Skip to main content

Visit Main Menu Block

  • Hours & Admission
  • Accessibility & Amenities
  • Tours & Group Visits
  • Visitor Guidelines

Exhibitions and Events Main Menu Block

  • Exhibitions
  • Events

Art and Design Main Menu Block

  • The Collection
  • Projects & Publications
  • Past Exhibitions

Footer Main

  • Become a Member
  • Give
  • Who We Are
  • Opportunities
  • Rent the Museum

Image

Previous 1 2 / 2 Next

Leidy Churchman

Cart in Theory, 2008

Description

Maker

  • Leidy Churchman, b. 1979, American

Title

Cart in Theory

Year

2008

Medium

Oil on wood, rocks and bell; found metal cart

Materials/Techniques

Supports

  • wood ~ rock ~ bell

Dimensions

55.9 x 54.6 x 30.5 cm (22 x 21 1/2 x 12 inches)

Type

  • Sculpture

Credit

Lippitt Acquisition Fund

Object Number

2011.18

Projects & Publications

Publications

Manual / Issue 6

Assemblage
Read Online

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Everyday Things

April 13, 2012 - February 24, 2013

Leidy Churchman uses oil paint to transform a variety of found materials into strikingly realistic objects of a similar size and shape: squashed cigarette butts are made from twigs, juicy-looking strawberries are actually rocks, and what looks like a convincing hunk of blue cheese is in fact a rough, angular piece of stone. A worn-looking replica of a prominent art book, Art in Theory, 1900–2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas, painted on a thick wedge of wood, appears on the bottom shelf. Using artifice to question the nature of objects, Cart in Theory (a pun on the book’s title), asks us to consider whether the cart becomes theoretical instead of functional when it is lifted out of “real life” and placed in an artwork. The artist frequently added and removed various objects to and from this work prior to the museum’s acquisition. It was only then that it became a true “still life”—finite in quantity and fixed forever in its arrangement and presentation.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in Copyright. This object is Cart in Theory with the accession number of 2011.18. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

RISD Museum

  •  Facebook
  •  Twitter
  •  Instagram
  •  Vimeo
  •  Pinterest
  •  SoundCloud

Footer Main

  • Become a Member
  • Give
  • Who We Are
  • Opportunities
  • Rent the Museum

Footer Secondary

  • Image Request
  • Press Office
  • Rent the Museum
  • Terms of Use