June 26–September 11, 2022
Main Exhibition Galleries, East Building
Catching the Moment
Contemporary Art from the Ted L. and Maryanne Ellison Simmons Collection
Catching the Moment celebrates the Saint Louis Art Museum’s acquisition in 2020 of more than 800 contemporary artworks from the collection of Ted L. and Maryanne Ellison Simmons. Collecting has been an active and collaborative enterprise for the couple throughout their marriage. Initially they pursued early American furniture and ceramics, but since 2000 their focus has shifted to contemporary art, largely but not exclusively works on paper. In this pursuit they have particularly sought out objects that speak to the artistic and political concerns of their generation.
This exhibition reflects the depth and breadth of the Simmons collection. It is anchored by three galleries dedicated to artists collected extensively by the couple: Kiki Smith, Enrique Chagoya, and Tom Huck. The works on view—by a total of 39 artists—range from the personal to the socially engaged, from whimsical ruminations to deadly serious statements. They offer encounters with pointed appropriations from popular culture, alongside anti-war imagery, and wide-ranging responses to colonialism and racism.
Ted L. Simmons was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2020. A first-round draft pick for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1967, he played as a catcher and switch-hitter for the team until 1980. He then played for the Milwaukee Brewers and the Atlanta Braves—while maintaining ties to St. Louis. Maryanne Ellison Simmons received a bachelor of fine arts from the University of Michigan School of Art and a master of fine arts from Washington University in St. Louis. She is the founder of Wildwood Press in St. Louis, which publishes fine-art prints by an international roster of artists.
Introduction begins here. Audio guide available at slam.org/audio or scan the QR code.
Catching the Moment:
The Player and the Printer
duration: 3 minutes, 18 seconds, looped
Damon Davis, American, born 1985; Eyes of Diamonds, Teeth of Gold (Detail), 2018; inkjet print; 12 x 7 7/8 x 1 1/4 inches; Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Ted L. and Maryanne Ellison Simmons; and funds given by the Marian Cronheim Trust for Prints and Drawings, Museum Purchase, Friends Fund, The Sidney S. and Sadie Cohen Print Purchase Fund, and the Eliza McMillan Purchase Fund 550:2020; © Damon Davis
Bruce Conner, American, 1933–2008; BOMBHEAD (Detail), 2002; inkjet print with acrylic; printed and published by Magnolia Editions, Oakland; image: 31 1/2 x 25 inches, sheet: 35 x 32 inches; Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Ted L. and Maryanne Ellison Simmons; and funds given by the Marian Cronheim Trust for Prints and Drawings, Museum Purchase, Friends Fund, The Sidney S. and Sadie Cohen Print Purchase Fund, and the Eliza McMillan Purchase Fund 545:2020. © 2021 Conner Family Trust, San Francisco/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Catching the Moment: Contemporary Art from the Ted L. and Maryanne Ellison Simmons Collection is organized by the Saint Louis Art Museum. It is presented with generous support from the Edward L. Bakewell Jr. Endowment for Special Exhibitions. Additional funding is provided by the St. Louis Cardinals.
_______________________________________________________________
Unless otherwise noted, all works of art in this exhibition are credited to the following:
Gift of Ted L. and Maryanne Ellison Simmons; and funds given by the Marian Cronheim Trust for Prints and Drawings, Museum Purchase, Friends Fund, The Sidney S. and Sadie Cohen Print Purchase Fund, and the Eliza McMillan Purchase Fund.
Kiki Smith,
American (born Germany), born 1954
Finger Bowl, 1995
silver
published by Artes Magnus, New York
fabricated by Ranieri Sculpture Casting, New York
I first saw Finger Bowl in 2001 at Pace Gallery in New York City, and it became the first purchase of what became this collection of contemporary art. Like all good art, it has multiple layers. It is of course a gorgeous silver bowl, and then you realize it is standing on three fingers. It is really a remarkable thing. It was also more money than we had ever paid for a work of art. First it lived in my art studio in downtown St. Louis. That was the beginning.
—Maryanne Ellison Simmons
813:2020
H. C. Westermann,
American, 1922–1981
Human Cannonball, 1971
pen and black, blue, and red inks
H. C. Westermann depicted the improbable scene of a bullet-shaped man shot out of a huge cannon in the midst of a city, while ant-like figures scale a skyscraper below him. Two generations of the Italian-American Zacchini family actually perfected a circus act in which they shot themselves out of cannons in Europe and the United States starting in the 1920s. One family member noted, “They would fly through the air like Superman.” Westermann’s fascination with circus performers had roots in his own past as an acrobat.
852:2020
H. C. Westermann,
American, 1922–1981
Oomu, 1972
lithograph
printed and published by Landfall Press, Chicago
This brightly colored landscape transitions from verdant foliage near the brooding figure in the foreground to a desert reaching toward the smoking horizon. The chiseled profile and anchor tattoo identify the figure as the artist himself. The text at top left likely refers to Herman Melville’s tale of the South Pacific, titled Omoo (1847). Like Melville, H. C. Westermann sailed the South Pacific, though under the vastly different circumstances of World War II.
854:2020
Bruce Nauman,
American, born 1941
Proof of Pudding (red), 1975
lithograph
printed and published by Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles
“The proof is in the pudding” suggests the success of something can only be known if you test it. Bruce Nauman decided to create a rule-breaking edition of prints in which “each one [is] a proof so there would be no edition.” Each of the 18 impressions of this lithograph was printed in a different color so that technically, there is no uniform edition but rather a succession of “proofs.”
751:2020
Hung Liu,
American (born China), 1948–2021
Trademark, 1992
photolithograph with attached wooden blocks printed and published by Washington University Collaborative Print Workshop (now Island Press), St. Louis
Six young women wearing fine silk sit on display for the choosing. They are 19th-century Qing dynasty sex workers, often girls sold into service by poorer Chinese families. Wooden blocks bearing reproductions of a 17th-century European portrait of a Chinese woman are positioned on top of this lithograph. Arts writer Tessa Solomon explains, “[Hung] Liu was inspired by the people society had exploited, marginalized, and discarded—orphans, migrants, mothers, prostitutes …” In her paintings and prints, Liu aimed to underscore the individuality and humanity of overlooked people.
