UJHR is an ongoing investigation into the life and work of a just-about-completely-unknown former-California-visual-artist once-named Joanne Rruff. Delivered as an illustrated lecture by curator and G,h founder Jordan Stein, the project is updated and reconsidered over time, with the latest installment representing Stein's most recent findings.
Said one interviewee of Joanne: “I’m not sure what happened to her once she left town around 1984. No one really knows.”
Themes include: The embodied search, fantastical archiving, massive coincidence, plagiarism, the mirror as evasive strategy, the photography of insurance, art historical thresholds, institutional memory, collective conjuring, personal quest, "bad energy," multiple name changes, paper pulp, and framing.
Related characters: Helen Keller, Mark Twain, Maria Nordman, Marian Goodman, Alberta Mayo, Shelly Diekman, Beau Takahara, the Exploratorium, Will Brown, Glass, house, Frank J. Thomas, and Greg Harruff.
Untitled (Joanne [Ha]Rruff) was first presented at Will Brown in conjunction with the exhibition Manitoba Museum of Finds Art on June 1, 2012.
To be presented for the second time at Independent Curators International on Thursday, July 26, 2012.
