Curated by Alex Gartenfeld and Stephanie Seidel

Arrangements of Allan McCollum’s iconic Plaster Surrogates, 1982–, occupy museum walls around the world, serving as exemplars of authorial and institutional critique. Yet as this survey of five decades of work will make clear, the artist’s practice now demands a more expansive interpretation. Alongside pieces such as Perfect Vehicles, 1985–, and Over Ten Thousand Individual Works, 1987–, deadpan ideational proxies and imitations of mass-produced abstraction, the show will feature McCollum’s recent collaborations with regional communities and historical institutions. Focusing on production and labor in local contexts, the artist’s geographic explorations reveal an idiosyncratic and visionary practice amid the postmodern critique that frames his oeuvre. Travels to the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University, Saint Louis, September 25, 2020–January 4, 2021.

— Michelle Grabner