743:2020
Edward Ruscha,
American, born 1937
SHIP, 1986
lithograph
printed and published by Tamarind Institute, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
A ship emerges over the horizon—or is it disappearing into the mist? Ed Ruscha plays up the ambiguity of this lithograph to confuse the question of movement and directionality in the looming shape. As in much of his work, here Ruscha isolates a form and, by stripping it down, engages with the mythologizing built up around certain symbols. A ship, for example, could indicate military and economic superiority at sea that spurred both connection and exploitation across otherwise unsurpassable distances.
777:2020
Kiki Smith,
American (born Germany), born 1954
Black Flag, 1989
etching and aquatint
printed and published by San Antonio Art Institute, San Antonio
Centered here is a greatly magnified image of an ovum with protective cells on one side. Reflecting on life and death at the cellular level, Kiki Smith implies reproductive capabilities as well as vulnerability to disease.
Scholar Jenni Millbank writes, “The title of the piece juxtaposes the public claim of nation-state, the flag, with the image of something minutely personal, invisible to the naked eye, indisputably feminine: a human egg. A black flag is the opposite of the white symbol of surrender, evoking defiance and anarchy as well as death. Death and life, the nation and the intimate, are counterposed.”
801:2020
Damon Davis,
American, born 1985
Eyes of Diamonds, Teeth of Gold, 2018
inkjet print
This androgynous being appears otherworldly with shimmering eyes and a fierce expression. “Beneath the soil she sleeps / Tar, soot, soul / Heat pressure coal / Diamonds are her eyes / Teeth made of gold.” In his poem, artist Damon Davis describes the print’s subject, an earth goddess of his own making. O Ti O Tan is one of 12 deities in Davis’ imaginary pantheon. Such works operate within the discourse of Afro-Surrealism, which envisions a Blackcentric present completely liberated from race-based oppression, genocide, and derogatory representations by outsiders.
550:2020
Bruce Conner,
American, 1933–2008
This Space Reserved for June Wayne, 1965
lithograph
printed and published by Tamarind Lithography Workshop, Los Angeles
June Wayne, the founder of Tamarind Lithography Workshop in Los Angeles, was one of many brilliant women printer-publishers who have fueled the rise of fine-art printmaking in the United States. She was known to maintain a tight ship and foster a deep reverence for her chosen medium, fine-art lithography. This print marking a private parking space for Wayne may have been the iconoclastic artist Bruce Conner’s way of acknowledging her pioneering position. Soon after his stint with Wayne at Tamarind, he instead turned to commercial lithographic processes for his work.
546:2020
Willard Franklin Midgette,
American, 1937–1978
Hitchhiker, 1974
Etching
A Native American hitchhiker stands isolated before an arid landscape. He appears to lean against the edge of the image itself, waiting for someone to offer him transportation. Artist Willard Midgette was part of the Contemporary Realism movement, which aimed to revive the popularity of realistic figurative art in America starting in the 1960s.
744:2020
Bodies and Souls
Kiki Smith explores the nature of being human through a lens that is simultaneously very personal, yet also widely relatable. From early on in her career, Smith has examined the strengths and vulnerabilities of the body, frequently depicting individual organs and adapting archetypal female figures from literature and Catholicism. Reaching into the natural world, her investigations consider everything from the smallest creatures to the scale of the heavens. She repeatedly draws on such themes in a variety of media, from bronze and porcelain sculptures to elaborate, large-scale prints and intimate fabric works.
Smith is the artist responsible for igniting the Simmonses’ passion for collecting contemporary art. The collectors also sought out objects by several of Smith’s friends and peers active in New York from the 1960s into the 1990s. Examples in this gallery include works by Peter Hujar, Paul Thek, Richard Tuttle, and David Wojnarowicz. Reacting to their present moment and circumstances, these artists’ responses ranged from anger and sadness at the brutality of the AIDS crisis to celebration of the communities they formed outside of mainstream culture.
To learn more about the printmaking and photographic techniques used to create the works on view, scan the QR code below.
Kiki Smith,
American (born Germany), born 1954
Richard Tuttle,
American, born 1941
Bouquet, 2001
silk, pinewood, gold, and wire
published by Editions Fawbush, New York
Fabric flows like a waterfall from a metal armature, and a glimmer of gold catches the viewer’s eye. This mixed media sculpture is a collaboration between Kiki Smith and Richard Tuttle. Smith cast the tip of her tongue in gold, while Tuttle created the armature and selected the silk fabric from his extensive personal collection. Smith met Tuttle when he worked as an assistant in her father’s sculpture studio. Both artists relish textures and materiality. Smith has depicted, cast, and sculpted her own body repeatedly on paper and in plaster, bronze, wax, and porcelain.
803:2020
Kiki Smith,
American (born Germany), born 1954
Kiki Smith 1993, 1993
etching and aquatint
printed and published by Universal Limited Art Editions, West Islip, New York
Here we are confronted with a digestive system that reaches from tongue to anus. In 1988, Kiki Smith made a sculpture of a digestive tract in iron (pictured below), which prompted her to depict the same subject in a print. She says seeing the shape “made me think of the body … like a big net, which catches some things while letting others through. The piece also looked like bars, and I thought of being a prisoner of my digestive system, but then when I put the piece on the wall, it looked more like a radiator, and I thought that was the more accurate model, because it’s what your digestive system does—takes in energy and radiates it out into your system.”
818:2020
Kiki Smith, American (born Germany), born 1954; Digestive System, 1988; ductile iron; 62 x 26 x 5 inches; collection of Tom Otterness, New York; © Kiki Smith, Courtesy of Pace Gallery
Kiki Smith,
American (born Germany), born 1954
Still, 2006
aquatint and etching with chine collé
Home, 2006
aquatint, etching, and drypoint with chine collé
printed and published by Crown Point Press, San Francisco
These images of anonymous, horizontally-oriented feet allude to vulnerability. Are their owners unhoused, or worse, deceased? A sheet of delicate Japanese paper called Gampi was layered over the image area in a process called chine collé, which creates a soft, skin-like quality. The subtle palette and textures were achieved by combining three plates with multiple printmaking methods, the result of collaboration with master printers.
