Carole Ann Klonarides

Known primarily for her pioneering artistic and curatorial work in video art, Carole Ann Klonarides has been an active participant in two historic art communities as they evolved to world prominence: downtown New York (1972–91) and Los Angeles (1991–present). Since 2010, she has served as a career strategist for artists and management consultant for galleries and arts organizations in Los Angeles. In addition to having curated dozens of exhibitions for non-profit art organizations, galleries and museums, Klonarides' own video work has been presented in numerous museum exhibitions, including "documenta 8," "New Works for New Spaces: Into the Nineties," the 1989 inaugural exhibition at the Wexner Center for the Visual Arts, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio and "The Pictures Generation, 1974-1984" at the The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her work is in the collections of major museums, such as the Getty Museum, The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), Centre Georges Pompidou, Museu-Fundacão Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, Portugal, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain, and The Whitney Museum of American Art, and is distributed by the Video Data Bank in the School of the Art Institute, Chicago, Illinois and Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), New York.

Early life and career

While still an undergraduate at the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Klonarides moved to New York City in 1972 to attend the year-long Whitney Independent Study Program (Studio) along with artists Charles Ahearn, Kathryn Bigelow, Julia Heyward (Duka Delight), Deborah Kass, Julian Schnabel, Michael Smith, and Robin Winters.. She completed her BFA in Painting and Printmaking from VCU in 1973 while still living in New York, supporting herself by doing part-time work as a loft cleaner for Fischbach Gallery, short-order cook at the artist-run Food Restaurant, and a baby-sitter for dancers Tricia Brown and Sylvia Whitman, art dealer Ivan Karp, Paula Cooper and Irving Blum. Klonarides started working in galleries as a "sitter"for the exhibitions of Barry Le Va at downtown Bykert and Mel Bochner at Sonnabend Gallery. She officially became a "gallery girl," working at OK Harris Gallery (1976-1981) before becoming Baskerville + Watson Gallery Director (1983-1987), representing artists Dike Blair, R.M. Fischer, Sherrie Levine, Richard Prince, to name a few.

A pioneering video maker and video curator,{1975-1996) Klonarides was introduced to the video medium while working at the Brooklyn Museum Art School in the early 70s. There, she organized the videotaped panel, "A New Generation of Artists?"that included Lizzie Borden, Howard Buchwald, Paula Cooper, Neal Jenney, Judy Rifka, and Joel Shapiro. She made her first video tape" Post-Show Depression" in 1975, documenting young artists taking their first one-person shows down. Later, she honed her editing skill working late night clubs as a VJ (video jockey) during the 1980s and presented video programs in galleries, artist lofts, and on the Artists Television Network on Manhattan Cable Television.

In 1980, she and Michael Owen, whom she met while working on an MA in Media Studies at the New School for Social Research, began MICA-TV a video production company focused on making videos with contemporary artists, such as Cindy Sherman, Richard Prince, Laurie Simmons and many more. Their videos premiered on BBC2, Channel Four, Canal Plus, Cinemax, and The Learning Channel.

In 1984, Klonarides, Lyn Blumenthal, painter Ed Paschke and performance artist Hudson produced the video Arcade, which was shown in documenta 8 and included in the exhibition "Making Their Mark: Women Artists Move into the Mainstream, 1970-1985" (1989), originating at the Cincinnati Art Museum and traveling to New Orleans Museum of Art, Denver Art Museum and Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.^[1]

In light of her pioneering work in video, Klonarides is considered a defining member of "The Pictures Generation."^[2]

Work

Involved in the artworld since moving to New York City in 1973, Klonarides has worn many hats over the years. Her day job as a "gallery girl" enabled her to VJ dance clubs, screen artists’ videos and produce documentary videos in collaboration with others. By 1991, she was regularly organizing video art exhibitions for museums.

Curating

In 2014, Klonarides VJ'd live using videos produced by No Wave, New York and West Coast punk bands, available on youtube.com with composer and artist Tom Recchion at Blum & Poe. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Semiotext(e) in 2014, Klonaridis organized the re-presentation of the 1978 Cine Virus film program, originally curated by Kathryn Bigelow and Michael Oblowitz, accompanied by multi-day conferences at both MoMA PS1 and CalArts REDCAT Theater. In 2013, she curated "Che Mondo," an exhibition of contemporary photography, for Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, and "Alex Slade: What City Pattern?" for Edward Cella Art + Architecture. In 2012, Klonarides worked with Dawn Kasper on "00:00 [RESET]," a performance series and website, sponsored by LAX and the Getty Research Institute.

