Thursday evening, October 17th, marked the opening reception of the Schneider Museum’s newest exhibition. The exhibition centers around collaborative works created by the artist, author, poet, and critic John Yau, as well as a slate of other visual artists active in the last five decades. This includes photographers, sculptors, and painters. Yau attended the reception in person. “These are some of the things I had lying under my bed,” he said to the audience. “My wife is glad we’re getting rid of them.”
The main gallery is wholly dedicated to Yau’s pieces, and they fill the surrounding wings. By the sheer volume of pieces, it is clear that Yau was an active and devoted partner in these collaborations. Furthermore, these collaborations were often done in partnerships with young artists on the fringe of celebrity. They number in the dozens and the complete list can be found on the Schneider Museum’s website.
Yau’s deep love of language and his unique sense of humor and perspective shine through the pieces. It is clear that he loves a good weird turn of phrase. “THE CASE OF THE ORGIASTIC SNAILS,” reads one piece, made in collaboration with Archie Rand. Yau’s pieces are littered with references to the late twentieth century.
Everywhere there are things, places, and people that Director of the School of Arts and Communications Andrew Gay warned may be less obvious to “people under forty”. Bruce Lee and Anna May Wong are consistent presences throughout the exhibition, as are figures like Joey Buttafuoco. Yau is willing to mess with anything, from road signs to proverbs to marriage to old cliches like the Seven Seas and the Tree of Life.
Thursday’s reception was a big hit, stuffed with students, faculty, and community members alike. Free wine and appetizers were provided by RoxyAnn Winery in Medford, while This Machine Starts Automatically played music in the courtyard. On Friday afternoon, Yau and Schneider Museum Curator Stuart Horodner offered a free creative industries discussion, examining Yau’s thematic approaches to art. The event was open to the general public, with free parking provided.
Disguise the Limit is a widely accessible and enriching exhibit, a big deal happening very early in the school year. It’s a testament to the scale of what the Schneider Museum offers. Packed between Southern Oregon University’s Marion Ady and Arts Buildings, Schneider features pieces that orbit between galleries like the Smithsonian. It’s a world class institution, and access is completely free.
And compared to other art heavyweights, the Schneider Museum of Art is niche and out of the way. The museum is rarely busy and security is laissez-faire. The pieces Schneider features are easily approachable, are modern in nature, and often are selected because they’re relevant to social issues today. As Yau’s collaborations demonstrate, Schneider gravitates towards artists that play with modern language, popular culture, and identity– in other words, pieces that try to capture the human condition.
Disguise the Limit and Yau’s collaborations will be available until December 14th of 2024, the end of SOU fall term. The Schneider Museum of Art itself is open year round, Tuesday through Saturday, from 10 A.M. to 4 P.M. Meter parking is available off of Indiana Street, and the Museum cooperates with all ADA accessibility requirements.
