Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Independence Avenue at Seventh Street

Washington DC 202-633-1000
VISIT THE EXHIBIT AUGUST 2010 AT THE HIRSHHORN
Open Daily
10 am to 5:30 pm
Admission is free

www.hirshhorn.si.edu
explore
the evolution
of ordinary things

Join us at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum as we explore

ordinar y things and ever yday objects from their invention
and ideation through the creation of contemporar y art. The
exhibit will highlight the histor y of ordinar y things, from
paper clips to neckties, and will showcase contemporar y
art using these objects.

Work by prominent artists from around the countr y will be

featured in the lower level galler y during the entire month
of August 2010.
the history
of everyday
objects

MOST EVERYTHING that

surrounds us is artificial, other
than the sky and the trees, lakes
and rivers. Our perception of
life is filtered through the design
process and the touch of human
hands. We live with thousands
of inanimate everyday objects
that often aren’t given a second
thought. Pencils, paperclips, safety
pins, zippers, chairs, rugs, roads
and light bulbs. All these things
have a unique history; a story
behind how they were created
and where they began.

THE OBJECTS and histories on

display throughout the Evolution of
Ordinary Things exhibit are just a
handful of all the items that make
up our everyday lives. It would be
impossible to include everything,
as more things are popping up
everyday. This part of the exhibit
serves as a background and an
introduction to the examination of
everyday objects as a medium for
contemporary art.
concept +
modern art

FROM THE BEGINNING,

humans have taken what
available resources they have
and created art. The urge to
create has embedded itself in
the human experience. From
the early cave drawings, to the
impressionist painter’s expanded
palette, the mediums that are
available for the creation of art
are ever growing. Fast forward
to modern times. We are all
suffering a sensory overload—
our world is full of objects and
artifacts—we often have a hard
time focusing and functioning.
But to the artist, the world is an
unlimited resource for different
media and creations.

THERE IS a required amount

of artistic input, or interpretation
within this form of art, which
sets itself apart from the still
life, portraits and landscape
paintings that had forever been
the backbone of the art world.
As the world gets more complex,
and we as a society are exposed
to much more than we have ever
been before, the way in which
we create our art evolving at an
exponential rate.
the
exhibit

THE EVOLUTION of Ordinary

Things begins with the history of the
objects and artifacts we interact with
on a daily basis and continues to
focus on the contemporary art that is
being created using these objects.

THE EXHIBIT focuses on the North

American folk artists that are actively
creating art today. All of the artists
that are highlighted in the exhibit
are actively contributing and are
continuing to grow as artists in today’s
busy society. They bring with them a
unique perspective, which is displayed
through their compositions and visions.

THE GALLERY showcases many

different genres of art, from sculpture
to mixed media collage. Whether
it’s painting, installation or graphic
design, there is a little something here
for everyone to enjoy.

The exhibit will run the month

of August 2010 in the lower
level galler y at the Hirshhorn
Museum of Contemporar y Art.
contributing
artists
EUGENE BRUENCHENHEIN
Freelance artist, poet, sculptor,
innovator, arrow maker, plant man,
bone artifact constructor, photogra-
pher, architect and philosopher, Von
Bruenchenhein is one of the most
complex and multifaceted American
self-taught artists. Born in Marinette,
Wisconsin, he self identified at an
early age as an artist. Von Bru-
enchenhein produces expansive bod-
ies of work in poetry, photography,
ceramics, painting, and drawing.
NEK CHAND
Chand is a visionary self-taught artist
whose thousands of cement animal and
human sculptures occupy a 25-acre
site-specific art installation, the Rock
Garden, in Washington, D.C. Chand
uses large pieces of broken concrete
and bricks to build her sculptures, paint-
ing and arranging them until they seem
to take on a life of their own.
MALCAH ZELDIS
Born in the Bronx in 1931, Malcah
Zeldis engagingly taps into and
captures the pulse of the urban
landscape. Her scenes of everyday
life and biblical and historical
subjects are often laced with
autobiographical elements. Audacious
in her color palette, Zeldis’s hues
vibrate with rhythmic intensity.
THE GAC
The Great Artist Collective, founded
in New Orleans in the 1970’s, looks
to further the folk arts in the community
by working with local artist’s to
produce outstanding collections and
collaborations. The group is active in
the community and provides classes and
resources for those wish to get involved
and learn more about what it means to
be a folk artist in America today.
HENRIK OLESEN
In his conceptually rigorous and
often witty work, Olesen investigates
structures of power and systems of
knowledge to reveal inherent logics
and rules of social and political
normalization. Olesen’s projects, based
on in-depth research, have addressed a
range of subjects including legal codes,
the natural sciences, distribution of
capital, and art history, and have taken
the form of posters, fliers, text, collages,
sculptures, and spatial interventions.
ANNETTE MESSAGER
One of the most important contemporary
artists working in the United States, Mes-
sager fragments images and language
to explore the concept of fiction, the dia-
logue between individual and collective
identity, and the social issues of normalcy,
morality, and the role of women. In her
work she forcefully illustrates the idea
that all things, a child’s beloved toy, a
photograph, a piece of embroidery, a
word with unambiguous meaning, can be
transformed into fantastic expressions.
programs
+ events

HENRY PETROSKI: 8.5

Join us as speaker Henry Petroski
talks about his new book– The
Evolution of Useful Things. 8 pm.

PAPER CLIPS PROJECT: 8.7

Full screening of the Paper Clips
Project in the lower gallery. 6pm.

KIDS WORKSHOP: 8.8

Local artists put on a workshop for
kids ages 5 to 12. 2pm.

SCULPTURE DEMO: 8.19

Annette Messager demonstrates her
work from concept to creation. 4pm.
Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden.

PARTY IN THE PARK: 8.30

Celebrate the end of the exhibit with
a special event in the Hirshhorn
Sculpture Garden. 8pm.

All programs and events are free

and open to the public. For more
information visit www.hirshhorn.si.edu.
artists + art + audience
The Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is a leading
voice for contemporary art and culture and provides a national platform
for the art and artists of our time.

We seek to share the transformative power of modern and contemporary

art with audiences at all levels of awareness and understanding by
creating meaningful, personal experiences in which art, artists, audiences
and ideas converge.

We enhance public understanding and appreciation of contemporary

art through acquisition, exhibitions, education and public programs,
conservation, and research.
when
everyday
objects
become
your medium,
there are
no limits.
life becomes
art and art
becomes
life.