Albuquerque Sculptor Ed Haddaway To Give Sardonic View of Art

BY DAVID STATON -- JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL

Coming soon to a museum near you, the latest Ed Haddaway epic, Bound for Glory, Bound for Fame: A Guide to Success in the Art World.

            Thrills! Haddaway's tour de force. Cheers! Gallery owner Richard Levy's riveting performance. Poignant! Haddaway's car won't start.

Bound for Glory, Bound for Fame, Haddaway's second sardonic take on the world of art, will be unveiled during his gallery talk at the University of New Mexico Art Gallery Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. The video piece -- a follow up to Haddaway's The Creative Process: Inner Anguish — will be shown along with an exhibition of the Albuquerque sculptor's work, The Professional Artist's Kit, or How to Be a Famous Artist.

"I didn't realize that the first one would get such a popular reaction. I did it more for myself than the audience. Somewhere in the back of my mind I'd love to be a film director. I love John Waters cheap, sleazy, bad films," the artist said.

            Haddaway enjoys films with a sense of humor. Both of his video efforts are equal opportunity offenders. But, there's a sense of fair play; Haddaway takes his lumps along with everyone else depicted in the art world.

In Bound, there's the art critic who sexually propositions Haddaway, the New York museum representative who can't seem to find his sculpture and the gallery owner who could care less about Haddaway's artistic vision. The swipes are broad strokes, but a grain of truth lies at their core. Like his first video, the artist includes his wife, photographer Barbara Forshay, and a cast of friends, in demystifying the world of art.

"I think in general my whole attitude is artists take themselves too seriously.... You know, you look at Marcel Duchamp's work and it's very funny. And yet when you put it in a museum and you have a lot of people standing around talking about it, it becomes elevated to this high place. And we have this awe and reverence for it," Haddaway said.

"I think art is very important but at the same time, I think we elevate it to a point of worship or something." and I think that's really sick behavior."

And yet, Haddaway said he's a believer in the process he's making fun of.

  "I've always been a real believer in the essence of the system. Partly because I don't see any other way. I think art gallery owners are very courageous people," Haddaway said.

  And, artists have to share that same spirit.

"... It (the video) is more about perseverance in the face of rejection and you're going to get it from the art galleries and from everybody. I think stupidity keeps you going in a way. I guess I had this vision that somehow you would get successful, quote, unquote, and then everything would come your way."

Sunday, December 6,1992