Oversized: Contemporary Art from the Collection

May 28 – August 20, 2016

Chicago and East Galleries

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The ever-expanding measurements of paintings and photographs have been a topic of interest since the mi-twentieth century with the Abstract Expressionist painters who first challenged the traditional scale of works by creating images that filled museum and gallery walls to their limits. Larger-than-life canvases and photographs invite an extraordinary visual experience in which the viewer cannot help but be immersed in the artwork. Working in large scale allows artists to push the boundaries of art making in unique modes, such as changing the shape of the canvas, integrating the frame into the artwork, perforating the canvas, and using a syringe to apply paint. Selected from the Art Museum’s collection, Oversized presents works by artists, in a variety of mediums and techniques, who typically work in large scale and do so successfully.  

Images:

Left: Hung Liu (Chinese/American, b. 1948), China Mary II, 2006, oil on canvas, 66 x 66 inches, UW Art Museum Acquisitions Fund purchase, 2006.3

Right: Michael Eastman (American, b. 1947), Gehry #2, Seattle, 2011, digital C-print, 60 x 48 inches, W. Sherman and Dorothy Burns Estate Fund Purchase, 2013.17