Misty Keasler and Allison V. Smith

March 10—Modern curator Andrea Karnes is in conversation with Misty Keasler and Allison V. Smith, two artists featured in Framing Desire: Photography and Video. This Tuesday Evenings presentation introduces the exhibition and its premise of photography and video conjuring desire as seen specifically within the work of Keasler and Smith, two artists from within our community. Karnes, curator of Framing Desire, has structured the exhibition under three themes: Ages, Rooms, and Scapes – an updated take on the more traditional subjects of portraiture, architecture, and landscape. Works by Keasler and Smith are being considered under the theme of Rooms, which is described by Karnes as, among other things, artists scrutinizing “how such structures function in our lives and how they can spark voyeurism, recall a time and place, or fulfill the desire to see a space we have not experienced firsthand.”

Misty Keasler focuses on intimate portraits of people or the spaces they occupy, most notably the love hotels of Japan, while Allison V. Smith, a freelance editorial and fine art photographer, is recognized for iconic images from her travels, including photographs in and around Marfa, a different kind of intimate presentation of place. For Tuesday Evenings, each artist offers insight into their individual work as they also discuss the exhibition as a whole and their place within it.

This popular series of lectures and presentations by artists, architects, historians, and critics is free and open to the public each Tuesday beginning again in September. Lectures begin at 7 pm in the Museum’s auditorium. Seating begins at 6:30 pm and is limited to 250; a live broadcast of the presentations is shown in Café Modern for any additional guests. Free admission tickets (limit two) are available at the Modern’s information desk beginning at 5 pm on the day of the lecture. The Museum galleries remain open until 7 pm on Tuesday evenings during the series.

Café Modern serves cocktails, salads, and appetizers on Tuesday nights during the lecture series.

Image: Misty Keasler, Igloo Waiting Area, Hotel Gang Snowman, Osaka, 2004, Giclée. Allison V. Smith, Parked, May 2011. Marfa, Texas, 2012, Chromogenic color photograph