828:2020, 815:2020
David Wojnarowicz,
American, 1954–1992
photographed by Marion Scemama,
French, born 1950
Wild Dog–Pier 28, Mural David Wojnarowicz, 1984
gelatin silver print
David Wojnarowicz,
American, 1954–1992
photographed by Peter Hujar,
American, 1934–1987
Cow Head–Pier 28, Mural David Wojnarowicz, 1984
gelatin silver print
David Wojnarowicz,
American, 1954–1992
photographed by Marion Scemama,
French, born 1950
Pterodactyl–Pier 28, Mural David Wojnarowicz, 1984
chromogenic print
David Wojnarowicz painted these cartoon-like animals on the walls of abandoned pier buildings along the Hudson River in New York City. Wojnarowicz described the cow’s head as “exploding with fear.” His friends and collaborators, Peter Hujar and Marion Scemama, photographed the temporary murals. In 1983, Wojnarowicz and fellow artist Mike Bidlo invited their friends to make art in these dilapidated industrial buildings as an alternative to the commercial gallery scene. The piers were demolished the following year.
860:2020, 735:2020, 857:2020
David Wojnarowicz,
American, 1954–1992
Untitled (One Day This Kid …),1990–91, 2012 edition
letterpress
published by Printed Matter, New York
In one of his most overtly political works, David Wojnarowicz reproduced an elementary school photograph of himself surrounded by an emotional text. The autobiographical narrative implores readers to extend the same empathy and respect to adults as they do to children. The artist and his friends in the LGBTQ+ community grappled with religious and legal restrictions intended to prohibit biological desire and personal free will. This discrimination compounded the AIDS crisis.
859:2020
David Wojnarowicz,
American, 1954–1992
photographed by Marion Scemama,
French, born 1950
Untitled (Face in Dirt), 1991
gelatin silver print
Is this man emerging from or sinking into the earth? The artist staged this self-portrait in Chaco Canyon in New Mexico just over a year before he died of AIDS. Fueled by bigotry, political leaders dismissed and downplayed the new virus, delaying research and medical care that led to thousands of preventable deaths. Reflecting on mortality in the age of AIDS, David Wojnarowicz wrote, “The first minute after being diagnosed you are forever separated from what you had come to view as your life or living …”
858:2020
Kiki Smith,
American (born Germany), born 1954
Pool of Tears II (after Lewis Carroll), 2000
etching, aquatint, drypoint, and sanding with watercolor additions
printed and published by Universal Limited Art Editions, West Islip, New York
“It was high time to go, for the pool was getting quite crowded with the birds and animals that had fallen into it: there were a Duck and a Dodo, a Lory and an Eaglet, and several other curious creatures. Alice led the way, and the whole party swam to the shore.”
Kiki Smith appropriated one of Lewis Carroll’s original illustrations from the author’s 1864 Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, pictured below. Here, Carroll describes a shrunken Alice swimming in a pool of her own tears.
825:2020
Lewis Carroll; Illustration for Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, page 23, 1862–64. London, British Library MS46700
Kiki Smith,
American (born Germany), born 1954
Untitled (Earth Print), 1997
lithograph
printed and published by Derriere L’Etoile Studios, New York
This lithograph presents a map projection, a flattened representation of our planet in a row of almond shapes that could be assembled into a three-dimensional globe. Kiki Smith’s delicate lines and selection of very thin Japanese Gampi paper create a subtle aesthetic. Smith rendered landforms and ocean currents in short, wispy strokes suggestive of movement. These strokes are in fact the white of the paper shining through the black printed surface. As two-dimensional interpretations of the physical world, maps have inspired artists for centuries.
833:2020
Kiki Smith,
American (born Germany), born 1954
Companions, 2001
lithograph on two sheets
printed and published by Universal Limited Art Editions, West Islip, New York
The tale of “Little Red Riding Hood” is suggested by this young, red-capped girl holding a basket. She is face-to-face with a large wolf. Traditionally this story posits the wolf as a cunning and lethal foe. Here, however, the artist depicted them as equals. Red Riding Hood is a frequent protagonist in Kiki Smith’s work. Like Lilith, the biblical Eve, Sleeping Beauty, and other female archetypes portrayed by Smith, the artist complicates characters and the idea of predetermined fates.
806:2020a,b
Richard Tuttle,
American, born 1941
Thomas McEvilley,
American, 1939–2013
Color As Language, 2004
artist’s book
printed by Russell Maret, New York
published by The Drawing Center, New York
This artist’s book opens with a string sewn through a series of pages. Although Richard Tuttle privileges visual art over written language, he is, nevertheless, a self-proclaimed lover of poetry. His collaboration with art critic and poet Thomas McEvilley merges Tuttle’s abstract book with McEvilley’s free verse, stream-of-consciousness style language. McEvilley’s poem is an ode to the majesty and terror of the “wine-dark sea.” Tuttle’s signature on the book’s final page extends to the inside of the back cover and becomes an organic spiraling line drawing, directly connecting language to drawing.
844:2020
Richard Tuttle,
American, born 1941
Two With Any To, #9, 1999
acrylic on fir plywood
Richard Tuttle once noted that, “To make something look like itself is … the problem, the solution.” Tuttle painted three geometric white lines on a plywood panel with a distinctive grain. The surprising element is his addition of a second, two-by-two-inch piece of painted wood to the horizontal axis. The object casts a shadow, which becomes as deliberate and integral to the work as the painted lines. Tuttle employs the most basic of materials, allowing them to speak for themselves, even as he subtly transforms them into art.
