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“Works Since 1969" at ICA Miami

Courtesy Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami.

 

                                                                    ICA MIAMI AUDIO TOUR

Works: 1970–1974

On the occasion of Allan McCollum’s first US museum retrospective currently mounted at the ICA Miami, Petzel is pleased to present a special online exhibition of the artist’s rarely seen early paintings. Though the ICA Miami is temporarily closed due to COVID concerns, the show will be extended upon reopening and will subsequently travel to the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum in St. Louis.

Over the past 50 years, McCollum has explored how objects achieve public and personal meaning in a world caught up in the contradictions between unique handmade artworks and objects of mass production. The works presented here focus on some of his earliest forays into art: the Bleach Paintings and Constructed Paintings. Dating from the early 1970s, they represent a key transitional moment anticipating the artist’s lifelong preoccupation with serial production and strategies of display.

Allan McCollum - Early Works - Viewing Room - Petzel Gallery

Installation view, Constructed Paintings, Jack Glenn Gallery, Corona del Mar, California, 1971

Bleach Paintings

In this series, system and chance combine to create distinct compositions imbued with unforeseen accidents that expose the materials and process of their own making. To create the Bleach Paintings, McCollum first used gray household dye on an unstretched piece of canvas. After masking a series of horizontal stripes with tape, he poured the bleach over the surface. Once the tape and bleach were removed, a linear pattern remained, formed by the disappearance of the gray dye where the bleach had soaked into the canvas.

Allan McCollum - Early Works - Viewing Room - Petzel Gallery

McCollum in his studio, Venice, California, 1972

 

 

Every project I've done has been an inquiry into
what it is we look for in an artwork and an attempt...
to relativize that process and put into context with
other objects that accomplish similar results.​

–Allan McCollum

Allan McCollum - Early Works - Viewing Room - Petzel Gallery

Constructed Paintings in process, Venice, California, 1972

Constructed Paintings

The Constructed Paintings are additive and expansive. McCollum started with a series of small strips of dyed canvas and worked outward adhering the parts with industrial caulking in an overlapping manner that evoke the repetitive labor of brickwork or tilework. Because the cloth absorbs the dye unevenly, the edges and folds appear darker than the middle areas. He then caulked together the variegated strips, carefully juxtaposing dark, saturated pieces of canvas and much lighter passages to create the pattern. While his mechanized process remains consistent, no two Constructed Paintings are alike as he used a different systematic approach to arrive at a unique pattern for each work.

Allan McCollum, Collection of Five Plaster Surrogates

Allan McCollum

Collection of Five Plaster Surrogates

1982/92

Enamel on cast hydrostone

Dimensions variable

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Allan McCollum, The Shapes Project: Collection of Twelve Perfect Couples

Allan McCollum

The Shapes Project: Collection of Twelve Perfect Couples

2005/2018

Acrylic with varnish on New England Rock Maple with cradled basswood panels

Each panel size:

10 x 10 inches

25.4 x 25.4 cm

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Allan McCollum, Susan Holtz

Allan McCollum

Susan Holtz

1971

Canvas, dye, boat caulking

90 x 90 inches

228.6 x 228.6 cm

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Detail, Susan Holtz

Detail

Susan Holtz

1971

Allan McCollum, Untitled

Allan McCollum

Untitled

1971

Canvas, dye, boat caulking

106 x 105 inches

269.2 x 266.7 cm

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Detail, Untitled

Detail

Untitled

1971

Allan McCollum, Canto III

Allan McCollum

Canto III

1972

Canvas, lacquer stain, varnish, silicone adhesive caulking

42 x 42 inches

106.7 x 106.7 cm

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Detail, Canto III

Detail

Canto III

1972

Allan McCollum, Beauty is as Beauty Does

Allan McCollum

Beauty is as Beauty Does

1972

Canvas squares, lacquer stain, varnish, silicone adhesive caulking

70 x 135 inches

177.8 x 342.9 cm

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Detail, Beauty is as Beauty Does

Detail

Beauty is as Beauty Does

1972

Allan McCollum, Object Lesson

Allan McCollum

Object Lesson

1973

Canvas, silicone adhesive, glitter, acrylic paint

39 x 133 inches

99.1 x 337.8 cm

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Detail, Object Lesson

Detail

Object Lesson

1973

Allan McCollum, Deep Connections

Allan McCollum

Deep Connections

1973

Canvas, silicone adhesive, acrylic paint

45.5 x 243 inches

115.6 x 617.2 cm

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Detail, Deep Connections

Detail

Deep Connections

1973

Allan McCollum, Untitled

Allan McCollum

Untitled

1974

Canvas, glitter, sand, silicone adhesive, acrylic paint

39 x 59.5 inches

99.1 x 151.1 cm

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Detail, Untitled

Detail

Untitled

1974

Allan McCollum, The Shapes Project: Collection of Sixty Perfect Couples

Allan McCollum

The Shapes Project: Collection of Sixty Perfect Couples

2005/2012

Acrylic with varnish on New England Rock Maple with cradled basswood panels

Each panel size: 10 x 10 inches; 25.4 x 25.4 cm

Inquire
Allan McCollum - Early Works - Viewing Room - Petzel Gallery

Bleach Painting outside the artist's studio, Santa Monica, California, 1970

Allan McCollum - Early Works - Viewing Room - Petzel Gallery

 

 

 

McCollum with Constructed Painting in his studio, Venice, California, 1971

Allan McCollum - Early Works - Viewing Room - Petzel Gallery

Installation view, Allan McCollum, Works: 1968–1977, Petzel, 2017

McCollum on "Constructed Paintings"

 
On the occasion of Meridians at Art Basel Miami Beach 2019.

 

 

 

Downloadables

"Allan McCollum's Unstretched Canvases" by Meredith Malone
"Allan McCollum's Unstretched Canvases" by Meredith Malone