To celebrate the official opening of Ballroom Marfa, independent curator and art consultant Alexander Gray joined forces with the Ballroom staff to organize the group exhibition, OPTIMO: Manifestations of Optimism in Contemporary Art.

Mirroring the vision of Ballroom itself, a non-profit cultural space founded on the belief that art can impact the human spirit positively, OPTIMO brought together nine artists whose work celebrates life, incorporating visual pleasure, humor, interactivity, color, technology, industrial design, politics, landscape, spirituality, and popular culture. The exhibition included site-specific installations, performance-based work, painting, video, photography, and sculpture.

The exhibition was composed of works by leading contemporary artists from around the globe. Martin Creed, the London-based conceptualist who was awarded the prestigious Turner Prize in 2001, exhibited his piece Work No.200 (half the air in a given space), an interactive, room-sized installation of balloons. Karen Finley contributed Psychic Portraits, a collection of drawings produced by Finley during psychic readings (sessions) with Ballroom audience members. Japanese pop artist Takashi Murakami suspended his gigantic eyeball balloons, last seen at the Rockefeller Center, over Ballroom’s courtyard. And Leo Villareal created a new site-specific installation that references the endless sunrises and sunsets of the West Texas sky.

Other artists in the exhibition included Polly Apfelbaum, the artist collective Forcefield, Palestinian video artist Emily Jacir, Brazilain painter Beatriz Milhazes, Adam Pendleton, and the Berlin-based performance duo, Stereo Total. 

OPTIMO brought together artists whose work celebrates the complexities and wonders of contemporary life. These artists bravely envision a future with ever-expanding possibilities.

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