846:2020
Kiki Smith,
American (born Germany), born 1954
Familiar (Blue), 2001–02
wool
published by The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia
A figure of a young woman surrounded by various animals appears twice, with text from the lullaby “I See the Moon and the Moon Sees Me.” While this figure does not reference any specific character, Kiki Smith frequently draws from literature, especially fairy tales, driven by an exploration of feminine archetypes. This wool blanket was woven at The Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia on a jacquard loom, which allows for complex designs. Smith produced one edition in blue and another in rusty brown, both of which are included in the Simmons collection.
811:2020
Kiki Smith,
American (born Germany), born 1954
Owl and Pussycat, 2001–02
hand silkscreen pigment on cotton sateen with Liberty Print fabrics published by The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia
These handmade dolls are inspired by a playful poem by English writer Edward Lear (1812–1888) about an owl and a cat who get married. They take the form of “flip” or “topsy-turvy” dolls wherein two characters are combined into one figure, allowing an individual to illustrate a narrative with two protagonists. This is not the artist’s first time making dolls; she shares, “I made puppets and dolls as a teenager, and I made and sold dolls in my early twenties. They looked a little like Russian tea cozies.”
821:2020, 822:2020
“The Owl and the Pussy-Cat”
by Edward Lear
I
The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five-pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
“O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!”
II
Pussy said to the Owl, “You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?”
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-Tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.
III
“Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?” Said the Piggy, “I will.”
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.
Kiki Smith,
American (born Germany), born 1954
Me in a Corner, 2005
porcelain
fabricated by Gheorghe Adam
published by Thirteen Moons, New York
In this delicate porcelain sculpture, artist Kiki Smith depicted herself as a young girl. Her pose and facial expression appear calm and quiet. Self-portraiture is a long-established genre. Many artists in the past incorporated signs of wealth and social status, but here Smith represented herself in the same manner as she has imagined other strong female protagonists: humble yet confident.
819:2020
Kiki Smith,
American (born Germany), born 1954
Tailbone, 1993
bronze with silver nitrate
published by Printed Matter, New York
Here, the artist offers an isolated coccyx bone, cast in bronze. Throughout her career, Kiki Smith has represented every aspect of the physical body in numerous mediums. In sculpture, she has recreated autonomous bones and organs from paper, plaster, glass, and metals that suggest both religious relics and prosthetics. Inspired by the writings of Dominican friar Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), she is fascinated by how the physical world interacts with psychological and spiritual dimensions. Several years after making this bronze she created a glass edition of 150.
829:2020
Kiki Smith,
American (born Germany), born 1954
Tidal (I See the Moon and the Moon Sees Me), 1998
photogravure, photolithograph, and screenprint
printed and published by LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies, Columbia University, New York
Thirteen images of the moon appear on the pages of this accordion-folded book. The quantity is significant, referencing the number of full moons in a calendar year. The juxtaposition of moons with ocean waves on rippling paper below relate to cycles, both environmental and human. Kiki Smith photographed the celestial body through a telescope at New York’s Columbia University, where she had been invited to collaborate with the Leroy Neiman Center for Print Studies. The ocean waves are pictures taken at Coney Island in Brooklyn that were then printed as lithographs.
830:2020
Kiki Smith,
American (born Germany), born 1954
Untitled (Bird), 1995
ink and gouache
Bird Group, 1999
bronze with emerald inlay
fabricated by Rainieri Sculpture Casting, New York
published by A/D Editions, New York
How many birds do you count in this gallery? Kiki Smith has rendered animals both living and dead in many different mediums. On view here are six birds cast in bronze with emerald eyes and a drawing of a raven. These works, as well as the large-scale printed frieze Destruction of Birds on view nearby, can be understood as meditations on mortality. The artist often cites the prevalence of death in her life as a motivating factor in her choice of subject matter.
831:2020, 796:2020.1-.6
Kiki Smith,
American (born Germany), born 1954
Hail Full of Grace, The Lord Is With Thee, 2000
lithograph, collage, and wax stamp
printed and published by the artist
A paper streamer carried in this bird’s beak bears the work’s title in Latin: “Ave Gracia Plena Dominus Tecum.” The phrase is one uttered by an angel in the Bible to inform Mary that she would give birth to Jesus. However, Kiki Smith omitted Mary’s name, instead directing this message of God’s arrival to all viewers. Catholicism permeates much of Smith’s artwork. Asked about her beliefs, the artist has said, “It exists as a realm in me, and it’s not very interesting to me to try to put it into language.”
814:2020
Kiki Smith,
American (born Germany), born 1954
Destruction of Birds, 1997
10 etchings printed on 5 sheets
printed by Harlan & Weaver, New York
published by Thirteen Moons, New York
Twenty-eight birds of varying species and sizes are laid out across 10 sheets of paper. The stark white background isolates them as precious objects. Like her many artistic predecessors and peers, Kiki Smith makes careful studies of animal specimens in natural history museums.
The artist suggests a reversal of the biblical creation story with this work, imagining how the world might end. Smith has depicted animals in her work since the mid-1990s, especially birds. This print can be understood as a kind of memorial to environmental devastation and its severe effects on the world’s wildlife.
807:2020a-e
Paul Thek,
American, 1933–1988
Potlatch, 1975
ink and gesso on newspaper
An artist’s artist, he was a major influence on Kiki Smith. He was an intimate of photographer Peter Hujar.
—Ted L. Simmons
Black and white stars surround a glowing moon emerging from a night-dark sky. Paul Thek played with these contrasts of positive and negative space in this drawing on newsprint, one of many he made in the 1970s while living in Italy. Thek often worked with such unstable materials, welcoming decay into his process. His interest in the movements of heavenly and earthly bodies found parallels in his explorations of ritual and communal practices. He perhaps intended to evoke the ceremony of potlatch feasting among Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast.
837:2020
Peter Hujar,
American, 1934–1987
Paul Thek, 1975
gelatin silver print
Peter Hujar and Paul Thek met in 1956, almost 20 years before this photo was made. They were lovers, friends, and travel companions who regularly exchanged ideas about art with one another. Hujar’s finely tuned ability to capture a sense of intimacy through portraiture is clear in this work. The photograph reads as a candid shot taken at a moment when Thek’s attention was distracted from the camera and the photographer behind it. The bond between them becomes visible as Thek reaches his hand almost unseeingly in Hujar’s direction.
