Richard Meyer
Associate Professor of Art History and Fine Arts
USC Roski School of Fine Arts
Wandering through the side galleries of Spring Street during downtown LA’s monthly ArtWalk series, one generally would not expect to hear terms such as “aporia” and “polysemy” uttered among the clinking of wine glasses and casual conversation. But as Richard Meyer, Associate Professor of Art History and Fine Arts has noticed, intellectual inquiries typically associated with the whitewashed walls of academia have found their way into the world of contemporary art in a very serious way.
As Meyer remarks, “my research is related to changes that have happened in the field at large, studying the history of the idea of contemporary art and the pressure to be contemporary in American Art.” The influx of art magazines, galleries, and the explosion in the commercial “blue-chip” art market have affected scholarship in unprecedented ways, says Meyer, and thus, “the museum world has gotten closer to, oddly enough, the world of scholarship, and it is having an impact on how we shape the university as an academic institution.” This research is leading toward Meyer’s next book, to be entitled What Was Contemporary Art?, along with a number of initiatives aimed at providing a professional link between the contemporary art world and the university.
Meyer’s observations reflect a growing positive trend among museums, as curators begin to turn away from the corporate blockbuster model of museum exhibitions in favor of more intimate and nuanced look at the intricacies of social and cultural connections in art. And within his own department, Meyer has noticed a distinct change in the type of academic inquiry and intellectual environment as it relates to the larger art world. “Suddenly, graduate students started proposing dissertations on very contemporary figures, and it occurred to me that nowhere in the curriculum was there a place for basic skills such as interviews, curating, and publicity.” According to Meyer, these developments and others have prompted him “to think about the difference between curating and scholarship. As scholars we are free to, for example, use images as we want without thinking about them as objects with a monetary value, whereas in the curating world these issues are central to the practical realization of an exhibition.” As a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Meyer had the opportunity to develop a curriculum that followed a group of students through a yearlong course culminating in a student–run exhibition. The experience inspired Meyer to form The Contemporary Project at USC, a new initiative for dialogue between the art world and the academy.
Jointly sponsored by the College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, and the Roski School of Fine Arts, The Contemporary Project will host a number of events this year, including roundtable discussions on issues such as masculinity in contemporary art, and public dialogues, or “Contemporary Conversations,” featuring top scholars and leaders in the international art world. Through this initiative, Meyer hopes to “bring USC out into the art world and to bring the art world here,” noting that, “at the end of the day a Ph.D. is about ideas and making a contribution to knowledge, and the goal of The Contemporary Project is to bring together the best aspects of the academic world and the most productive features of the contemporary art world.”
Meyer has faith in USC as the center for such an ambitious program. Coming from the East Coast, Meyer chose USC because of its openness to fresh ideas and new perspectives. As a professor within the creative commercial melting pot of Los Angeles, Meyer has had the opportunity to experience firsthand the melding of contemporary culture into his surroundings. “LA is always about the contemporary,” remarks Meyer, and “because it’s younger as an art world, is more free–formed. Academically the environment is more intellectually creative, allowing for more freewheeling and freethinking, creating not only the opportunity for innovative dialogue, but providing the critical mass poised to respond in a unique way.”
If you have questions or comments, contact the Graduate Student in Residence
at:
gsir@usc.edu
