When Attitudes Take Form

Artists: Maureen Clay, Derrick Alexis Coard, Nnena Kalu, Dwight Mackintosh, Julian Martin, Dan Miller, Marlon Mullen, Helen Rae, Aurie Ramirez, William Scott, Nicole Storm, William Tyler, Alice Wong

 

Curated by Tom Eccles

 

March 7–April 27, 2025

Opening: March 7, 6.30 pm

 

Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin

 

Organized by the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in celebration of the 2025 Special Olympics World Winter Games in Turin, When Attitudes Take Form presents thirteen artists from the Martin and Rebecca Eisenberg Collection, donated to the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College in the United States.  For many years, Martin and Rebecca Eisenberg have championed the work of artists with disabilities, especially those from within the learning difficulties community.  Through direct experience of life in the disability community and an ongoing dialogue with noted New York-based curator, Matthew Higgs, the Eisenbergs have created an extensive collection of paintings, drawings, sculptures, and ceramics, while advocating for the inclusion of artists with disabilities through exhibitions and museum acquisitions.

 

While centered around a number of organizations, such as Creative Growth Art Center in Oakland, California, the artists within the collection and shown in When Attitudes Take Form are drawn from a broad geography including the United States, Great Britain, and Australia—three countries that have a longstanding commitment to providing access to the arts for people with disabilities.  The results have been extraordinary.  The work produced is as remarkable and unique as each individual artist.  Many of the artists included here have had significant solo exhibitions, including at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and their work is now represented in the collections of major museums.  As recent understandings in contemporary art have evolved, the language of these works has come into clearer focus—the idioms used, techniques deployed, and individualities expressed.  The potency of the artists’ diverse lived experiences is conveyed through their chosen material, artistic skill, precise vision, and complex articulation.

 

Collectors Marty Eisenberg and Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo share a commitment to the arts and education.  Among their many philanthropic affiliations and activities, they are both Board Members of the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College in New York State.

 

Tom Eccles is Executive Director the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College and has curated a number of exhibitions for the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo.  His career began in 1991, when he built the Project Ability, Center for Developmental Arts, in Glasgow, Scotland and organized numerous programs and exhibitions with its participants.