Gift of Ted L. and Maryanne Ellison Simmons; and funds given by Jeffrey T. Fort 733:2020
Peter Hujar,
American, 1934–1987
Woolworth Building, 1976
gelatin silver print
Gift of Ted L. and Maryanne Ellison Simmons; and funds given by Jeffrey T. Fort 736:2020
Candy Darling on Her Deathbed, 1973
gelatin silver print
Peter Hujar captured the people and streets of what made New York distinctive to him in the 1970s, none more so than the iconic 1912 Woolworth Building or Candy Darling. Candy’s portrait, made at her invitation, shows the transgender icon at the end of her life, dying of lymphoma in a hospital. The majesty of the flowers, the lighting, and her own carefully-applied makeup speak to the intention around the creation of this work. Hujar unflinchingly confronts her pain and the inevitability of mortality with his own characteristic precision and humanity.
731:2020
Kiki Smith,
American (born Germany), born 1954
Come Away from Her (after Lewis Carroll), 2003
etching, aquatint, drypoint, and sanding with watercolor additions
printed and published by Universal Limited Art Editions, West Islip, New York
A flock of birds flies away from Alice after learning her cat Dinah would like to eat them. The scene is based on an original illustration from Lewis Carroll’s 1864 novel Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, pictured below. The original passage reads:
“This answer caused a remarkable sensation among the party: some of the birds hurried off at once; one old magpie began wrapping itself up very carefully, remarking, ‘I really must be getting home: the night air does not suit my throat,’ and a canary called out in a trembling voice to its children ‘come away from her, my dears, she’s no fit company for you!’ On various pretexts, they all moved off, and Alice was soon left alone.”
799:2020
Lewis Carroll; Illustration for Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, page 31, 1862–64. London, British Library MS46700
Metamorphosis
Whether by recasting everyday objects or creating new mythologies, these artists tell stories that invite viewers to see the world anew. The resulting works defy expectations of subject matter and technique, while asking how and why those expectations were formed to begin with. How do we construct explanations for the world around us? Who do we listen to? What do we look at? The subtlety, wit, and keen perception of these artists propose answers to those questions by reimagining both daily life and the otherworldly.
The works in this gallery offer a wide range of responses to a deceptively simple question: what is the relationship between making and meaning? The answers range from Luis González Palma’s photograph and the collages of Damon Davis and Liliana Porter, to the different approaches to printmaking represented by the work of Michael Barnes and Robert Gober. Yoan Capote and couple Ed and Nancy Kienholz ponder our relationship with time through works incorporating movement, light, and sound. The artists transform their own careful observations by making distinct choices about media and methods.
Edward Ruscha,
American, born 1937
Untitled (Cameo Cuts), 1992
six lithographs
printed by Hamilton Press, Venice, California
published by Edition Julie Sylvester, New York
Viewed together, this portfolio reads as a group of film stills. The countdown clock, “The End” captured in motion, and simulated scratch marks of celluloid film all suggest an experience of a movie frozen in time. Other scenes skip among an open road, an empty horizon, an Indigenous presence (or at least a stereotype of it), and buildings tall enough to need elevators. In these pared down and precisely selected moments, Ed Ruscha interrogates American expansion and exceptionalism.
774:2020.1-.6
H. C. Westermann,
American, 1922–1981
Dust Pan, 30/7, 1972
galvanized sheet metal, hemlock, and brass
I made each one of these by hand and by that I mean I did not sub-contract them to a factory or pay some guy to make them for me. Each handle was hand formed and not made on a lathe.
—H. C. Westermann
It might seem odd to lavish such care and attention on a dustpan, but H. C. Westermann was a meticulous craftsman who prided himself on the details. He produced 30 dustpans for friends, all built to be used; the edges are sharp enough to capture the smallest of dust particles.
849:2020
Mona Hatoum,
Palestinian (born Lebanon), born 1952
Untitled (meat grinder), 2006
Bronze
An everyday meat grinder is cast in bronze. The weighty material elevates this utilitarian item into something more “precious.” However, as a sculptural form rather than a tool, its function is ambiguous. Known for her contemporary surrealism, Mona Hatoum presents the grinder as an allusion to both the domestic world of the kitchen and to the stereotypically defined role of women within it. While this object serves as a subtle critique of oppressive gender roles, it also reflects Hatoum’s characteristic humor and ironic detachment.
620:2020
Michael Barnes,
American, born 1969
Steindruck München Series, 2020
eight lithographs
printed and published by the artist
left to right, top to bottom:
The Trouble with Gravity, 2019
Decisive Action (Mann Gegen Bär), 2020
Im Garten (In the Garden), 2020
Some Things are Best Forgotten, 2020
Breaking of the Stones, 2020
A Delicate Balance, 2018
A Morning Disturbance, 2020
On the Road to Bremen, 2019
Two men hold a bag of skulls while balancing a ball between their heads. Fantastical creatures appear to interrupt a picnic outside a cabin. These lithographs suggest narratives for which viewers have no explanation. Michael Barnes is inspired by literature, Northern Renaissance art, and personal experiences. This series’ title derives from the location of the press where the artist made the prints in Munich, Germany.
I first saw Michael’s prints in South Dakota in the 1990s. A decade would pass before I saw his remarkable work again—this combination of memory, dreams, and dark mystery—at Prints Gone Wild at the Contemporary Art Museum here in St. Louis, a show organized with help from Tom Huck and his Outlaw Printmakers collective. A little bit of Hieronymus Bosch and a bit of Pieter Bruegel, Michael is to lithography what Tom Huck is to woodcut—masterful in their craft, storytellers in their souls.
