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About the Exhibition
Spencer Linford, MarketingPaper has been the de facto material for communication since the 1900s, but historical records show that humans used various versions of the now commonplace material as early as 104 A.D. If we fast forward to our present, hyper-online world, paper is quickly becoming a relic of a bygone age. Every day we conduct more of our lives online, and paper, despite its long-standing role as the preferred material for storing and disseminating information, increasingly loses its utilitarian value. Humanity’s collective shift toward digital media gives the medium of paper room to breathe, allowing us to consider the material's artistic and aesthetic possibilities with fresh eyes.Paper Trails is a maximalist exhibition that traces the arc of printmaking as a distinct fine art discipline and calls attention to the discipline's influence on the development of contemporary art, particularly sculpture. The exhibition matches the work of internationally renowned printmakers from the Zane Bennett Contemporary Art collection with craft and design objects from form & concept’s emerging canon of artists. Works on paper by international superstars, such as El Anatsui and Robert Motherwell, and innovative sculptures from rising artists, such as Jiha Moon, and established names, such as Jami Porter Lara, confront viewers with a truly global perspective of contemporary art as they wander through the exhibition.The exhibition's central question focuses on the meaning behind materiality. The similarities in palette and texture between artwork pairings make this conceit superficially evident. But if we follow the paper trail of critical discourse surrounding these artists, we discover material to be more than an aesthetic consideration—it is also a potent conceptual conduit. Take the pairing of Black Edge with Pearl and Jami Porter Lara’s signature Oaxacan ceramic vessels. Despite being composed of different materials, Anatsui and Porter Lara’s objects are dark in palette and fluid in form. Beneath their similarly rendered surfaces lie parallel yet unique stories of human migration told through the novel reworking of single-use products.The pattern in El Anatsui’s print references his iconic series of monumental tapestries, which are woven from discarded bottle caps. Anatsui's depiction of this waste evokes the reality of environmental degradation in Africa that can trace its roots back to 19th-century imperialism. Porter Lara’s vessels rework the iconic but disposable form of the plastic bottle, scores of which are left along the US-Mexico border by people looking for a better life, into an elegant and timeless container for the human imagination. Together, Anatsui and Porter Lara’s works chronicle stories that reshape our understanding of the past and forecast our future.Anatsui and Porter Lara’s pairing is just one of many dynamic “paper trails” in the exhibition, which aims to introduce people to new artists, explore the egalitarian nature of printmaking, and capture a particularly rich and textured moment in contemporary art, craft and design. The exhibition posits that paper has regained its status as the preferred method of mass communication, with the only difference being that the stories the medium records are visually rather than linguistically composed. -
Featured Artworks
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ALL PRINTS
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Judy Chicago, Signing the Dinner Party, 2008$ 7,800.00
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Helen Frankenthaler, Causeway, 2001
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Jiha Moon, Take Out, 2013
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Mary Heilmann, Thief of Baghdad, 2007$ 6,000.00
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Richard Anuszkiewicz, Grey Tinted Rainbow, 1991$ 5,000.00
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El Anatsui, Untitled (with Green), 2015
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El Anatsui, Black Edge with Pearl, 2013$ 35,000.00
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Ellsworth Kelly, Blue/Red-Orange/Green, 1970-1971$ 16,000.00
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Robert Motherwell, French Revolution Bicentennial Suite, 1988$ 16,000.00
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Sol LeWitt, Emblemata Portfolio, 2000$ 14,000.00
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Peter Doig, Canoe Island, 2000$ 9,500.00
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Ed Ruscha, Zoot Suit, 2014$ 10,000.00
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Bruce Nauman, Pearl Masque, 1981$ 9,000.00
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Anish Kapoor, Untitled 6, from 12 Etchings, 2007$ 7,500.00
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Polly Apfelbaum, Color Field Notes (Red), 2009$ 7,000.00
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Nancy Graves, Canopic Prestidigitation, 1990$ 6,800.00
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David Shrigley, I'm Sorry For Being Awful, 2018$ 6,200.00
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Jonas Wood, Notepad Doodle 2 (State I), 2018$ 17,500.00
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Jonas Wood, Notepad Doodle 2 (State II), 2018$ 17,500.00
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Sandra Ramos, Panda Atec. war games, 2002$ 3,500.00
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Derrick Adams, Style Variation 4 (Beard), 2020$ 5,500.00
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ALL SCULPTURE
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Willoware Made by A Chinese American Texan, Jennifer Ling Datchuk
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Spinning Crystal Vortex, C. Alex Clark
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Bloodstone, Debra Baxter
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Sierra Nevada Sun, Angel Oloshove
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Salvation, Susan Aaron Taylor
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Memory Board, Matt Magee
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This is Not JLo's Butt, Rosemary Meza-DesPlas
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Endangered, Susan Aaron Taylor
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I wish Buddha free from Danger in Burma #04, Chaw Ei Thein
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As Man Ray, Armond Lara
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LDS-MHB-2LBR-0917CE-KS, Jami Porter Lara
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