Allan McCollum

McCollum’s Four Plaster Surrogates is a group of related rectangular objects that differ somewhat in size and frame color. They resemble conventional paintings on canvas, but they are actually cast-plaster simulations whose blank surfaces have

no visible content. The painting surrogates are so

similar and impersonal that they seem to be mech­anically mass-produced. By subverting traditional categories and aesthetic values such as style, subject matter, craftsmanship, personal expression, and originality, McCollum questions the role of artworks today and the artists who produce them. He underscores the social and economic function of art as a commodity and how it may serve as decoration or as an empty sign of class, power, and prestige.