6° of Separation
September 26th – January 24th 2010
6° of Separation: Selections from the Permanent Collection
Design by Patrick Kelly © 2009
The theory known as "six degrees of separation" proposes that anyone on the planet can be connected, by a chain of acquaintances, to any other individual by no more than six intermediaries. The theory and phrase, though first proposed in 1929 by the Hungarian writer Frigyes Karinthy in a short story called "Chains" and proven to be feasible mathematically, was made popular in the 1990s by a play and film adaptation by playwright John Guare. The theory has morphed into a popular trivia game called
"Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" in which players attempt to connect any film actor in history with Kevin Bacon through film roles. This Six Degrees of Separation theory could be applied to any sub-group including a collection of artists and their works. This is especially true and applicable within any given collection of objects accumulated by an individual or group.
Fall Exhibitions Opening © 2009
To fully understand how this theory can be applied to a collection of objects, one must first understand how collections, specifically art collections, begin and persist. The majority of private and public collections have humble or simple beginnings. They usually begin with a few items that one person, family or institution accumulated and then expanded numerically either through further acquisitions or donations. In the early stages the collected works are usually related in some manner; the collectors acquire by theme, by artists, by media, or some other method. In many cases, as a museum and its collection grow, early methods of collecting tend to waiver due to different individuals determinations as to what should be included. Those individuals are often guided by self interest and exhibit a lack of focus. More discerning institutions eventually set policies to determine the focus of their collections. These set policies, if followed, allow individuals or committees to carry on the acquisition choices with guidelines; preventing the collection to expand with disregard to the institutions principles, policies, or areas of recognized concentration.
Fall Exhibitions Opening © 2009
The Old Jail Art Center in its own humble beginnings had a core collection that began with the works of two individuals and their family collections. Those collections, even though they seemed eclectic, had relationships that threaded them together. In most cases those two individuals, Bill Bomar and Reilly Nail, either knew the artists whose work they acquired or collected works that related to existing works aesthetically or thematically. The concern for creating a collection where all the pieces "looked nice together" was never the motivation. Instead it was a desire to acquire works that meant something to them personally and in doing so the works became tied together due to the owner's informed aesthetic judgment and knowledge.
This exhibition, Six Degrees of Separation, attempts to connect works within the collection through collector/artist friendships, art movements, or some sort of aesthetic. The exhibition purpose is two-fold; first it attempts to show the viewer the threaded relationships within a seemingly eclectic collection and illustrate the underlying associations, second, it facilitates the institutions understanding of its own holdings through research into the individual pieces and how they fit within the entire collection.
The hope is that this exhibition will be the first of several over the years. As the Old Jail's collection grows and the research into individual works of art and artists continues, other ties with other artists within the collection will emerge revealing yet another re-configured web of relationships.
View photos from the Fall Exhibitions Opening of Six Degrees of Separation!