strains emerge as parallel examinations into postwar art, primarily with a focus on artists and cultural streams that offer fresh takes on art of this pivotal period. In some rooms, most of the works were acquired over a year or two; in others, within a week or two. Our intention with this wide-ranging exhibition is twofold — to delve into the thinking that has shaped the collection and its different strands over the years and to give us the opportunity to step back and reorient ourselves — to both look critically at the collection, and to recalibrate our priorities moving forward.
Allan Schwartzman
Director, The Rachofsky Collection