Le Malediction Vaincu by Salvador Dali

Art museum collections are not static entities. Their proportions and composition morph over time and as a result, the perceived meanings of the artworks within them change in relation to each other. This phenomenon is given voice when institutions mine their own collection for major thematic exhibitions such as the Albright-Knox Art Gallery’s extremely successful series of REMIX exhibitions and Op Art Revisited (on view through January 25). In both instances, iconic works from the collection are presented in tandem with new acquisitions revealing both shared and divergent sensibilities among artworks distanced by decades.

It is also true that museum collections, assiduously assembled, are the core strength of those institutions. The harsh reality is that only a fraction of an institution’s voluminous collection is on view at any given time. Depending on the size of the collection, it may be as little as one percent. The collection of the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University has grown exponentially since its founding in 1978. In fact, it has doubled in the last 15 years and now stands at 5,600 works. I’ve long admired the museum’s ability to frequently rotate their collection while inexplicably managing to routinely have five to 10 percent of their collection on view.

Kate Koperski, the longtime curator of folk arts and new director of the Castellani who has over two decades of familiarity with its collection, is committed to reintroducing the public to the riches of that collection while positioning it as a valuable educational resource. The monolithic exhibition CURRENT: Movements in Western Art since 1830 (on view through September 21), which includes over 150 works, is a bold gesture in service of that mission. Ever since he arrived at the museum in 2003, curator Michael Beam has been the proverbial kid in a candy store who has relished bringing to light underexposed treasures in the collection. CURRENTS, which he co-organized with registrar Kathy Fraas and educator Marion Granfield, realizes his vision to install the collection “salon style”—a manner of hanging artworks in large groupings that extend from below eye level to near ceiling height—in the museum’s cavernous main gallery.

Now walls covered head to toe with art may sound like too much art and probably would be. What makes this exhibition so successful is the fact that the artwork is installed in an “exuberant wave pattern” that careens across the three lengthy, 20-foot-high gallery walls. This highly effective use of the enormous scale of this space is as much about the works selected as it is about how they are installed—an adventurous presentation that makes for a memorable viewing experience. It’s also an ideal opportunity for you to see the depth and breadth of their encyclopedic collection short of rummaging through their storage rooms.

The works are broadly organized into 22 sections (cleverly documented by succinct handouts with thumbnail images of the works that serve as labels) that represent the major art movements from 1830 to present, beginning with Hudson River School works by Albert Bierstadt, Frederick Church, and George Inness and ending with late 20th century works by Robert Longo, Cindy Sherman, Barbara Kruger, and Nam June Paik, as well as a 2005 fiber sculpture by Lesley Dill that was acquired just last year. Small sculptures are smartly incorporated into the groupings via wall-mounted triangular shelves hung at various heights. The exhibition, with representative works by many of the major artists of the last century and a half, demonstrates how artistic styles have periodically overlapped and converged over time and thereby operates as a sort of Cliff Notes of art history. You can glance across the walls of the gallery and see how naturalism and realism evolved into impressionism and expressionism, how Pop Art (a particular strength in the museum’s collection) relates to Op and Kinetic Art, and take note of the connection between minimal art and assemblage from the same era. This presentation also appeals to current society’s propensity to acquire an understanding of a subject through quick Google image searches. Want to see what cubism looks like? Check out the three prints by Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and Fernand Leger in CURRENT. Surrealism? There’s a few works by Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte and Joan Miro to whet your appetite. Given the far-reaching scope of this exhibition, it required keen editing (and tough choices) and as a result, an artist is often represented by their most iconic image. For Warhol, it’s a single Campbell’s soup can; for Longo, one of his Men in the Cities prints, and of course, pop icon Robert Indiana will forever be identified with his ubiquitous “LOVE” emblem.

It should be noted that this type of installation does come with a caveat. For the most part, it does not provide isolated viewing of individual works. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to have a one-on-one connection with a small etching hanging six feet above your head. The tradeoff is that placing work in close proximity with so many other works creates intriguing juxtapositions that allow for multiple (and instantaneous) comparisons and contrasts between individual works and styles that would likely not be possible if the works were presented in a traditional manner or in separate galleries. That is the outstanding advantage of this well conceived and executed exhibition. Two black-and-white works, a formally composed rectilinear print by Donald Judd hung alongside a visually chaotic gestural aquatint by Julian Schnabel illustrate this point well. The Judd seems even more tightly controlled next to the Schnabel, and the Schnabel seems even more frenzied when compared to its restrained companion. The rigorous mixing/contexualizing of the work in this exhibition actually invigorates and enlivens some of the works and creates a palpable sense of dynamism among them. The sheer volume of works in this unique timeline also encourages varying levels of viewing from cursory looks to more studied approaches.

Finally, there is one work that must be looked at intently to fully appreciate it (and it’s even at a height where you can do that). At first glance, Buffalo-born Ad Reinhardt’s untitled silkscreen from the Ten Works and Ten Painters portfolio appears to be one (easily bypassed) black square. Upon concentrated viewing however, it reveals itself to be a black central horizontal stripe with a very dark blue central vertical stripe behind it. It’s a subtle effect Reinhardt mastered in both his color field paintings and prints and in this exhibition it’s a ripple worth pausing to examine in this engaging tidal wave of art.