exhibitions
Neo-Abstraction: Celebrating a Gift of Contemporary Art from John and Sara Shlesinger July 17 – December 5, 2021
“At the end of 2019, John and Sara Shlesinger donated 110 works of global contemporary art from their personal collection to the Georgia Museum of Art, transforming the museum’s ability to teach and exhibit art of the past 25 years.
This exhibition celebrates their gift by showcasing a selection of works by emerging and established artists from it. “Neo-Abstraction” highlights the resurgence of abstract art among contemporary artists, including an early spin painting by Damien Hirst and a photographic abstraction by Walead Beshty. The works vary in method. Some em- ploy traditional forms of painterly abstraction. Others use technology to remove bodily gesture from the equation. Still others investigate the boundary between the representational and the abstract. But, for each artist, abstraction offers a way to make visible materiality, process, expression and chance. As a result, these works bring us as viewers back to a real, physical and emotional encounter with the objecthood of our world.
Curator: Jeffrey Richmond-Moll, curator of American art
Walead Beshty (American, b. England, 1976), “Black Curl (CMY/Five Magnet: Irvine, CA, January 2nd 2010, Fujicolor Crystal Archive Super Type C, Em. No. 1650-021, 09610),” 2011. Color fiber based photographic paper, 55 × 100 1/2 inches. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; The John and Sara Shlesinger Collection. GMOA 2019.364. ©Walead Beshty. Courtesy the artist, Regen Projects, Los Angeles and Thomas Dane Gallery. Photo: Brian Forrest. Mika Tajima (American, b. 1975), “At the Door,” 2008. Silkscreen, woodcut, cotton rag, CNC Plexiglas, wood, paint, 30 7/8 × 22 inches. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; The John and Sara Shlesinger Collection. GMOA 2019.457. ©Mika Tajima. Image courtesy the artist, Kayne Griffin Corcoran (Los Angeles), and Taro Nasu (Tokyo).
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