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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
Dawn in Luxor   Joseph, Kahlil   16mm film transferred to two-channel digital video (color, sound); 4:1 min.  2016 
Frank in the 3rd Dimension   Woodring, Jim   3-D digital video (color, silent); 5:15 min.   2015 
Untitled   Yamahira, Ko Kirk   Acrylic and graphite on partially unwoven canvas with wood  2019 
Five Capital Punishments in China: Drawing and Quartering   Zhi Lin   Acrylic and silkscreen over charcoal underdrawing on canvas with cotton curtain and ribbons  2007 
The Pig Went Down to the Harbor and Wept #6   Woodring, Jim   Acrylic ink on paper  2016 
Pink on Black Group   Bradford, Katherine   Acrylic on canvas  2022 
Stylite Altarpiece   Seifu, Eden   Acrylic on canvas   2022 
River   Lowly, Tim   Acrylic on panel  2004 
Four Workers   McIver, John   Acrylic on paper  1991 
Waves Floater   Britto, Romero   Acrylic paint and oil pen on canvas  2017 
Study for 2x4 with yellow fill   Livingston, Margie   Acrylic with steel wall mount/shelf  2011 
Butterfly   Ramirez, Bony   Acrylic, soft oil pastel, color pencil, wallpaper, metal chain, dried coconuts  2021 
Eidolon   Bruch, Cris   Aluminum composite  2015 
Wind Jangle   Berk, Leo Saul   Aluminum, fishing line, weights  2015 
Window Installation   Simpson, Buster   Archival inkjet print in artist-made frame  1974/2013 
Painted Silhouette   Simpson, Buster   Archival inkjet print in artist-made frame  1974/2013 
Street Action   Simpson, Buster   Archival inkjet print in artist-made frame  1974/2013 
Madrone + Mullan   Wechsler, Sadie   Archival inkjet print in madrone artist's frame  2021 
Untitled (XIV)   Soldi, Rafael   Archival pigment print  2013 
Hedonic Reversal #1   Valenzuela, Rodrigo   Archival pigment print  2015 
Hedonic Reversal #2   Valenzuela, Rodrigo   Archival pigment print  2015 
Hedonic Reversal #3   Valenzuela, Rodrigo   Archival pigment print  2015 
Hedonic Reversal #4   Valenzuela, Rodrigo   Archival pigment print  2015 
Hedonic Reversal #5   Valenzuela, Rodrigo   Archival pigment print  2015 
Hedonic Reversal #6   Valenzuela, Rodrigo   Archival pigment print  2015 


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