The Arts Initiative’s 2015 exhibition Open This End: Contemporary Art from the Collection of Blake Byrne received the Ohio Museum Association’s award for Best Exhibition in the category of museums and galleries with operating budgets under $500,000. The exhibition was on view at Urban Arts Space, Hopkins Hall Gallery, and 15th and High from August 25 through Nov. 7, 2015.

This exhibition featured work from acclaimed artists of the past 50 years, including works by Andy Warhol, Mike Kelly, Cindy Sherman, Mark Bradford, Kehinde Wiley and many more. Open This End incorporated numerous themes important to contemporary art and the works intertwined with many social issues, including race, gender, technology, education, philanthropy, communication and ethics. 

This exhibition was made possible with the help from the Skylark Foundation and Blake Byrne himself. Panels and programming were sponsored by Ohio Arts Council, Greater Columbus Arts Council, Office of Diversity and Inclusion and Caroline Whitacre, PhD and Michael Para, MD.

The Felix Gonzalez-Torres work is still on view at the corner of 15th and High. 

For more information about the exhibition, visit the Urban Arts Space.

Andy Warhol, Open this End
© 2015 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York