ED HADDAWAY -- Popejoy Hall, UNM Art Galleries

BY DAVID PERRY

ALBUQUERQUE THE MAGAZINE

       THE PROFESSIONAL ARTIST'S KIT, OR HOW TO BECOME A FAMOUS ARTIST, is a totally refreshing and delightful nod to the work of Ed Haddaway which presently highlights the University Art Gallery at Popejoy Hall at UNM in Albuquerque. Long overdue, UNM's formal tribute to Haddaway is small but certainly the “Haddaway Circus" that it should be. Those familiar with the sculpture of Ed Haddaway best know his magical, fantastic parades of bizarre animals, convoluted machines, and manic humanoid personalities which have devilishly frolicked through many exhibitions at the Shidoni Contemporary Gallery.

            The strong influences of Miro, Calder, and the cut-out paper works of the aged Matisse are ever-present, but Haddaway is a true original who refuses to dilute his joy of creating or simply being himself with aesthetic theory or concerns of validity. Many of Haddaway’s off hand "comments" are cloaked in a self-deprecating humor drawn from his years of “paying his dues” in the artworld. “The money needed to prove you are a good artist is exorbitant” he joked,” I could really use a loan to get caught up on all this dues-paying.”

            I have many favorite “Haddaway Stories.”  Last year the artist gave a talk that explored the idea that his mature sculptures are the physical manifestation of objects which he dreamed of "building" as a child, but which he has had to wait until he became an adult, with access to adult tools, to realize. Haddaway's works are personified by the innocent anonymity of childhood, but these are children thrust reluctantly into the sinister realm of an adult world. The pieces in this exhibition seem to ask of each other, "Who's going to take care of us NOW?"

            She Had It is a sixteen-foot-high juggling jester which acts as the sentinel at the entrance to the Popejoy Hall galleries. Comically and self-consciously human, the towering, peaceful giant appears to nervously suspect that the shorter visitors to the space might try to sneak a peek up his/her very short frock. The humble room which hosts Haddaway's sculpture lends a special camaraderie to the five painted steel works which huddle together as if sharing a lewd joke or the secret of some recent prank.

            Among such traditionally skewed Haddaway titles are: Three O'Clock Hunger and The Elegant Game of Tag. One undeniable triumph, On Relatives and Other Strangers, emerges as a singular masterwork. Composed of two speckled rectangles of rustily textured steel which teeter precariously on spindly Giacometti legs, On Relatives and Other Strangers intimates the "Hello, I must be going" posturing of an "open" society without ears.

            This exhibition is a "must-see" experience energized with two hilarious Haddaway/Forshay videos: The Professional Artist's Kit, and Bound for Fame, Bound for Glory, which parody the art world with a wicked zest that defies and transcends the written review.

January/February 1993