During the aughties, she curated a mid-career survey for George Stone at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery(2003), organized a public installation of a Jessica Bronson's work in Old Town Pasadena(2004), co-curated an event for the Society of the Activation of Social Space Through Art and Sound at the Schindler House (2005), directed the Artist Pension Trust (2004-2006), consulted the Getty Research Institute (2006-2008) on their purchase of the Long Beach Museum of Art's video archive and created 13 oral histories to accompany "California Video;" directed Steve Turner Contemporary Art (2008-2009), and served as a grants writer for West of Rome Public Art (2009-2010).

From 1997-2000, she served as Curator of Programming for the Santa Monica Museum of Art. While at SMMA, she managed numerous performance events and exhibitions for Liza Lou, Lee Caruso, Andrea Bowers, Robert Mapplethorpe, Pierre Huyghe, Marie-Ange Guilleminot, Yoshitomo Nara and co-curated the influential "Mise en Scene: New LA Sculpture" with Bruce Hainley.

After serving as Director for Baskerville + Watson (1983-1987) and Curt Marcus Gallery (1990-1991), she moved out west to become Media Arts Curator for the Long Beach Museum of Art (1991-1995), where she organized exhibitions in all media such as "The Lost Room;" "The Call: Personal Insights on the Middle East and North Africa;" "Relocations and Revisions: The Japanese-American Internment Reconsidered(featuring a work by Bruce and Norman Yonemoto);" "Virgin Territories;" "Choice Encounters;" "Sugar 'n Spice" (featuring works by 11 LA women artists including Judy Bamber, Jacci Den Hartog, Sharon Ellis, Hilja Keading, Lauren Lesko, Jennifer Steinkamp, Diana Thater, and Pae White);"^[3] "Diaries;" "Gary Hill: Sites Recited;"^[4] "Intelligent Ambience;" "Dentro Brasil;" "Sanja Ivekovic: Frozen Images" (1994) and "New California Video: 1994-1995." On view during the first Gulf War, "The Lost Room" and "The Call" were in collaboration with the Long Beach Opera. "Sites Recited" was Gary Hill's.first career survey

Video Production (1980-1994)

• "John Baldessari," e.g. Grass, Water Heater, Mouths, & Et.(1994) Producer with Michael Owen (Mica-TV) for John Graham and Museum of Modern Art(12:00).
• "Gary Hill: Sites Recited" (1994) Producer, director, editor with Joe Leonardi in collaboration with Gary Hill for Long Beach Museum of Art (60:00).
• "Choice Encounters: Selections from the LBMA Permanent Collection" (1993) Producer, director, editor with Joe Leonardi for Long Beach Museum of Art (30:00).
• "Relocations and Revisions: The Japanese-American Internment Reconsidered" (1991) Producer, director, editor with Joe Leonardi for Long Beach Museum of Art (30:00).
• "Chuck Close, Head-On / The Modern Portrait"(1991) Producer with Michael Owen (Mica-TV) for Museum of Modern Art (13:20).
• "The In-Between" (1990) Producer with Michael Owen (Mica-TV) for Wexner Center for the Arts as part of "New Works for New Spaces: Into the Nineties" exhibition and premiered on "The Late Show", BBC2. Story by novelist Susan Daitch, Music by David Weinstein and Shelley Hirsch (11:41).
• "Art Against AIDS P.S.A." (1989) Producer with Michael Owen and Tom Rubnitz of AmFar public service announcement in collaboration with B-52's. Aired on MTVcable and shown in Cineplex Odeon Corporation theaters (Washington, D.C.) as part of "The Art Against AIDS on the Road" campaign (0:30).
• "The New Urban Landscape" (1988) Producer with Michael Owen (Mica-TV), series of eleven videos profiling nine artists, including a promo and overview of an exhibition held at the World Financial Center, sponsored by Olympia & York. Artists included were Vito Acconci, Dennis Adams/Andrea Blum, Joel Otterson, Kawamata, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Jon Kessler, Jean Nouvel, Stephen Willats, Martha Schwartz, and Haim Steinbach(2:00 to 3:00).
• "N.A.A.O. SPOT" (1988) Producer with Michael Owen (Mica-TV) of 60-second spot for National Association of Artists’ Organizations. Music by A. Leroy (1:00).
• "Cascade/ Vertical Landscapes" (1987) Producer with Michael Owen (Mica- TV) and in collaboration with Dike Blair and Dan Graham. Music by Christian Marclay. A co-production with U.K.’s Channel Four for the series "Ghosts in the Machine" (6:30).
• "John Torreano - Art World Wizard" (1986) Producer with Michael Owen (Mica-TV). Music by A. Leroy (4:30)
• "The Way They Weren't" (1985) Producer (with Jeffrey Turtletaub) for "The Critics’ Voice". Organized by Douglas Blau at White Columns(5:00).
• "Arcade" (1984) Producer (with Lyn Blumenthal in collaboration with Ed Paschke). Music by A. Leroy (11:00)
• "R. M. Fischer: An Industrial" (1983) Producer with Michael Owen (Mica-TV). Music by A. Leroy (3:30)
• "Laurie Simmons: A Teaser" (1982) Producer with Michael Owen (Mica-TV). Music by Mark Bingham (5:00)
• "Richard Prince: Editions" (1982) Producer with Michael Owen (Mica-TV). Music by Mark Bingham (7:30)
• "It Starts at Home" (1981) Scriptwriter and development, produced by Michael Smith and Mark Fischer for Whitney Museum of American Art(27:30).
• "Cindy Sherman: An Interview" (1981) Producer with Michael Owen (Mica-TV (10:00)
• "The Live Show!" (1980) Associate producer and host, produced by Jaime Davidovich, two-part half-hour variety show on Manhattan Cable Television in New York
• "Post-Depression Show" (1975) Producer, director, interviewer, with New York artists Judy Rifka, Bill Jensen, Barbara Schwartz, Porfirio DiDonna (60:00).

