Modernist design — that once-radical break with the past — is now itself a thing of history.
Indeed, contemporary artists often view modern designs as icons and incorporate them into their own work. The result is meta-modernism, in which the original source is changed and abstracted, and the outcome is self-referential. Using classic elements in new configurations, artists explore the concept of modernism as a style in the playful spirit of critique and homage.
The artists in this exhibition challenge the tenets of modernism head-on, whether working in the United States, Europe, or Latin America, in a range of media. Some recast iconic forms in unexpected materials, while others marry divergent ethos to modernism’s streamlined aesthetics. Often ironic and witty, the exhibition offers a thoughtful critique of issues that extend across design history. Artists include Conrad Bakker, Clarissa Tossin, Terence Gower, Edgar Orlaineta, James Welling, and Elmgreen & Dragset, among others.
Organized by Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Curators: Ginger Gregg Duggan and Judith Hoos Fox of c2-curatorsquared.
Sponsored in part by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Office of the Provost and Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs; Francis P. Rohlen Visiting Artists Fund/College of Fine and Applied Arts; and Krannert Art Museum and partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.
The Palm Springs presentation is funded in part by IKEA.
MetaModern, October 9, 2016 – February 27, 2017, Palm Springs Art Musem Architecture and Design Center, 300 S. Palm Canyon Drive, 760-423-5260; www.psmuseum.org/architecture-design-center
