Bader Talks Art

Do you consider electric fans, postcards, watermelons, and dollar bills art? Darren Bader, a New York-based artist known for his imaginative use of space in installations, thinks so, but he wants to know what you think. Yesterday, Bader engaged with students in a conversation about the definition of contemporary art.

Bader’s philosophy is “anything goes,” and he leaves behind the studio as his primary place of production. He breaks conventional perceptions of objects and space by placing them in direct, unexpected conversations with one another. Continuing on the avant-garde trajectory of post-studio practice, Bader works on the belief that anything that is visual can be qualified as art.

His 2007 installation, “as = poaching the poachers” at New York’s Rivington Arms, for example, consisted of objects like the ones listed above placed next to each other without an immediately apparent pattern. It explored and challenged the binary relationship between space and object, optical and tactile perceptions.

“What art is is based on each individual, how it’s understood and its day-to-day interpretations,” Bader said in an interview. “It’s about what art means in a contemporary sense, not in a museological sense, but in a more loose, abstract, and poetic sense.”

Amy J. Lien ’09 met Bader at an art show in New York City where the two had a productive conversation that she wanted to bring to Harvard. Lien thought the talk would be a good opportunity for students to be exposed to a contemporary artist from a younger generation. Often, according to Lien, students are taught the usual canon of more visible and older artists who may not necessarily be relevant or interesting to them.

Bader consciously wanted to remove himself from members of such a canon in his talk. He doesn’t see himself as an authority figure. He is interested in what the students have to say about art, a term he believes is up to individual interpretation. By coming to Harvard, Bader wanted to see how individuals who are 10 years younger than he is perceive art and wanted to give the students control of the discussion.

“I’m more interested in questions than talking to myself and getting answers,” Bader said. “Talking about art is the primary means of creating art, potentially. It perpetuates the dialogue of art creation. Ideas are important.”

Bader hoped that the discussion would perpetuate an active dialogue about the definition of art in the contemporary world, among professionals and students.