Lehmann Maupin
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Foundation for Contemporary Arts (FCA), a non-profit arts organization founded in 1963 by Jasper Johns and John Cage that provides grants to artists and arts organizations, announces its 13th benefit exhibition opening December 9, 2010. Organized by artists Cecily Brown, Vija Celmins, Rachel Feinstein, Robert Gober, Jasper Johns, Julian Lethbridge, Nate Lowman, Brice Marden, Julie Mehretu, James Rosenquist, Dana Schutz, Kara Walker and T.J. Wilcox, the �Painting and Sculpture� exhibition will feature over 180 artworks available for sale (not auction). Proceeds will directly benefit FCA�s grant programs.
Founded and guided by artists, FCA has long been supported by a large community of artists who have generously donated their work to be sold in FCA�s twelve historic benefit exhibitions. Art dealers have shown their support by hosting FCA�s enormous, salon-style exhibitions, where one is likely to find a work by Ed Ruscha next to a work by an emerging talent. This latest benefit exhibition will be held at Lehmann Maupin�s stunning Lower East Side gallery which opened in late 2007, heralding a burgeoning contemporary art scene in The Bowery.
�FCA is grateful to Rachel Lehmann and David Maupin of Lehmann Maupin, and to the numerous artists who have contributed their work in support of emerging artists in all disciplines,� said FCA Executive Director Stacy Stark. �Visual artists have supported FCA for nearly fifty years by contributing works to our benefit exhibitions and thus supporting our unrestricted grants to artists.�
Paintings and sculptures (and a small number of works on paper) by established and mid-career artists will be installed alongside work by emerging artists. In addition to works by organizing committee artists, work by many well known artists will be featured. A list of participating artists is below. FCA has traditionally held sales, not auctions of work, in exhibitions that are open to the public for an extended period of time.
Foundation for Contemporary Arts encourages, sponsors and promotes innovative work in the arts created and presented by individuals, groups and organizations. Through a nomination process, artists working in dance, music/sound, performance art/theater, poetry and the visual arts are awarded unrestricted grants for projects of their own choosing. Grants are also given to presenting and support organizations and a modest fund is maintained to help artists with unexpected emergencies. Over 750 artists have donated work to raise funds for FCA�s grant programs. Since its inception, FCA has granted over $7 million to support individual artists and arts organizations. In 2010, FCA will award over $450,000 in grants.
Exhibition: Painting and Sculpture: To Benefit the Foundation for Contemporary Arts
Dates: December 9, 2010 � January 9, 2011 Reception: Thursday, December 9, 6 � 8 p.m. Location: Lehmann Maupin, 201 Chrystie Street (at Stanton Street), New York Hours: Tuesday � Saturday, 10 a.m. � 6 p.m.; Sunday 12 � 6 p.m.
About the Foundation for Contemporary Arts
Since its inception in 1963, the Foundation�s mission has been to encourage, sponsor and promote innovative work in the arts created and presented by individuals, groups and organizations. Through a nomination process, individual artists, collectives and performing groups working in dance, music, performance art/theater, poetry and the visual arts are awarded unrestricted grants for projects of their own choosing. Grants are also given to presenting and support organizations and a modest fund is maintained to help artists with unexpected emergencies. FCA has provided hundreds of grants to artists and arts organizations, thus providing opportunities for creative exploration and development.
Foundation for Contemporary Arts (FCA) was established in 1963 through the efforts of artists Jasper Johns and John Cage in the belief that painters and sculptors were sufficiently concerned about the state of performance arts�dance, theater and music�to donate their work in support of performing artists. Willem de Kooning, Marcel Duchamp, Philip Guston, Alex Katz, Ellsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Motherwell, Barnett Newman, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg, Larry Rivers, Frank Stella and Andy Warhol were among the 78 artists who contributed to FCA�s historic first benefit exhibition�the first fund-raising benefit of this kind. Proceeds from sales enabled FCA to launch a significant program of assistance for performing artists who were engaged in work of a contemporary nature. To date, over 750 visual artists have supported FCA�s grants programs with major gifts of paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints contributed to the twelve benefit exhibitions held over the years.
