Assembled by the esteemed Toronto collector and curator Ydessa Hendeles, this selection of 21 Cindy Sherman Untitled Film Stills demonstrates the enigmatic collecting style of their original owner. Launching her eponymous foundation in 1988, Hendeles has amassed a world-renowned collection of some of the finest examples of contemporary art by artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Maurizio Cattelan, Cindy Sherman, Bruce Nauman, and Jeff Wall—many of which Hendeles has already placed in such notable institutions as the Art Gallery of Toronto and Glenstone in Maryland. Curating year-long exhibitions, Hendeles meticulously transformed her downtown Toronto gallery into a wunderkammer that while decidedly contemporary was not restricted to modern objects. Meticulously selecting and acquiring each object she exhibited, Hendeles has described herself as “an object-savant, and an exhibition-maker,” stating, “I work with ideas and things, and I’ve always used an artistic practice to curate my shows” (R. Everett-Green, “End of an era: Ydessa Hendeles has closed her Toronto gallery doors,” The Globe and Mail, October 30, 2012). As a result, the Ydessa Hendeles Art Foundation hosted some of the most striking and idiosyncratic exhibitions over the past quarter-century until it closed in the fall of 2012.
Staying true to her own interests, Hendeles’ projects became deeply personal, simultaneously hinting at private resonances while engaging with the grander scheme of history and culture. Approaching her work as a “project,” Hendeles adopted an intrinsically ambiguous term already favored by many of the artists to which she was drawn. Like Sherman, Hendeles was concerned with the careful choreography of her own art, as well as examining the past through a contemporary discourse. “When I make shows,” she explained, “I don’t discriminate between categories of object…I start with an open mind, approaching everything as a curiosity—including contemporary art. If an element can summon a feeling, an insight or a metaphor for me—whether on its own or juxtaposed with other elements—I position it accordingly in an exhibition. I create contexts for viewers to have a contemporary-art experience. Even though pieces might be culled from the past, I display them as a means of talking about the present” (Y. Hendeles interview with A. Ferrando, “Curatorial Compositions,” Flash Art, May 2012).
For more on Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills, visit the preview of our Nov 12-13 Post-War + Contemporary Art auctions.
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