David Andersen, former Frye exhibition designer, faces the often difficult task of turning curatorial vision into reality. Spectatorship and Desire, for which chief curator Robin Held envisioned a salon-style hang of the collection similar to the way Charles and Emma Frye lived with their art, presented an installation challenge unlike any Andersen had undertaken in his nine years at the Frye.

From inception to installation, the project involved close communication between Held, Andersen, and the Frye’s curator of collections Donna Kovalenko. Referencing photographs of the Fryes’ home, the team imagined a floor-to-ceiling hang of 143 artworks (from the original 232 in the collection), many of which had never before been on public view. According to Andersen, “This is a dense exhibition with the impact of the whole being far greater than its parts.”

Andersen’s primary challenge was to fit uniquely sized and shaped works onto six walls, an undertaking he compares to doing a jigsaw puzzle. Another challenge of the salon-style hang was lighting. A glare is cast on paintings hung high on the wall where the angle of light becomes more acute. In addition, painted surfaces react differently to light. With so many different paintings, it was not feasible to light each individually. The exhibition showcases a collection, rather than individual works, so Andersen was willing to sacrifice optimal lighting to accomplish a particular style of hang. And, he knew that “every painting from a certain angle would be seen without glare.”

So how did Andersen put together this jigsaw of paintings? Knowing that even a quarter-inch discrepancy in one painting’s measurement could throw off an entire wall, Andersen and Kovalenko undertook the task of re-measuring each artwork in the Frye collection. Andersen then produced digital images of the paintings to fit the scale of the exhibition design model—a “dollhouse” for scaled reproductions.

Following Charles and Emma Frye’s example, Andersen placed works in the model according to size rather than theme or subject matter. Working wall by wall, he noticed that two walls had taken on subjects—women and animals. Once the scaled reproductions were laid out in the model, additional measurements were taken because Andersen wanted the exhibition to have a contained presentation in which the artworks all fit in uniform blocks parallel to the architectural lines of the building. This linear presentation makes the viewing much easier.

The calculations took a week to complete, but Andersen’s careful attention to detail allowed the works in both galleries to be hung in just four days. The beautiful results are a true testament to his multifaceted talents.

This article originally appeared in the Winter 2005 edition of FRYE magazine.