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Introduction

The Primacy of Paper

Recent Works from the Collection
January 15 - June 20, 2010

Drawings and prints often function as key components of an artist’s practice, and in recent years, works on paper have come to challenge the primacy of painting and sculpture. The works on paper in this gallery, intended to complement the exhibition Pat Steir: Drawing Out of Line (on view February 19 through July 3 in the Chace Center gallery), share several recurrent themes that resonate with Steir’s artistic exploration, despite their varied conceptual underpinnings.

The relationship of words to images frames the work of Sol LeWitt, Edward Ruscha, and Ann Hamilton, raising questions about the difference in meaning between writing and drawing. Do words and images express substance in the same way, or do words as imagery or in combination with imagery convey something that neither could do on their own? While these works challenge conventional categories of making and knowing, other works on view question the limits of knowledge and of representation by highlighting the fine line between order and chaos. Dorothea Rockburne, Kathy Prendergast, and John Morris explore ordering systems, including mapping, geometry, and economics, both as fearful constraints and as tools that allow us to better understand the world. Finally, Jennifer Bartlett, Shahzia Sikander, Julie Mehretu and Kiki Smith assimilate the language of drawing from a variety of sources including the art-historical, infusing their works with social and personal references. To each of these artists, material concerns—whether the act and process of drawing or the special qualities of paper itself—play an essential role in the creation or open-ended expansion of meaning.

Selected Objects

Jasper Johns, designer

The Dutch Wives (I), 1977

Dorothea Rockburne

Implicit Structure, 1979

Jennifer Losch Bartlett

Day and Night, 1978

Vija Celmins, designer

Untitled (Desert), 1971

Susan Schwalb

Strata #143, 1997

Edward Ruscha, designer

Anchovy, 1969

Sol LeWitt

The Location of a Blue Arc, A Red Parallelogram, A Black Triangle, and a Yellow Trapezoid, 1976

Richard Tuttle

Portland Works, Group II (No. 4), 1976

Richard Tuttle

Portland Works, Group II (No. 15), 1976

Richard Tuttle

Portland Works, Group II (No. 16), 1976

Shahzia Sikander

Web, 2002

Charles Long

The Internalized Page Project Vol. II, 1998

Ann Hamilton

wreathe, 2001

Anton Würth

16.07.2001, 2002

Howardena Pindell

Space Frame, 1968

Julie Mehretu

Local Calm, 2005

John Morris

Untitled, 1992-2000

Kiki Smith

Kneeling Woman with Large Owl, 2004

Kathy Prendergast

Multitudinous Canadian Lakes No. 1, 2003

Robert Barry

Study for Wallpiece, 1983

Edda Renouf

Air-2, 1991

Edda Renouf

Desert Rhythms, 1991

More objects +

Exhibition Checklist

The Primacy of Paper : Recent Works from the Collection

January 15 - June 20, 2010
View Checklist PDF

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