Details

Title

Twenty Plaster Surrogates

Artist/Maker

Allan McCollum (American, born 1944)

Date

1983–1985

Medium

Enamel on solid-cast Hydro-Stone

Dimensions

20 1/8 x 16 1/8 x 1 7/8 inches; 18 3/16 x 1 7/8 x 1 7/8 inches; 17 1/8 x 10 1/16 x 1 3/4 inches; 16 x 13 1/16 x 1 7/8 inches; 15 1/4 x 10 1/4 x 1 9/16 inches; 14 5/8 x 11 3/4 x 1 11/16 inches, 13 x 10 1/4 x 1 9/16 inches; 12 5/16 x 11 5/16 x 1 5/8 inches; 12 x 8 5/6 x 1 9/16 inches; 11 5/16 x 10 x 1 9/16 inches; 11 1/16 x 8 13/16 x 1 9/16 inches; 10 3/4 x 8 x 1 9/16 inches; 9 1/2 x 7 1/4 x 1 3/16 inches; 8 1/2 x 6 1/4 x 1 1/8 inches; 7 3/4 x 7 1/4 x 1 inches; 7 x 4x 3/4 inches; 6 1/16 x 5 x 3/4 inches; 6 1/16 x 4 x 3/4 inches; 5 x 4 x 3/4 inches

Credit

Purchase with funds from Alfred Austell Thornton in memory of Leila Austell Thornton and Albert Edward Thornton, Sr., and Sarah Miller Venable and William Hoyt Venable

Accession #

1994.49 a-t

Location

Currently not on view

Allan McCollum’s “surrogate” paintings critique the social conventions, desires, and elitism associated with conventional painting. In lieu of a picture within the frame, here he provides only a black void. By calling these works surrogates, McCollum refers to the Hydro-Stone rectangles as mere stand-ins that simulate painting. Presenting the surrogates clustered in groups like a nineteenth-century Salon exhibition, he accentuates their interchangeable uniformity. In addition, McCollum employs a team of assistants to make these works, thereby parodying both the value placed on the artist’s hand and traditional notions of authorship.

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