Elenor Wilson
American Tourister Still Life, 2009
Glazed porcelain
Various dimensions
Racine Art Museum, Gift of David and Jacqueline Charak
Photography: Bob Barrett
Component Parts: Artworks Made of Multiple Elements
June 2, 2021 – February 12, 2022
at Racine Art Museum
Artworks made of multiple elements are not new to the modern era but contemporary artists have pushed their direction and visual potential. Through conceptual, metaphorical, and experimental lenses, artists literally make one object, or one ultimate work, out of many pieces. Component Parts features a wide range of media and approaches—both two and three-dimensional—that expand this conversation.
Sculptural configurations made of individual pieces can register as single objects with layers of information. Examples include Beth Lipman’s Still Life with Detritus, a sublime re-imagining in glass and wood of a historical still-life including the table it rests upon, and Eddie Dominguez’s ceramic Fish Dinner, a wall-mounted relief that cleverly uses underwater life-themed dinnerware to evoke an aquarium. Whereas Nancy Hild’s painting group, Allegory of the Seven Sins, could be understood as seven individual pieces, its narrative is most powerful when all of the paintings are considered in relation to one another. This part-to-whole idea is further underscored with print portfolios by individual artists—where one or two pieces could stand in for the whole but a different message is conveyed when larger numbers of works are viewed together at once.
Drawn from RAM’s collection, the works in this exhibition are united by conceptual choices in presentation yet they reflect a variety of perspectives and subject matter—from cultural, historical, and domestic issues to material and formal investigations.
Please note that because this is a long exhibition that includes artworks made of fragile materials, some works—and therefore some artists—will be changed midway through.
More About the Exhibition
Artists in the Exhibition
David Chatt, Christine Clark, Tara K. Daly, Stephen Dixon, Eddie Dominguez, Matt Eskuche, David Gilhooly, Keiko Hara, Caren Heft, Nancy Hild, Les Levine, Beth Lipman, Thomas Mann, Karen Theusen Massaro, Megumi Naitoh, Tina Rath, Adolph Rosenblatt, Cindy Sherman, Lorna Simpson, Barbara Lee Smith, Therman Statom, and Elenor Wilson
Component Parts: Artworks Made of Multiple Elements
June 2, 2021 – February 12, 2022
at Racine Art Museum
Elenor Wilson
American Tourister Still Life, 2009
Glazed porcelain
Various dimensions
Racine Art Museum, Gift of David and Jacqueline Charak
Photography: Bob Barrett
Artworks made of multiple elements are not new to the modern era but contemporary artists have pushed their direction and visual potential. Through conceptual, metaphorical, and experimental lenses, artists literally make one object, or one ultimate work, out of many pieces. Component Parts features a wide range of media and approaches—both two and three-dimensional—that expand this conversation.
Sculptural configurations made of individual pieces can register as single objects with layers of information. Examples include Beth Lipman’s Still Life with Detritus, a sublime re-imagining in glass and wood of a historical still-life including the table it rests upon, and Eddie Dominguez’s ceramic Fish Dinner, a wall-mounted relief that cleverly uses underwater life-themed dinnerware to evoke an aquarium. Whereas Nancy Hild’s painting group, Allegory of the Seven Sins, could be understood as seven individual pieces, its narrative is most powerful when all of the paintings are considered in relation to one another. This part-to-whole idea is further underscored with print portfolios by individual artists—where one or two pieces could stand in for the whole but a different message is conveyed when larger numbers of works are viewed together at once.
Drawn from RAM’s collection, the works in this exhibition are united by conceptual choices in presentation yet they reflect a variety of perspectives and subject matter—from cultural, historical, and domestic issues to material and formal investigations.
Please note that because this is a long exhibition that includes artworks made of fragile materials, some works—and therefore some artists—will be changed midway through.
More About the Exhibition
Artists in the Exhibition
David Chatt, Christine Clark, Tara K. Daly, Stephen Dixon, Eddie Dominguez, Matt Eskuche, David Gilhooly, Keiko Hara, Caren Heft, Nancy Hild, Les Levine, Beth Lipman, Thomas Mann, Karen Theusen Massaro, Megumi Naitoh, Tina Rath, Adolph Rosenblatt, Cindy Sherman, Lorna Simpson, Barbara Lee Smith, Therman Statom, and Elenor Wilson
Sample of Work in the Exhibition
Click/tap an image for more information
Exhibitions at RAM are made possible by:
Platinum Partners
The Estate of Karen Johnson Boyd
David Charak
Judith and David Flegel Fund
Ron and Judith Isaacs
Windgate Foundation
Diamond Partners
Ruffo Family Foundation
Ruth Foundation for the Arts
Diane Zebell
Gold Partners
Anonymous
A.C. Buhler Family
Robert E. Kohler Jr. Fund
Osborne and Scekic Family Foundation
Reliance Controls
Trio Foundation of St. Louis
W.T. Walker Group, Inc.
Silver Partners
Anonymous
Sandy and Gus Antonneau
Baird
Lucy G. Feller
Ben and Dawn Flegel
Sharon and Tom Harty
Dave and Judy Hecker
Paula Kalke
Horizon Retail Construction, Inc.
Johnson Financial Group
Lang Family Foundation
Dorothy MacVicar
Jan Serr & John Shannon
Sandra Shove
Willard and Mary Walker
Bronze Partners
Carol Baylon
Rose and Peter Christensen
Dave’s Wine Garage
Educators Credit Union
Patricia and Richard Ehlert
Express Employment Professionals
Deborah Ganaway
Carol Griseto
Hitter’s Baseball
SC Johnson
Bill and Debbie Keland
Nancy and Nick Kurten
Susan Manalli
Norbell Foundation
JoAnna Poehlmann
Rasmussen Diamonds
Harold and Lois Solberg
Kathy Stranghellini
Tito’s
Twin Disc
Janna Waldeck
Barbara Waldman
Media Sponsor
