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The latest installation of REMIX The Collection continues to offer Gallery visitors new and exciting ways to experience the Gallery's permanent collection. This thematic exploration of beloved favorites, as well as some new and exciting additions, reinforces the vast depths and relevance of art.
One of the themes highlighted is "Pop Post Pop," which explores the Gallery's pop art collection and the movement's renaissance during the 1970s and 1980s. While pop art began in England during the 1950s, it exploded on the scene in the United States in the 1960s. Revolting against the prevailing principles surrounding contemporary art and life at the time, pop artists focused their attention on familiar imagery culled from popular culture. By mining their subjects from comic strips, movies, fashion magazines, advertisements, and even common, everyday household products, these artists infused art with a sense of wit and humor. Nearly fifteen years later, while some pop artists continued to work in the same vein, neo-pop or post-pop artists were inspired by the pattern and decorating phenomenon of the mid-1970s and began revisiting pop culture. Artists on view include Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Kim MacConnell, Claes Oldenburg, Andy Warhol, and Tom Wesselmann.
Another theme, "Boundaries," focuses on the phenomenon of "hard-edged" painting that evolved out of post-painterly abstraction during the 1960s. The term, coined by California art critic Jules Langster in 1959, describes a group of abstract painters – predominantly those working and living on the west coast – who reacted against the expressive forms of the abstract expressionists. These artists adopted an impersonal approach to painting and the resulting works encompass rich, solid colors, clean surfaces, and straight-edged forms. Some of the artists on view include Al Held, Ellsworth Kelly, Brice Marden, and Kenneth Noland.
Holly E. Hughes
Associate Curator
This exhibition is made possible through the generous support of an anonymous donor.
The Gallery’s ongoing and frequent efforts to REMIX the permanent collection continue in the Small Sculpture Gallery with a selection of artworks tracing the history of modern and contemporary sculpture. A space that originally served as the lecture hall for the Albright Art School, and later functioned as the museum’s library, the Gallery for Small Sculpture is now a special exhibition space for this form of art.
This installation is a thematic presentation of work in a medium that has transformed itself to reflect the changing concepts of reality, the unconscious, and social conventions. The installation is highlighted by a number of contemporary works that provide exquisite contrast to these formal and material discoveries. Works by Janine Antoni, Lynda Benglis, Pierre Bonnard, Lesley Dill, Paul Gauguin, Isamu Noguchi, Pablo Picasso, and Lucas Samaras are included.
Claire Schneider
Associate Curator of Contemporary Art