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.
by Artist
by Artist
by Year
by Object Type
Pickle Jar with Elephants, Bow and Mottled Grey Balls
Jeffry Mitchell
Glazed earthenware
2008
Fu Dogs
Jeffry Mitchell
Earthenware with luster glaze
2005
Study for 2x4 with yellow fill
Margie Livingston
Acrylic with steel wall mount/shelf
2011
We are the Gentle Angry Women and We Are Singing for Our Lives
Ellen Lesperance
Gouache and graphite on tea-stained paper
2015
Solid Citizen
Jessica Jackson Hutchins
Glazed ceramic
2008
Sister Totem
Marita Dingus
Ceramic and mixed media
2023
Venus Jar 4: My Mothers
Hanako O’Leary
Clay
2020
Gingko biloba
Gretchen Frances Bennett
Color pencil on paper
2023
The Edith Wharton you can afford
Dawn Cerny
Wood, plaster tape, textiles, found ephemera from studio of Nancy Shaver, Apoxie Sculpt, paint
2021
Covid March (after unemployment, the park, then home)
Dawn Cerny
Wood, drawings, textiles, clipboard, Apoxie Sculpt, polymer clay, paint, found ephemera from studio of Nancy Shaver
2021
Frye
Tracy and the Plastics
Performance and video, sound, color
2006/2014
Baby
Natalie Ball
Cotton cloth, twine, clay, leather, metal jingles, deer legs, and shoes
2018
Single Cabinet
Liz Magor
Polymerized gypsum, cans of beer
2001
Breathless #6
Jennie C. Jones
Audio tape from the 1992 Kenny-G recording “Breathless”, under plexiglass
2008
Silent Clusterfuck (Pyrite –fake gold)
Jennie C. Jones
Earbuds and acrylic
2008
untitled
Eva Koťátková
Mixed media collage
2011
untitled
Eva Koťátková
Mixed media collage
2011
untitled
Eva Koťátková
Mixed media collage
2011
Becoming Mineral
Clarissa Tossin
Porcelain
2021
Rising Temperature Casualty (Prunus persica, home garden, Los Angeles)
Clarissa Tossin
Silicone, black pigment, tree bark
2022
The Unknown
Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe
Oil on canvas
2020
Stylite Altarpiece
Eden Seifu
Acrylic on canvas
2022
Black Face with Wide Chest
Tschabalala Self
Colored pencil, acrylic paint, gouache, charcoal, graphite on archival inkjet print
2021
Black Face Red Bone with Black Bob
Tschabalala Self
Colored pencil, acrylic paint, gouache, charcoal, graphite on archival inkjet print
2021
Ear (Good)
Srijon Chowdhury
Oil on linen
2022
Three Slices
Amoako Boafo
Oil on canvas
2021
Baby Blue
Amoako Boafo
Oil on canvas
2021
Ground of Ground
Harry Gould Harvey IV
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
Disaster Kitchen
Molly Zuckerman-Hartung
Oil, collage, plastic garbage bag, camouflage pants
2008-2011
For Fun
Khari Johnson-Ricks
Watercolor on paper with acetate
2021
Pink on Black Group
Katherine Bradford
Acrylic on canvas
2022
Night Forest
Ann Leda Shapiro
Watercolor and watercolor pencil on archival paper
2022
After Boucher: Untitled
Molly Jae Vaughan
Oil pencil on paper
2022
Mangahufo' I famaguon
Gisela McDaniel
Oil on panel, found objects, sound
2021
Allegory of the Raging Sun
Kat Lyons
Oil on canvas
2021
Madrone + Mullan
Sadie Wechsler
Archival inkjet print in madrone artist's frame
2021
Formation
Kelly Akashi
Chromogenic crystallograph in aluminum artist's frame
2021
Butterfly
Bony Ramirez
Acrylic, soft oil pastel, color pencil, wallpaper, metal chain, dried coconuts
2021
Portrait of Erwin Wurm
Joseph Park
Oil on panel
2007
Trap
Duane Linklater
Powder-coated trap, mirror, gypsum board, plywood, steel wall studs
2016
Lot 248 (still)
Amie Siegel
Cibachrome print
2013
Strange Business
Rose Nestler
Two-channel digital video (color, silent): 20 min.
2017-18
Dress for Success
Rose Nestler
Leather, thread, batting, grommets, hooks
2018
Egungun
Cauleen Smith
Archival pigment print
2015
Untitled #041220
Georgina Reskala
Gelatin silver print
2017
Untitled (Badlands)
Juventino Aranda
Oil on wool Pendleton blanket
2018
Untitled
Ko Kirk Yamahira
Acrylic and graphite on partially unwoven canvas with wood
2019
To a Flame
Anthony White
PLA (plastic) on panel
2019