Allan McCollum

  • September 30, 2014 7:00 PM

September 30

Allan McCollum, an artist featured in Urban Theater: New York Art in the 1980s, became well known in the late 1970s for his series Surrogate Paintings and continues to be recognized for utilizing methods of mass production to render countless unique forms. As seen in his current solo exhibition Perfect Couples at Petzel Gallery in New York, a recurrent theme in McCollum’s work is the fantasy of ubiquitous distribution, what he refers to as “our dreams of things appearing everywhere at once,” as well as his ongoing challenge to our culture’s tendency to favor unique artworks. To view a mass field of McCollum’s individual shapes as images on the wall or objects on the floor is both awesome and perplexing.

With a penchant toward fostering connections and identifying individuality, McCollum has occasionally created works that directly engage communities and has called on individual craftsmen. In addition to conducting interviews and writing about the work of fellow artists, he has participated in collaborations with a variety of artists, including Andrea Fraser, Matt Mullican, Laurie Simmons, and Andrea Zittel.

For Tuesday Evenings, Allan McCollum looks at the persistence and development of ideas and forms over an enduring and impressive career.

Image: Allan McCollum, Collection of Two Hundred Plaster Surrogates, 1982/1983-85. Enamel on cast Hydrostone. The Rachofsky Collection

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This popular series of lectures and presentations by artists, architects, historians, and critics is free and open to the public each Tuesday from September 23 through November 18.

Lectures begin at 7 pm in the Museum’s auditorium. Seating begins at 6:30 pm and is limited to 250; a live broadcast of the presentations is shown in Café Modern for any additional guests. Free admission tickets (limit two) are available at the Modern’s information desk beginning at 5 pm on the day of the lecture. The museum galleries remain open until 7 pm on Tuesday evenings during the series (general admission applies).

Café Modern serves cocktails, salads, and appetizers on Tuesday nights during the lecture series.

 

The Tuesday Evenings at the Modern lecture series is made possible in part by a grant from the Web Maddox Trust.