On Common Ground: Recent Acquisitions in Contemporary Art October 21, 2017–February 4, 2018
Wangechi Mutu, Forbidden Fruit Picker, 2015, photomontage from printed sources, collage, spray paint, and cut fabric with ink on Mylar and paper board, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund. © Wangechi Mutu
Robert Gober, Untitled, 2014–15, plaster, beeswax, human hair, epoxy putty, cast gypsum polymer, cast pewter, oil, and enamel paint, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund. © Robert Gober
Francis Alÿs, Untitled (Study for Bridge-Puente), 2005–06, oil and encaustic on wood, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund. © Francis Alÿs
Jean-Pierre Larocque, Untitled Head, 1996, stoneware, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Garth Clark and Mark Del Vecchio Collection, gift of Garth Clark and Mark Del Vecchio. © J.P. Larocque
On Common Ground is the latest in a series of focused exhibitions highlighting unique strengths in the MFAH collections. Celebrating recent acquisitions in particular, this installation also introduces a number of works that are new to Houston audiences.
Some of the works on display map the larger landscape, as seen in Wangechi Mutu’s evocation of the Kenyan highlands in The End of carrying All and in Oscar Muñoz’s bird’s-eye view of Cali, Colombia, in Ambulatory. Others close in on domestic spaces, such as Robert Gober’s untitled relief and Tony Oursler’s Hideaway. Huma Bhabha, Nancy Graves, and Jean-Pierre Larocque excavate the figure, whereas works by Francis Alÿs, Jasper Johns, and Julie Mehretu emphasize movement in space. The common ground shared by these artists is their concern not only with the world we live in, but also the world we have made.
This exhibition is organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.