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Contemporary Art

Loosely defined as the art of today or the art of our lifetime, the term “contemporary art” is usually used more specifically to describe artworks created since the 1980s or 1990s. For collection purposes, the Frye Art Museum currently delineates the scope as 1990 to the present. In the more general sense, the Frye has collected and exhibited contemporary—or contemporaneous—art since its opening in 1952. This commitment to the art and culture of the present was catalyzed by Museum founders Charles and Emma Frye, who amassed a collection of paintings made within their own lifetimes and often purchased works directly from living artists. Over the last seven decades, directors of the Museum have each brought their own interests and interpretations to bear on the Frye’s engagement with contemporary art and thereby shaped a distinctive collection. Prior to the tenure of Elsa “Midge” Bowman (Director, 2004–09), and often counter to dominant trends in art of the time, the Frye’s leadership focused exclusively on exhibiting and collecting representational art, citing Charles and Emma Frye’s preferences for figurative and landscape painting. Under Bowman’s direction, the exhibitions program at the Frye expanded into areas like video art and performance that questioned and upended the definition of representational art. In 2008, the Museum’s mission was revised to embrace art in its myriad forms. The Frye’s contemporary art collection has grown significantly since that time, reflecting the diversity of the institution’s engagement with local, national, and international artists working today.

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Title Artist Medium Date
Pink on Black Group   Bradford, Katherine   Acrylic on canvas  2022 
Ground of Ground   Harvey IV, Harry Gould   Black walnut from the Delano Sawmill, white oak from Prudence Island, MDF, colored pencil, charcoal, gouache, and pigments of goldenrod, Aronia Viking chokecherry, and rose petals  2022 
Stylite Altarpiece   Seifu, Eden   Acrylic on canvas   2022 
Night Forest   Shapiro, Ann Leda   Watercolor and watercolor pencil on archival paper  2022 
After Boucher: Untitled   Vaughan, Molly Jae   Oil pencil on paper  2022 
Formation   Akashi, Kelly   Chromogenic crystallograph in aluminum artist's frame  2021 
Baby Blue   Boafo, Amoako   Oil on canvas  2021 
Three Slices   Boafo, Amoako   Oil on canvas  2021 
For Fun   Johnson-Ricks, Khari   Watercolor on paper with acetate  2021 
Allegory of the Raging Sun   Lyons, Kat   Oil on canvas  2021 
Mangahufo' I famaguon   McDaniel, Gisela   Oil on panel, found objects, sound  2021 
Butterfly   Ramirez, Bony   Acrylic, soft oil pastel, color pencil, wallpaper, metal chain, dried coconuts  2021 
Madrone + Mullan   Wechsler, Sadie   Archival inkjet print in madrone artist's frame  2021 
Black Face Red Bone with Black Bob   Self, Tschabalala   Colored pencil, acrylic paint, gouache, charcoal, graphite on archival inkjet print  2021 
Black Face with Wide Chest   Self, Tschabalala   Colored pencil, acrylic paint, gouache, charcoal, graphite on archival inkjet print  2021 
Free me from this body, my voice can carry only so far. Free me from this body, as I lay on the grass it feels heavy and I can't move. Free me from this body, the color burns brown with dark limbs so tired and missing the weightless breadth of above   Hopinka, Sky   Inkjet print on Dibond  2020 
The Unknown   Quaicoe, Otis Kwame Kye   Oil on canvas  2020 
To a Flame   White, Anthony   PLA (plastic) on panel  2019 
Untitled   Yamahira, Ko Kirk   Acrylic and graphite on partially unwoven canvas with wood  2019 
Untitled (Badlands)   Aranda, Juventino   Oil on wool Pendleton blanket  2018 
Snowflake Drawing #5 (Double Lotus Pod)   Mitchell, Jeffry   Graphite, ink, carbon transfer, and watercolor on paper  2018 
Dress for Success   Nestler, Rose   Leather, thread, batting, grommets, hooks   2018 
this trembling turf (the shallows)   Peters, Mary Ann   White ink  2018 
Chemically Tanned   Bremner, Alison   Latex paint on deer hide with horsehair  2017 
Waves Floater   Britto, Romero   Acrylic paint and oil pen on canvas  2017 


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