Photo Courtesy of the Milwaukee Art Museum
“Basically, a life’s work is happening here,” says Julian Schnabel, gesturing toward the installation surrounding him. Schnabel is sitting in the “Nares: Moves” exhibit with the artist herself, Jamie Nares. Schnabel and Nares have been friends for over 40 years, and the two later participated in a “conversation” moderated by Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM) Director Marcelle Polednik, who personally curated the Nares exhibit.
Polednik and Nares worked for over six years on the concept and ideas for the exhibit, culminating in the first retrospective of Nares’ varied works. And for as long as the two New York City-based artists have known each other, Schnabel expressed surprise at seeing the breadth and depth of his friend’s work.
“It’s a real revelation,” says the award-winning filmmaker and painter, best known for films about other artists, like Vincent van Gogh (2018’s At Eternity’s Gate) and Jean-Michel Basquiat (1996’s Basquiat), to artwork featuring large configurations on canvas using shards of ceramic plates adhered to the canvas. “If you think about what conceptual art is, Jamie shows an alternative way of looking at the world.”
When Polednik first approached Nares about the idea of having another artist discuss her work, Schnabel was her first choice to participate in the dialogue. For the two artists who lived in the same downtown NYC neighborhood in the 1970s, this was the first time they had a chance to work together, revisiting 50 years of the artist’s works based on themes, as opposed to linear chronology: Trace, Play, Pendulum, Release, Street, Mark, Portraits, Coda and Monuments. “When I look at the show now,” says Schnabel, “the voyage is really the thing.”
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And the “voyage” of the two artists has taken them in different direction artistically, yet they have collaborated in terms of helping one another. When Nares needed a studio to work in, Schnabel offered Nares his own studio. Unable to pay him, Nares returned the favor by providing Schnabel with the floorboards of the boxing ring taken from the Gramercy Gym (Nares lived upstairs at the time) where boxing greats like Floyd Patterson to Mike Tyson worked out. “I used those materials in what’s turned out to be some of my favorite paintings,” adds Schnabel.
MAM owns two of Schnabel’s works: Claudio al Mandrione (zona rosa) (1985–86) and The Dream (1983). And despite the “celebrity pull” of having Schnabel in Milwaukee with Nares for the evening discussion, Schnabel is quick to point out that, “art is not a career. It’s a monastic practice. If people like you, that’s just a coincidence.” That’s some coincidence.
While the two artists have completely different styles and approaches to their own work, Nares emphasizes that “we’re cut from the same cloth. Julian does his work and I do my work. And they touch places. We have an understanding of each other’s work, and it’s a deep, long connection.”
It’s a connection that has lasted through the two artists’ careers and lives, and it’s clear by the camaraderie and public discussion that they have a deep respect for each other—personally and professionally.
“What’s so beautiful in this [Nares] show is that it’s vast and you can discover that by taking the time to study it and find the minute, precise detail,” says Schnabel. “This show is full of surprises.”
“Nares: Moves” is on view in the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Baker/Rowland Galleries through Sunday, Oct. 6. There will be a special one-time-only screening of Nares’ film, Rome ’78, at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 5, in the Lubar Auditorium. For more information, visit mam.org.