Teaching

Klonarides has taught courses at University of California, Los Angeles (2011, 2006, 2005, University of California, Irvine (2008, 2000), California Institute of the Arts (2006, 2005, 2004), Otis College of Art and Design (1997, 1996), Art Center College of Design (1997, 1996), University of California, San Diego (1996), California State University, San Marcos (1996) and University of California, Santa Barbara (1996).

Published Essays

Klonarides has authored numerous articles about artists Nancy Macko,^[5] Miyoshi Barosh,^[6] Alex Slade,^[7] Andy Wing,^[8] Tony de los Reyes,^[9] Bruce Yonemoto,^[10][11] Henry Coombes,^[12] Meg Cranston,^[13] George Stone,^[14] Hilja Keading,^[15] and Anna Bialobroda^[16]

Additional Publications

• "Seduced and Captured: In the Booth with Emily Armstrong and Pat Ivers." Alone At Last: An Interactive Installation Exploring Gender, Sexuality and Desire Before the AIDS Crisis. Howl! Happening: an Arturo Vega Project, New York City, 2015.
• "It’s a Matter of Grey." 6H to 8B. Fellows of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, Curator’s Lab Award 2015. 2015.
• "William Leavitt, Allen Ruppersberg, and Mungo Thomson." X-TRA. 10:3 (Spring, 2008). Pgs. 49-54.
• "Foreword and Acknowledgments." East of the River, Chicano Art Collectors Anonymous. Santa Monica Museum of Art. Santa Monica, CA. 2000.
• "Foreword and Acknowledgments." Mise en Scène: New LA Sculpture. Santa Monica Museum of Art. 2000.
• I Can’t It Is: Theodora Varnay Jones." Vasarely Museum. Budapest. 1996.
• "Is the Site Right?" Art Journal. (John G Hanhardt and Maria Christina Villasenor, eds.)54:4 (Winter 1995), pgs. 77,78.
• "Mondo Cane VR". 6e Semaine International de Video, Saint-Gervais, Geneve, 1995, pgs. 77-79.
• "Michel Auder" interview. BOMB Magazine. Summer 1994. pgs. 8-11. "Interstitial", Intelligente Ambiente catalogue, Ars Electronica 94. pgs. 162-166.
• Collaboration with Stuart Bender and Angelo. High, Kathy and Reese, Marshall (Editors). Felix ("Post Literate" issue). 1:3 (Fall 1993). pgs. 48-49.
• "Raoul Ruiz" interview. BOMB Magazine. Winter 1991. pgs. 14-16.
• "The Alternative Voice." Video Drive-In Program Guide. Central Park Summer Stage. 1990.
• "It's Evening In America." Video Drive-In. IVAM. Valencia. 1989.
• "Television: For Real." Center Quarterly. #38. l0:2. Center for Photography at Woodstock. 1989. pgs. 23-25.
• "Television: For Real." Reprises de Vues. Halle Sud. Geneva. 1988.

References