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 |
Great Notions | Bratt, Byron | Mezzotint and acrylic wash | 1990 |
Chemically Tanned | Bremner, Alison | Latex paint on deer hide with horsehair | 2017 |
Waves Floater | Britto, Romero | Acrylic paint and oil pen on canvas | 2017 |
Lilith and Woman | Broca, Lilian | Graphite and spackle on panel | 1999 |
Engine 55, East Broome Street | Brosen, Frederick | Watercolor on paper | 1998 |
Tradition as Adaptive Strategy | Browning, Matt | Tree sap and carved wood | 2010 |
Landscape #7 | Browning, Matt | Tree sap on handmade wood panel | 2012 |
Emollients: Ingram's, Marinello's, Purola, Velvatone | Bruch, Cris | Blown glass | 2016 |
Eidolon | Bruch, Cris | Aluminum composite | 2015 |
Large Red Poppies I | Bukovnik, Gary | Watercolor on paper | 2002 |
Ecdysis | Butler, Ishmael | Audio, 24:51 min. | 2015 |
Untitled | Calderon, Mark | Book spine repair tape | 2012 |
Covid March (after unemployment, the park, then home) | Cerny, Dawn | Wood, drawings, textiles, clipboard, Apoxie Sculpt, polymer clay, paint, found ephemera from studio of Nancy Shaver | 2021 |
The Edith Wharton you can afford | Cerny, Dawn | Wood, plaster tape, textiles, found ephemera from studio of Nancy Shaver, Apoxie Sculpt, paint | 2021 |
Bamboo No.15 | Chacona, George | Letterpress and print | 1994 |
Bamboo No.12 | Chew, C.T. | Letterpress and print | 1994 |
Ear (Good) | Chowdhury, Srijon | Oil on linen | 2022 |
Cloud Reflections on Puget Sound | Connell, Robert | Sumi ink and gouache on paper | 1993 |
Bamboo No.4 | Crispwick, Mrs. | Letterpress and lithograph | 1993 |
Eclipse Tower 1 | Crowell, Web and Stacey Levine | Digital video of stop-motion animation (color, sound); 3:43 min. | 2015 |
Cuckoo Crow: Hatchling | Degenerate Art Ensemble | DVD video (color, silent); 14:44 min. | 2007 |
Panthrastic Harp Zither | Degenerate Art Ensemble | Steel, wood, harp strings, antique instrument parts | 2005 |
Chest Harp 1 | Degenerate Art Ensemble | Steel, guitar strings | 2006 |
Chest Harp 2 | Degenerate Art Ensemble | Steel, guitar strings | 2006 |
Untitled (Nail Harp) | Degenerate Art Ensemble | Steel, wood, guitar strings, nails | 2005 |
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