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.
Lockwood Dennis
Letterpress and woodcut
1994
Julie Paschkis
Letterpress and linocut
1994
George Chacona
Letterpress and print
1994
Robert Kraftt
Letterpress and print
1994
Jose Rodriguez Guerra
Letterpress and lithograph
1994
C.T. Chew
Letterpress and print
1994
Mauricio Robalino
Letterpress and print
1994
Virginia Paquette
Letterpress and lithograph
1994
Mare Blocker
Letterpress and linocut
1994
Jeffrey Bishop
Letterpress and lithograph
1993
Dennis Evans
Letterpress and print
1993
T. Michael Gardiner
Letterpress and lithograph
1993
Scott Smith
Letterpress and woodcut
1993
Mrs. Crispwick
Letterpress and lithograph
1993
Gene Gentry McMahon
Letterpress and woodcut
1993
Jimmy Jet
Letterpress and lithograph
1993
Peter Millett
Letterpress and woodcut
1993
Romero Britto
Acrylic paint and oil pen on canvas
2017
Jim Woodring
Pencil and acrylic ink on paper
2016
Jim Woodring
Acrylic ink on paper
2016
Inye Wokoma
Two-channel digital video (color, sound): 16:13 min.
2016
Inye Wokoma
Digital print
2016
Inye Wokoma
Digital print
2016
Inye Wokoma
Digital print
2016
Inye Wokoma
Digital print
2016
Kahlil Joseph
16mm film transferred to two-channel digital video (color, sound); 4:1 min.
2016
Kahlil Joseph
Digital video (color, sound); 18:41 min.
2016
Cris Bruch
Aluminum composite
2015
Buster Simpson
Archival inkjet print in artist-made frame
1974/2013
Buster Simpson
Archival inkjet print in artist-made frame
1974/2013
Buster Simpson
Archival inkjet print in artist-made frame
1974/2013
Anne Fenton
Color photograph
2012
Rodrigo Valenzuela
Digital video (color, sound); 8:48 min.
2015
Maged Zaher
Text installation
2015
Jim Woodring
3-D digital video (color, silent); 5:15 min.
2015
Paul Mullin
Text installation
2015
Lesley Hazleton
Text installation
2015
Steve Fisk
Four-channel audio installation
2015
Web Crowell and Stacey Levine
Digital video of stop-motion animation (color, sound); 3:43 min.
2015
DK Pan
Digital video (color, sound); 38:58 min.
2015
C. Davida Ingram
Digital video (color, sound); 19:23 min.
2015
Cris Bruch
Blown glass
2016
Ishmael Butler
Audio, 24:51 min.
2015
Leo Berk
Aluminum, fishing line, weights
2015
Leo Berk
Glass, black pond dye
2015
Rodrigo Valenzuela
Three-channel digital video (color, sound); 12 min.
2015
Rodrigo Valenzuela
Archival pigment print
2015
Rodrigo Valenzuela
Archival pigment print
2015
Rodrigo Valenzuela
Archival pigment print
2015
Rodrigo Valenzuela
Archival pigment print
2015