Fine Contemporary Art
Littleton, Colorado
Cydney Payton
Exit strategy: Cydney Payton leaves MCA
By J. Gluckstern
The departure of Cydney Payton, soon to be former director of Denver’s Museum of Contemporary Art, from the metro area’s institutional mix carries with it equal parts portent and reflection. Her airy yet substantial style — in both the art she championed and the spacious exhibition design she favored (with the possible exception of her dual swan songs, the “Decades of Influence” show and its “extended remix”) — says a lot about what Denver could bear aesthetically and about her willingness to constantly test the waters of audience appreciation and reception.
She made her mark more than once, and with increasingly broad strokes. First, with Payton-Rule Gallery, which helped open lower downtown for the nascent gallery scene back in the late ‘80s. Then, at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, which she ushered from community art center status to enduring and dynamic venue for contemporary art. And, finally, in recent years, as perhaps the only director/curator in Denver with the right measures of vision, resources, luck and panache to extricate the promise of MCA from an old fish market and deftly inject it into a destination building designed by a world-class architect.
There’s much more to her story, of course, only some of which is revealed in her curatorial adventures — to name just a few: “5 Abstract,“ a long-overdue revue of some of the region’s finest abstract artists; “Over One Billion Served: Conceptual Photography from the People’s Republic of China”; the 2003 “Colorado Biennial: 10+10,” for which Payton’s artist choices (the first “10”) picked their own Colorado artists to honor (the “+10”); and the constantly rotating international mix of shows in the new building — but if there’s anything we’ve learned in the Denver art scene, it’s that, given the chance, Cydney Payton will surprise us.
Until then, here’s a short “transition” interview with Payton to keep us going until her next endeavors materialize.
daniael: How does it feel to leave MCA now, just as its new era is heating up?
CP: I never thought being at MCA would be terminal.
daniael: Do you feel the same as when you left the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art in 2001?
CP: No, I have better talking points.
daniael: Given your long history in the area, what do you see as the most important issues facing the Denver art scene right now?
CP: Local artists need to forego their attitude of “regional” entitlement. We are currently in a very delicate time for the arts in Colorado, which can be summed up with the arrival of “creative capital” in public policy, an economic equation for art. The very thing that art has over everything else in the universe is the denial of equations.
daniael: What are your three greatest accomplishments during your tenure at MCA (besides, of course, the building)?
CP: Not being afraid of criticism, critics or crisis.
daniael: Any shows you’ll be curating on the horizon?
CP: Damien Hirst opens Oct. 7. It will feature several important works from the Goss Michael Foundation, including St. Sebastian. We anticipate the exhibition to be a blockbuster.
A selection of works by Damien Hirst will be on display in the Large Works Gallery at MCA from Oct. 7 through Aug. 30, 2009. Visit www.mcadenver.org in early September for more information.
By J. Gluckstern
The departure of Cydney Payton, soon to be former director of Denver’s Museum of Contemporary Art, from the metro area’s institutional mix carries with it equal parts portent and reflection. Her airy yet substantial style — in both the art she championed and the spacious exhibition design she favored (with the possible exception of her dual swan songs, the “Decades of Influence” show and its “extended remix”) — says a lot about what Denver could bear aesthetically and about her willingness to constantly test the waters of audience appreciation and reception.
She made her mark more than once, and with increasingly broad strokes. First, with Payton-Rule Gallery, which helped open lower downtown for the nascent gallery scene back in the late ‘80s. Then, at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, which she ushered from community art center status to enduring and dynamic venue for contemporary art. And, finally, in recent years, as perhaps the only director/curator in Denver with the right measures of vision, resources, luck and panache to extricate the promise of MCA from an old fish market and deftly inject it into a destination building designed by a world-class architect.
There’s much more to her story, of course, only some of which is revealed in her curatorial adventures — to name just a few: “5 Abstract,“ a long-overdue revue of some of the region’s finest abstract artists; “Over One Billion Served: Conceptual Photography from the People’s Republic of China”; the 2003 “Colorado Biennial: 10+10,” for which Payton’s artist choices (the first “10”) picked their own Colorado artists to honor (the “+10”); and the constantly rotating international mix of shows in the new building — but if there’s anything we’ve learned in the Denver art scene, it’s that, given the chance, Cydney Payton will surprise us.
Until then, here’s a short “transition” interview with Payton to keep us going until her next endeavors materialize.
daniael: How does it feel to leave MCA now, just as its new era is heating up?
CP: I never thought being at MCA would be terminal.
daniael: Do you feel the same as when you left the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art in 2001?
CP: No, I have better talking points.
daniael: Given your long history in the area, what do you see as the most important issues facing the Denver art scene right now?
CP: Local artists need to forego their attitude of “regional” entitlement. We are currently in a very delicate time for the arts in Colorado, which can be summed up with the arrival of “creative capital” in public policy, an economic equation for art. The very thing that art has over everything else in the universe is the denial of equations.
daniael: What are your three greatest accomplishments during your tenure at MCA (besides, of course, the building)?
CP: Not being afraid of criticism, critics or crisis.
daniael: Any shows you’ll be curating on the horizon?
CP: Damien Hirst opens Oct. 7. It will feature several important works from the Goss Michael Foundation, including St. Sebastian. We anticipate the exhibition to be a blockbuster.
A selection of works by Damien Hirst will be on display in the Large Works Gallery at MCA from Oct. 7 through Aug. 30, 2009. Visit www.mcadenver.org in early September for more information.
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