Originally known as the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, FCA has operated continuously since the 1960s, making grants to individual artists and arts organizations and was founded before the creation of the NEA.
During its first year, FCA made grants to composers Earle Brown and Morton Feldman, and underwrote a concert of their music presented at Town Hall in New York. Additional grants went to Judson Memorial Church, the Paper Bag Players and choreographer Merle Marsicano. Other early grantees included choreographers Trisha Brown, Lucinda Childs, Meredith Monk, Yvonne Rainer and Twyla Tharp, and composers Cornelius Cardew, Philip Glass and Steve Reich.
In the early 1990s, FCA chose to provide more significant sums to artists for the realization of ongoing work by awarding fewer, more substantial grants to individuals and groups through a nomination process. It was at this time that FCA expanded its grant-making to include visual artists. FCA has provided hundreds of grants to artists and arts organizations, thus providing opportunities for creative exploration and development.
Since its inception, FCA has held twelve benefit exhibitions. The first fund-raising exhibition of paintings and sculptures was held at Allan Stone Gallery in 1963. A number of significant benefit exhibitions followed: �Drawings, 1965,� simultaneously shown at Leo Castelli, Tibor De Nagy and Kornblee galleries; a print exhibition at Kornblee Gallery in 1967; the 1980 �Drawings� show at Leo Castelli; �Eight Lithographs,� published by Gemini G.E.L. in 1981, shown at Leo Castelli; �25th Anniversary Exhibition,� jointly shown at Brooke Alexander and Leo Castelli in 1988; �30th Anniversary Exhibition of Drawings� at Leo Castelli in 1993; �Prints� at Brooke Alexander in 1995; �Drawings & Photographs� at Matthew Marks in 2000; �Young Artists� at Bortolami Dayan and �Posters� at Paula Cooper, both in 2006 and, most recently, �Photographic Works� at Cohan and Leslie in 2008.
Grants and Awards Programs
FCA awards grants in the following fields: dance, music/sound, performance art/theater, poetry and the visual arts. Grants are awarded annually to outstanding or unusually promising artists and arts organizations which create, present or support imaginative work and need this kind of assistance.
Grants to Artists are chosen by a confidential nomination and selection process. Each year FCA invites a pool of distinguished artists and arts professionals to serve as nominators. Nominators may propose one exceptional individual, artists� collective or performing group whom they feel deserve and will benefit from an unrestricted $25,000 award. Nominators are selected by field, but are free to propose artists working in or among any of the five areas supported. They are asked to remain anonymous. A selection panel chooses recipients on the basis of the merit and imaginativeness of their work and the effect such recognition and support might have at this point in their careers. Although most artists who receive support live and work in the United States, Grants to Artists may be awarded internationally. The number of selections made in any of the five fields is determined by the strength of the candidates and FCA�s resources in any given year. These awards are intended to provide recipients with the financial means to engage in whatever artistic endeavors they wish to pursue, to research and develop ideas, embark on projects, and complete projects already under way.
Emergency Grants. Discretionary grants subject to timely review are awarded on an ongoing basis to emerging artists and collectives in need of modest, urgent support. The only program of its kind, Emergency Grants assists artists with unexpected expenses when projects are close to completion or with sudden opportunities to present work to the public. Emergency Grants are limited in number and modest in amount. Requests are reviewed monthly by a volunteer panel of established artists.
Grants to Organizations. Organizations that provide visual and performing artists with opportunities to present their work to the public, or offer artists professional services, may apply annually for assistance. Such grants are awarded on an annual basis and usually range between $1,000 and $2,000.
The John Cage Award was established in 1992 in honor of the late composer, and one of our founders. This prestigious award is made biennially in recognition of outstanding achievement in the performing arts. Selections are made from invited nominations. The 2010 John Cage Award was $40,000.
