Artist brings unique concepts to lecture series

Jeffrey Vallance has done everything from adopting a supermarket chicken to creating his own Nixon Museum, all in the name of art.

Now the Los Angeles artist, writer and curator is due in Spokane next week as the final presenter in the 2004-05 Visiting Artist Lecture Series, “Populism in Contemporary Art – Links Between Culture and Art,” sponsored by Eastern Washington University and Spokane Falls Community College.

This season’s speakers “examine art that has variously been termed populist, conceptual, neo-pop, or simply ‘L.A.,’ ” says EWU art professor Lanny DeVuono. “We wanted to focus on a culture that, while definitely part of the international scene, sort of thumbs its nose at traditional notions of fine art.”

The first speaker, Los Angeles art critic Doug Harvey, discussed the blending of art theory and populism, and that city’s contemporary art scene.

Vallance’s art projects respond to popular culture as well as matters of the spirit.

“His ideas connect paranormal phenomenon to popular culture, often in a balanced mix of deadpan humor and intense intellect,” says a recent item in Southern Illinois University’s e-zine “News.” “Some art critics call him part intrepid explorer and part cultural anthropologist.”

DeVuono says Vallance first became known in the art world “when he ‘adopted’ a chicken bought from a grocery store, named it Blinky and gave it a ceremonial burial at a pet cemetery.” The event was captured on film.

Last year Vallance’s efforts “brought an equal amount of notoriety when he curated an exhibition of shopping mall artist Thomas Kinkade’s work at the Grand Central Art Center in Santa Ana,” says DeVuono.

“One of the things this series tries to do is bring in artists – and curators and art writers – whose work addresses cultural questions that are relevant and timely,” she says. “The humor in Vallance’s work is as important as the questions he raises about our notions of what we value as a society. He should be a lot fun.”

Vallance’s numerous shows include solo exhibitions at museums and galleries around the globe, including Los Angeles, New York City, Paris, Zurich, Milan and Stockholm.

He is represented by the Lehmann Maupin Gallery in New York City and the Rosamund Felsen Gallery in Los Angeles.