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Introduction

Multi-Part Art

Contemporary Works in the Collection
July 11, 2008 - March 29, 2009

The history of art has a rich tradition of multi-part compositions. Renaissance altarpieces and narrative cycles composed of a number of separate but related elements, for example, come to mind. Today, contemporary artists working in a variety of materials, styles, and formats are extending the tradition in radically new directions.

This installation presents painting, sculpture, and video by 19 artists. Some of these artworks eliminate any obvious representational content, although several are based on historical events or refer to particular phenomena. A number of recent acquisitions are being exhibited at the Museum for the first time, including a group of works that have been purchased through The Richard Brown Baker Fund for Contemporary British Art, established in 2003. Earlier pieces date back to the 1960s, among them several important examples from the Museum’s Nancy Sayles Day Collection of Modern Latin American Art.

The selection of sculpture is especially broad, ranging from works that feature sewn textiles, glass plates, wood furniture, or ceramics to others made with painted steel or elastic cord. Some consist of a pair of objects, whereas others are composed of many more parts. In some cases, the elements are joined together and shown in a particular configuration, in contrast to those where individual partsare rearranged, displayed separately, or located at a distance from each other. Sequence, juxtaposition, andrepetition are key underlying principles. Despite dissimilari­ties of form and content, all the works gain richness because the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Selected Objects

Frederick L. Sandback

Three Unit Corner Piece, ca. 1968

Fernando de Szyszlo

La Ejecución de Tupac-Amaru XII (The Execution of Tupac-Amaru XII), 1965

Robert M. Wilson

Stalin Chairs, 1977
No Image Available

Luis Felipe Noé

Three Doors, 1964
No Image Available

Irene Lawrence

Motives for Writing XIX, 2002

Josiah McElheny

Studies in the Search for Infinity, 1997-1998

Allan McCollum

Four Plaster Surrogates, 1984

Yinka Shonibare, MBE

Un Ballo in Maschera (Courtiers V), 2004

Betty Woodman

Balustrade Relief Vase 97-14, 1997
No Image Available

Louise Lawler

Fixed Intervals, 1988-1992

Roy McMakin

Chair Set with Mirror, 2002

Patty Chang, video artist

In Love, 2001

Martin Boyce

Ventilation Grills (Punching through the Clouds), 2004

Martin Boyce

We Are Still Here (Think About Why We Are Still Here), 2005

Tacita Dean

Kronos, 2004
No Image Available

Anna Von Mertens

Black and White, 2004
No Image Available

Kiki Smith

Girl with Squirrel, 1999

Louise Hopkins

2/7, 1997

Joanne Tatham

This Teapot Has Reached the Limit Conditions of Its Own Rhetoric, 2006

Joanne Tatham

Now This Has Reached the Limit Conditions of Its Own Rhetoric, 2005

Andrew Lord

Tasting, 1996 - 1998

More objects +

RISD Museum

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