12 Apr What’s in a Name?
In grad school I curated an exhibition with a woman who got married three weeks before the opening. I remember a conversation we had in her car, on our way to a studio visit, where she told me her father asked if she was taking her husband’s name. He was versed enough in the art business to know keeping maiden names, or hyphenating surnames, was a common professional practice for women; this helps to establish and maintain continuity throughout one’s career, linking previous successes with future ones.
What happens when an institution embraces a new name? The California State University, Fullerton Main Art Gallery is now the Begovich Gallery, in honor of two philanthropists who have provided the CSUF Art Department with endless support. Despite a low profile among other Orange County Museums, the CSUF Main Art Gallery Fullerton has a history of presenting exceptional exhibitions. Past shows have included such notable contemporary artists as Judy Chicago, Kara Walker, Enrique Chagoya, Shag and Chris Jordan.
Will the Begovich need to build a new reputation from scratch? The inaugural exhibition, compromised of first generation art faculty from CSUF, is more than an homage to a pre-Begovich era. Art Department Faculty: The First Generation is a celebration of the legacy the Nicholas and Lee Begovich invested in and a reminder of how much change has occurred in the last forty years. After new directors, new staff, countless guest curators, hundreds of artists, the CSUF Main Art Gallery has grown in terms of exhibitions, education and publications. The name has nothing to do with the progress that will be made; it is just the beginning of a new chapter and a reminder that this institution has earned support for all its accomplishments, past and future.-Krystal
Upcoming Exhibitions in the Begovich Gallery: Metadataphile: The Collapse of Visual Information
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