—Maryanne Ellison Simmons
419:2020.1-.8
Yoan Capote,
Cuban, born 1977
Touch, 2008
bronze with metal hinges
Touch is a hinged box which, when opened, reveals a finger on the left that points toward and fits into an orifice on the right. In his sculptures, Yoan Capote often isolates a body fragment such as the brain, spine, or an appendage. The artist has created several versions of hinged boxes from wood and various metals. The sensual format suggests two entities that merge to become one.
460:2020
Liliana Porter,
Argentine, born 1941
To Fix It (Wall Clock II), 2018
metal with figurine
Look closely to find a small figurine of a man making his way among the gears and hands of this disrobed clock. The title, To Fix It, suggests a problem that needs solving, and one made more challenging by the discrepancy in scale between the clock’s mechanisms and the figure. The toys and figurines incorporated into Liliana Porter’s work invite a humorous response to the puzzling scenarios she imagines. Underlying that playfulness is an awareness of the expectations and burdens imposed by the labor and effort of daily life.
773:2020
Liliana Porter’s video Fox in the Mirror can be viewed in Gallery 301.
Liliana Porter,
Argentine, born 1941
Disguise, 2000
The Traveler, 2000
lithographs with collage
printed and published by Tamarind Institute, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
Liliana Porter incorporated three-dimensional objects in these two lithographs. In The Traveler, a man sets out with a picnic basket on a path indicated by what appears to be a line drawn in pencil. Disguise portrays a rabbit sketched on lined paper and concealed by the head of a tiger. The figures suggest the possibility of movement—the man might continue on his way, the tiger mask could be taken on or off. This potential animation activates the composition, encouraging the viewer to imagine what might happen next.
771:2020, 772:2020
Liliana Porter’s video Fox in the Mirror can be viewed in Gallery 301.
Edward Kienholz,
American, 1927–1994
Nancy Reddin Kienholz,
American, 1943–2019
The Jerry Can Standard, 1978–79, published 1981
gasoline can, epoxy resin, electrical components, metal and Formica stand, Fresnel lens system, cassette player, specially-produced cassette tapes, automotive paint, and doily
published by Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles
Evoking a home interior, this television set is made from a jerry can sitting atop a doily-covered Formica table. Its blank screen glows as it plays a collection of found music and sounds. Edward and Nancy Reddin Kienholz produced a series of such sculptures exploring the pervasiveness of television and its encouragement of conformity, easy gratification, and the uncritical absorption of information. By selecting a United States Army oil can for the television’s body, the Kienholzes cast the medium as a domestic frontier for American militarism.
742:2020a-c
Luis González Palma,
Guatemalan, born 1957
Destinos, 2000
ambrotype in wood and velvet case
published by Segura Publishing Company, Tempe, Arizona
This intimate close-up portrait depicts a young Indigenous man from Guatemala. His steady gaze directly engages the viewer. The work is an ambrotype, a 19th-century photographic process. In selecting this antiquated technique and presenting the object in a hinged case, the artist suggests a kind of nostalgia for precious personal or devotional items. The title, Spanish for “destinations,” further underscores an ambiguous, poetic intention rather than a concrete guide for interpretation.
769:2020
Robert Gober,
American, born 1954
Untitled, 2010–11
photoetching on copper, hand-printed on Shikoku paper, hand-distressed
printed by Rob Swainston at Prints of Darkness, Brooklyn, New York
published by Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Madison, Maine
Monument Valley, 2007
wood engraving on Legion interleaving paper
printed by The Grenfell Press, New York
published by the artist
At first glance, these crumpled bits of paper appear to be detritus found in one’s pocket—a receipt and a newspaper clipping. On closer inspection, they reveal themselves as precisely-made imitations of those objects. The care and attention Robert Gober devoted to their making contradicts the disposable quality of the originals. In this manner, he presents his own fragmented narrative while encouraging us to consider the scraps we purposely and unintentionally keep.
614:2020, 615:2020
Robert Gober,
American, born 1954
Untitled, 2000–2001
intaglio print, custom handmade paper, 100% cotton rag paper with pigments, folded, torn, and burnished
Untitled, 2000–2001
intaglio print, custom handmade paper, 50% cotton linter, 50% cotton rag with pigment, torn, and burnished
Untitled, 2000–2001
intaglio print, custom handmade paper, 50% abaca, 50% cotton rag paper with pigment, folded, torn, and burnished
printed by Todd Norsten, American, born 1967
published by the artist
Untitled, 2000–2001, known as the ‘Venice Portfolio,’ was produced to fund Robert Gober’s United States Pavilion at the 49th Venice Biennale in 2001. This work exemplifies his interest in the ordinary and his meticulous attention to detail. The work began at Dieu Donné papermill creating handmade paper to exactly replicate the paper of The New York Times, The New Yorker, and a simple homemade note for a cat sitter. The intaglio printing is specific to each of those publications.
—Ted L. Simmons
616:2020.1-.3
Damon Davis,
American, born 1985
The Garden and the Guardian, 2018
inkjet print
Earth goddess O Ti O Tan, a deity of the artist’s own invention, resides in a forest and has wings of Aspen trees. In this world he imagined, all things are created from her. Damon Davis explains his interest in “how identity is informed by mythology and story. I use mythology to create conversation around how we see ourselves and others.” Like Davis’ additional work in this exhibition, The Garden and the Guardian presents viewers with a beautiful yet surreal figure.
552:2020
Damon Davis,
American, born 1985
Graduation 1, 2019
inkjet print
This graduate appears to be morphing into a supernatural being, perhaps like the miraculous transition of a caterpillar into a butterfly. The artist explains this series as “an exploration of change, growth, transition, transformation, loss, life, death, and family narrative.” The hybridized human underscores Davis’ constant fascination with science fiction and the imagined supernatural beings that often materialize in his video, music, and visual art projects.
551:2020
Enrique Chagoya: Inverting Worlds
Worlds intersected, collided, and turned upside-down—Enrique Chagoya simultaneously draws attention to and argues for the erasure of hierarchies in art and society. The Simmonses were first captivated by Chagoya’s early responses to one of his most influential predecessors in satire and social commentary—the Spanish artist Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1746–1828). Chagoya’s experimentations in art making have remained consistently attuned to materials and techniques as in his early large-scale charcoal drawings. In his accordion-folded books called codices, he adopts both the format and the amate fig-tree bark paper from historic Mesoamerican practices.
