THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD

THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD

Art Gallery Welcomes First Exhibit by Alumnus

BY LISA NUTTING
Rice News Staff
Jan. 28, 1999

After Michael Petry’s 1981 graduation from Rice, his grandfather took him on a trip to Las Vegas to celebrate. It was a roll of the dice at Caesar’s Palace that destined the new graduate for London–a week later he boarded a plane for Europe.

With the options of attending graduate school at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Public Policy or venturing to Europe, Petry decided to postpone a scholarship to take a year off from his studies after finishing a double degree in math/science and art at Rice.

As grandson and grandfather left for their Las Vegas trip, the El Paso native wasn’t sure just where he wanted to spend that year. But, while gambling at the Vegas casino, the pair soon came up with an idea to assign a destination to each number on the dice. Petry tossed the dice and, as they rolled to a stop, soon found he was destined for London.

What Petry planned would be a year’s visit has resulted in a successful career as a London-based multimedia artist. He has lived and worked there for the past 17 years and hasn’t looked back.

But Petry has come back–to Rice, that is.

In the first-ever exhibition at Rice University Art Gallery by an alum, Petry’s installation work, “The History of the World,” opened to a crowd of nearly 300 on Jan. 21 and will run through Feb. 28. For a visual, know that Petry incorporated about 72 tons of fine white sand in the exhibit. That’s five full truck loads.

“It’s exciting to be back at Rice–to give something back,” Petry said. “What’s important to me, in terms of the students, is for them to see what they’re doing [in school] can have an effect.”

Through his exhibit, Petry says he hopes to convey two very different ideas on the history of the world. First, there is the written history–how civilizations develop and the march of time. Secondly, there is the personal history of the world, which is rarely seen but found in the heart; this also begins and ends with each individual, he said.

“As a gay man, I’m interested in what happens to individuals,” he said.

Crediting his Rice education, where he studied and gained tools in both science and art, Petry said, “My work in the arts has been about an exploration of science and art and the interchange between the two–and how that interchange has been perceived by us.”

Petry’s visual work focuses on installation art practice, but also includes performance art and painting. He founded the Media Arts Group in 1982 and has continued to make live works, including “An Englishman, an Irishman and a Frenchman,” an opera based on the lives of W.H. Auden, Oscar Wilde and Jean Cocteau, seen last year at the German National Gallery in Bonn. Petry also performed his “Uncle Mikey Fine Art Game Show” for the Venice Biennale.

He co-founded the Museum of Installation in London in 1990 and continues to act as a co-director. He wrote “Installation Art,” published by Thames and Hudson and the Smithsonian Institution with his co-directors in 1994. Petry founded the Museum of Contemporary Art, London, and curated its opening show, “Abstract Eroticism,” an exhibition in book form, in 1996. He also teaches part time at the Royal College of Art.

For those with inquiring minds: Be assured the 72 tons of sand will be put to good use. A portion will be donated to a charity organization, one truck load will be used in a Shepherd School production in March, and the remaining sand will be stored by Facilities & Engineering for use in future campus construction projects.

Gallery hours are: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, open until 8 p.m. Thursdays; noon to 5 p.m. Sunday; closed Mondays and university holidays. For more information call (713) 527-6069.

The Rice University Art Gallery is located in Houston’s Museum District on the Rice campus at 6100 Main St. in Sewall Hall. To reach the gallery, enter the university through Entrance 1 at the corner of Main and Sunset. Turn left at the grassy common area then take a quick right. The gallery is located straight ahead and parking is to the left. For more information about Petry’s exhibit call (713) 527-6069.

Petry has another show, “The Fluid Man,” on exhibit at the Devin Borden Hiram Butler Gallery, located at 4520 Blossom, (713) 863-7097. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. “The Fluid Man” is running simultaneously with the Rice exhibit.