Three installations highlighting the contemporary art of the Dallas Museum of Art and area
collections NOW ON VIEW
Exclusive exhibition focused on Bruce Nauman, featuring a recent gift to the DMA, on view
in the Hoffman Galleries
Currently on view in the Hoffman Galleries at the Dallas Museum of Art are two installations of
important contemporary work drawn from the Museum’s collections as well as a collection of six
Luc Tuymans works from the Dallas community. Mass and Material: Sculpture Since the 1960s
explores the work of artists who have played a key role in redefining the language of sculpture
since the 1960s. Each of the objects and installations included in the exhibition explores a
defining moment in the sculptural practice of the artists who created them. Accompanying this
installation is Focus On: Bruce Nauman, a concise exhibition that follows the progression of
Nauman from his early years as an art student in the 1960s to the present. Both installations are
composed of works from the Museum’s collection of contemporary art and loans from the Dallas
community.
“The Dallas Museum of Art, as well as the Dallas community, has an impressive holding of
contemporary work,” said Bonnie Pitman, The Eugene McDermott Director of the Dallas Museum
of Art. “The three installations in the Hoffman Galleries showcase the passion Dallas has for
contemporary art beginning in the 1960s and highlights the collections of the future with work
from the artist Luc Tuymans.”
Mass and Material: Sculpture Since the 1960s features work by artists Barry Le Va, Charles Ray,
and Bruce Nauman, among others. Working independently, these artists began to dismantle the
idea of what sculpture meant in the mid-1960s, utilizing unconventional materials such as felt,
sand, concrete, industrial steel and lead to rethink traditional notions of mass and space. These
artists disregarded traditional notions of sculpture, moving their work off the plinth or platform into
situations that occupied the space of the viewer, or invited the viewer into a different spatial
dialogue with the object. Mirrors and Shelly Sand by Robert Smithson and Cut, Placed Parallel by
Barry Le Va exemplify these ideas and both are on view as part of Mass and Material: Sculpture
Since the 1960s.
The recent gift of an important early work by Bruce Nauman, Untitled (Lead Piece with Wedge),
1968, served as the catalyst for this installation and is the centerpiece of an exhibition focused
exclusively on Nauman’s work in an adjacent gallery within the Hoffman Galleries.
Focus On: Bruce Nauman showcases the various media the artist has used over the past four
decades, including his own body, rubber and fiberglass, as well as film and video, to create a
challenging body of work.
Nauman has used the evocative power of language in drawings, neon installations and video
scripts, restructuring words to create puns and oxymorons that dismantle and reshape meaning.
Perfect Door/Perfect Odor/Perfect Rodo is a perfect example of Nauman’s exploration of art
expressed simultaneously as both an idea and a form, and his desire to engage the viewer
intellectually and visually.
“At times, his work can appear aggressive or intentionally grating, such as Good Boy/Bad Boy,”
stated Jeffrey Grove, The Hoffman Family Senior Curator of Contemporary Art. “But much of his
work addresses the situation of the artist toiling alone in the studio, confronting the making of his
art. This is perhaps one of the reasons Nauman is seen today as such an important influence on
and inspiration to so many contemporary artists.”
Luc Tuymans in Dallas Collections is also currently on view in the Hoffman Galleries in
conjunction with Luc Tuymans, the first U.S. retrospective of the artist’s work. Luc Tuymans
spans every phase of the artist’s career and features approximately 75 key paintings from 1978 to
the present. It is fitting that the first U.S. retrospective of painting by Luc Tuymans should be
presented in Dallas. The Museum and the Dallas community have in a few short years
assembled an impressive collection of the artist’s work. The six paintings on view in the Hoffman
Gallery reveal the richness and variety of Tuymans’ technique—how he treats different genres,
including still life, landscapes and portraiture, in a manner both direct and enigmatic—and
complement the Luc Tuymans exhibition by providing additional insight into his work.
Luc Tuymans in Dallas Collections, Mass and Material: Sculpture Since the 1960s, and Focus
On: Bruce Nauman are curated by Jeffrey Grove, The Hoffman Family Senior Curator of
Contemporary Art. All three installations will remain on view through October 24, 2010. The
exhibition Luc Tuymans, organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Wexner
Center for the Arts, is on view through September 5, 2010.
About the Dallas Museum of Art
Located in the vibrant Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA)
ranks among the leading art institutions in the country and is distinguished by its innovative
exhibitions and groundbreaking educational programs. At the heart of the Museum and its
programs are its encyclopedic collections, which encompass more than 24,000 works and span
5,000 years of history, representing a full range of world cultures. Established in 1903, the
Museum today welcomes more than 600,000 visitors annually and acts as a catalyst for
community creativity, engaging people of all ages and backgrounds with a diverse spectrum of
programming, from exhibitions and lectures to concerts, literary readings and dramatic and dance
presentations.
The Dallas Museum of Art is supported in part by the generosity of Museum members and donors
and by the citizens of Dallas through the City of Dallas/Office of Cultural Affairs and the Texas
Commission on the Arts.
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Contact:
Kimberly Daniell
214-922-1344
KDaniell@DallasMuseumofArt.org
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