Not to be outdone by last year’s CCA centennial survey at the Oakland Museum, the Berkeley Art Museum is currently offering a vanity exhibition of its own. Assembled by BAM’s Elizabeth Thomas, MATRIX/REDUX is a self-curated look at the Museum’s acclaimed program of a similar name.
Begun in 1978 by then BAM director, James Elliot, the MATRIX program was a way to present — almost immediately — work from rising or influential contemporary artists. The idea was revolutionary for its time. In the late ’70s it took most museums a few years of planning to mount exhibitions of art. MATRIX shows could be up and running in a few months.
Nowadays, MATRIX is the norm, and any museum of modern art worth its nettle has a similar project space program of its own.
MATRIX/REDUX, the show, is a grab bag of work from about a quarter of the artists seen in the more than 220 exhibitions. I say grab bag because, well, outside of the obvious connection of folks once featured in MATRIX there isn’t really anything connecting the work. Tossed around the Museum’s numerous bays are fine examples of pieces from Richard Misrach, Ed Rushca, Julie Mehretu, Robert Bechtle and Louise Bourgeois.
Midway through a trudge into the show, a realization arose — contemporary art before Clinton (Bill, that is) was a lot funnier. I’m not saying the art world of the ’70s and ’80s was a laugh riot, but it certainly had more jokers in it than it does now.