Chagoya describes elements of his work as “reverse modernism” or “reverse anthropology”—attempts to imagine different histories, different storytellers, and different power dynamics. What is not new is the imagery: the inventive recombination of his vast archive of globally-sourced visual material challenges a viewer’s sense of recognition. Which practices are taken seriously, and which have been written out of history? Chagoya provides no singular interpretation, but rather invites us to consider new meanings. With a playful willingness to confuse expectations, disarm stereotypes, and remove barriers, Chagoya reveals the dangers of categorizing and othering. His work prompts the hope for a world where difference provokes conversation rather than violence.
Enrique Chagoya,
American (born Mexico), born 1953
Goya conoce a Posada (Goya Meets Posada), from the series Homage to Goya II: Disasters of War, 2003
etching, aquatint, and rubber stamp
printed and published by Segura Publishing Company, Tempe, Arizona
Disparate de toritos (Little Bulls’ Folly), from the series Los Disparates, 2015
etching, aquatint, and rubber stamp
printed and published by Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, California
El sueño de la razón produce monstruos (The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters), from the series Recurrent Goya, 2012
etching, aquatint, and letterpress
printed and published by Universal Limited Art Editions, West Islip, New York
This is a small handful of the many prints Enrique Chagoya produced over a decade in conversation with the work of the Spanish artist Francisco Goya. Chagoya emulated his achievements as an etcher and appropriated from his compositions. However, he transformed them with his own commentaries on the dangers and evils of today’s world, in spheres ranging from contemporary art to nuclear war. In Goya meets Posada, a print entirely of Chagoya’s invention, he introduced two of his most-admired predecessors—Goya and José Guadalupe Posada (Mexican, 1852–1913). With his own playfulness, Chagoya renews their investments in the power of art to shine light in dark places.
481:2020.6, 500:2020.1, 510:2020.4
Enrique Chagoya,
American (born Mexico), born 1953
Liberty Backwards, 2008
photoetching and rubber stamp
printed by Magnolia Editions, Oakland, California
published by Des Moines Art Center Print Club, Iowa
Liberty, 2006
monotype
printed and published by Smith Andersen Editions, Palo Alto, California
These two works both take as their starting point one brutal print from Francisco Goya’s series the Disasters of War (1810–1820). In “Liberty,” the large scale and vibrant color accentuate the drama of the composition. Enrique Chagoya also introduced an unexpected spectator, one of the seven dwarfs from Disney’s version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This jarring insertion of a cartoon character alongside vivid human suffering confronts the subject of torture in the media, and the degree to which such consumption is treated as entertainment.
496:2020, 495:2020
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, Spanish, 1746–1828; Not [in this case] either (Tampoco), plate 36 from The Disasters of War (Los Desastres de La Guerra), 1810, published 1863; etching, burnished aquatint, drypoint, burin, and burnisher; plate: 6 1/8 x 8 1/8 inches, sheet: 9 7/8 x 13 9/16 inches; The Metropolitan Museum of Art Purchase, Jacob H. Schiff Bequest, 1922 22.60.25(36)
Enrique Chagoya,
American (born Mexico), born 1953
Untitled (Pocahontas), 2000
etching, drypoint, and aquatint
Untitled (Pocahontas), 2000
etching, drypoint, aquatint, and Xerox transfer
Untitled (Pocahontas), 2000
etching, drypoint, aquatint, Xerox transfer, and monoprint with printed chine collé
printed and published by Smith Andersen Editions, Palo Alto, California
In the three states of this print, Enrique Chagoya’s portrait of Pocahontas (Powhatan, c.1596–1617) is layered over an image of the Queen of France, Elisabeth of Austria (1554–1592). By altering the same printing plate, the artist progressively obscured and complicated the Native American subject. In doing so, he addressed the mythologizing of Pocahontas—the story of a woman whose Indigenous presence was collapsed over time into a narrative told by others that enhanced a colonizing perspective. Here, Chagoya questions the terms on which portraits are created and remembered, and the subsequent use of those legacies.
534:2020, 535:2020, 533:2020
Enrique Chagoya,
American (born Mexico), born 1953
La-K-La-K, 1986
charcoal and pastel
The looming figure of “La calavera catrina” (the elegant skeleton) or “La calaca” (the skeleton) is an image associated with Mexican commemorations of the Day of the Dead. The festival celebrates the departed and satirizes the living. The large skull has been reduced to two staring eyes under a characteristic hat of feathers and flowers. A smaller skeletal figure wearing Mickey Mouse ears accompanies her. The sense of dramatic contrast is heightened by the intensity of charcoal and pastel layered and strewn across the broad expanse of paper.
490:2020
Enrique Chagoya,
American (born Mexico), born 1953
Illegal Alien’s Meditations on el Ser y la Nada, 2012
lithograph with gold metallic powder and chine collé on amate paper
printed and published by Shark’s Ink, Lyons, Colorado
In its closed state, Illegal Alien’s Meditations on el Ser y la Nada promises the discovery of an invigorating range of imagery and ideas like those encountered in the unfolded codices displayed nearby. Enrique Chagoya’s title, a play on French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre’s book On Being and Nothingness (1943), invites us to reconsider conventional explanations for human existence.
485:2020
Enrique Chagoya,
American (born Mexico), born 1953
Escape from Fantasylandia: An Illegal Alien’s Survival Guide, 2011
lithograph with gold metallic powder on amate paper
printed and published by Shark’s Ink, Lyons, Colorado
A watery-looking plumed serpent—the Mesoamerican deity Quetzalcoatl—extends along the entire length of this accordion-folded codex. Below, Enrique Chagoya intermingled illustrations from a 1792 book, La portentosa vida de la Muerte (The Astounding Life of Death), with Mayan hieroglyphs, Japanese cartoons, and American dollars. Chagoya’s own early studies of economics informed his understanding of the market’s collapses and crises. The interweaving of these meditations on ritual time, death, and money also highlight the responsibility for and effects of such disasters.
