PaperCity Magazine

October 2012 - Houston

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CURATOR OF STYLE THE BLAFFER'S POWERFUL CLAUDIA SCHMUCKLI ON THE EVE OF A BREATHTAKING $2.25 MILLION GRAND REOPENING BY "IT" ARCHITECTURE FIRM WORKAC, CLAUDIA SCHMUCKLI CONTEMPLATES THE REBORN MUSEUM SHE HELPED FORGE AND FORECASTS WHAT'S NEXT. CATHERINE D. ANSPON HAS A SIT DOWN WITH THE WOMAN AT THE TOP OF UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON'S GAME-CHANGING KUNSTHALLE. STATS. Director and chief curator, Blaffer Art Museum, University of Houston. Three and a half years as director, seven on and off in various capacities, including adjunct curator and director of PR and membership (by detour). HOW YOU SEE THE BLAFFER. As an institution engaged in and fostering global dialogue about contemporary art … for both students at the University of Houston and the larger Houston art community. Blaffer director and chief curator Claudia Schmuckli is always in search of the avantgarde. Posed on the stairway of her reborn building she wears Roland Mouret dress, at Tootsies, shoes by Miu Miu at Saks. Scmuckli reviews the upcoming fall season with the Blaffer's director of external relations, Matt Johns. TRAJECTORY. MA in art history from Ludwig-MaximiliansUniversity, Munich. ROUTE FROM SWITZERLAND TO MOMA. An internship at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, which led to a curatorial assistant position at the Guggenheim followed by an assistant curator position at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. MOMA TO HOUSTON. The first time for love, the second time to assume my current position. THE BLAFFER AS DREAM JOB. It gave me a platform to shape an institution and realize ambitions I never quite knew I had. BOOKS AUTHORED. Eight (as in writing an essay) and published an additional six (as general editor and publisher). Most recently Tony Feher and an upcoming Henning Bohl [volume]. REQUIRED VIEWING THIS FALL. "Destroy the Picture: Painting the Void, 1949-1962" at MOCA [Los Angeles], Richard Artschwager at the Whitney; Rosemarie Trockel at New Museum. HOW YOU RECOGNIZE THE NEXT IMPORTANT ARTIST. A combination of (learned) knowledge, experience (15 years), exposure (travel as much as you can), and instinct. I am always on the lookout. DEFINITIVE MAGS, NEWSPAPERS, ART BLOGS. Artforum, Cabinet, Texte zur Kunst, The New York Times, Artnet, ArtInfo. I don't read that many blogs. I guess I am old-fashioned that way. Just haven't found much of interest outside of gossip. FAVORITE PIECE OF STUDIO JEWELRY YOU OWN. A Bruno Martinazzi bracelet, because it's the whole package: conceptual, beautiful, powerful and wearable. LAST PERSONAL ART ACQUISITION. A Joshua Neustein work on paper that I discovered at the Independent Art Fair this spring. NEXT ACQUISITION. I'll know it when I see it. YOUR DESIGN COLLECTION. Mid-century modern mixed with contemporary reinterpretations. FIRST DESIGN ACQUISITION. Probably something silly like an Alessi bottle opener. What I really want is an Ingo Maurer Porca Miseria chandelier JEWELRY DESIGNER YOU'RE TRACKING. Doug Bucci for his inventive adaptation of scientific technology to create aesthetically inventive wearable objects. FURNITURE DESIGNER ON YOUR RADAR. I am still partial to everything that comes out of the Netherlands, in particular Droog. FASHION DESIGNER YOU COVET. Anyone who combines classic lines with edgy detail. I am a Prada/Sander/Miyake kind of girl, but you'll find many younger and more affordable designers in my closet whose names I can't remember. ON LIFE AFTER DUCHAMP'S FOUNTAIN. Both [upcoming Blaffer artists] Tony Feher's and Andy Coolquitt's works are part of a lineage that harks back to 1917, when French artist Marcel Duchamp declared a urinal a work of art … The impact of this gesture is still palpable today … Feher and Coolquitt represent very different positions: Feher's is formally rigorous but very emotional and associative … Coolquitt's is more grounded in the social conditions of a specific locality. Both, however, share an immediacy to our experience of everyday life that I find myself to be eternally drawn to as I look at works of art. "ARTCOULDTHE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND MYAN ARTIST." IS SAY MY LIFE IS ART, BUT THAT IS NOT THE CASE. I AM NOT LIFE. I WISH I PHOTOGRAPHY JACK THOMPSON. ART DIRECTION MICHELLE AVIÑA. MAKEUP TERRI SULLIVAN. HAIR ASHLEY SCROGGINS FOR CUTLOOSE SALON. OCTOBER | PAGE 56 | 2012

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