468:2020
Enrique Chagoya,
American (born Mexico), born 1953
La Bestia’s Guide to the Birth of the Cool, 2014
lithograph with gold metallic powder and chine collé on amate paper
printed and published by Shark’s Ink, Lyons, Colorado
Train cars roll along the map details extending like tracks across the bottom margin of this accordion-folded codex. “La Bestia,” or “The Beast,” is the name given to freight trains ridden by migrants determined to reach the United States from Central America and Mexico. Extreme desperation spurs them to risk the perils that mark this journey; Enrique Chagoya highlights the many unaccompanied children who attempt it. In what he describes as a celebration in the last panel, he imagines a society where migration is welcomed and respected rather than fraught and fearful.
489:2020
Enrique Chagoya,
American (born Mexico), born 1953
The Headache, A Print After George Cruikshank, 2010
etching with inkjet color on chine collé
printed by C. R. Ettinger Studio, Philadelphia; Magnolia Editions, Oakland, California; and Silicon Gallery Fine Art Prints, Philadelphia
published by Philagrafika, Philadelphia; and The Rosenbach, Philadelphia
When invited to engage with the collection of the Rosenbach Library in Philadelphia, Enrique Chagoya selected a print by the 19th-century British satirist George Cruikshank. He recast the central figure as President Barack Obama. The demons attacking his head represent the challenges he faced when reforming America’s healthcare policy, a significant accomplishment of his first term (2009–2013). Chagoya worked with three separate printers to produce this updated historic print that speaks to a new political moment.
520:2020
Enrique Chagoya,
American (born Mexico), born 1953
Homage to the Un-Square and My Cat Frida, 2009
etching, aquatint, and drypoint with watercolor additions
printed and published by Universal Limited Art Editions, West Islip, New York
Enrique Chagoya’s cat Frida dashes across the room away from a figure that is part elaborately-dressed skeleton and part central Mexican underworld deity. With a toy in one hand and a cage in the other, the figure seems in pursuit of the cat. On the wall hangs a painting by 20th-century German-American artist Josef Albers, known for his explorations of perception and color theory, which included a long-running series entitled “Homage to the Square.” In Chagoya’s scene of the “un-square,” Albers’ neatly composed yellow painting becomes a mere backdrop to the drama of the cat and otherworldly figure at play.
482:2020
Enrique Chagoya,
American (born Mexico), born 1953
The Marriage of St. Catherine, 1997
acrylic paint, water-based oil paint, and solvent transfer on page from found 19th-century book
Enrique Chagoya added an exaggerated diamond ring, a mask, and a grinning skeletal head to pages from a Spanish translation of The International Gallery, a book of one hundred “masterpieces of art.” These interventions interrupt the text and images meant to transmit the canon or standards of Western art. Chagoya recast the religious symbolism of the scene by 17th-century Flemish artist Anthony van Dyck and the alleged superiority of the work. Chagoya’s irreverence questions the authority of the artistic and religious practices in which van Dyck worked.
502:2020
Enrique Chagoya,
American (born Mexico), born 1953
Gerome Visiting a Pupil’s Studio, 2000
acrylic paint, water-based oil paint, and solvent transfer on page from found 19th-century book
The doodles spanning this reproduction of a painting by Ignacio Léon y Escosura (Spanish, 1834–1901) directly address the theme of artistic process depicted in the scene. Strategies for learning about art are suggested by a blackboard and the phrase “divino maestro,” referring to God’s dual role as master and maker. Enrique Chagoya’s insertion of comic book characters among others draws attention to the long history of privileging certain creative genealogies and practices. Here, he presents a different approach to visual history that incorporates a variety of strategies and sources.
475:2020
Enrique Chagoya,
American (born Mexico), born 1953
Detention at the Border of Language, 2019
lithograph
printed and published by Shark’s Ink, Lyons, Colorado
The kidnapping of colonist Daniel Boone’s daughter Jemima is recast as the activity of a border patrol. As Enrique Chagoya notes, “Today, some politicians call refugees from Central America and other countries ‘illegal aliens’ but for me they are no different from the Pilgrims or Daniel Boone’s daughter.” Chagoya scrambled the identities of the figures, who take on heads borrowed from different Indigenous communities, while Jemima becomes a cartoon duck. In doing so, the artist calls attention to the irony that people living on historically stolen land carry hatred toward foreigners.
465:2020
Enrique Chagoya,
American (born Mexico), born 1953
Le Temps Peut Passer Vite ou Lentemente (Time Can Pass Quickly or Slowly), 2009
UV-cured archival pigmented ink hand-painted with acrylic and oil on gessoed amate paper
printed and published by Magnolia Editions, Oakland, California
In the foreground of a picturesque scene by Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926) are two seemingly out-of-place figures. Using what he calls “utopian cannibalism,” Enrique Chagoya reverses cultural consumption associated with generations of European colonialism. A sculpture made by a Senufo artist from West Africa munches on an arm in a striped shirt; the disarmed figure on the left is identifiable as Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973). Picasso infamously borrowed from African sculpture and other non-European sources in his disruption of Western art, showing little regard for the original’s cultural context.
493:2020
Enrique Chagoya,
American (born Mexico), born 1953
Untitled (After Yves St. Laurent), 2016
etching with acrylic
printed and published by Magnolia Editions, Oakland, California
Modern art and high fashion collide in dresses inspired by the painter Piet Mondrian (Dutch, 1872–1944) and designed by Yves Saint Laurent (French, 1936–2008). With his usual insight, Enrique Chagoya modified this image of elite consumption by affixing the heads of vastly different cultural figures. The faces range from famed Mexican professional wrestler Blue Demon to a New Guinea Tambul warrior photographed by Irving Penn (American, 1917–2009). Chagoya probes the instabilities of identity and status, questioning the intersection of personhood and representation—just who is the “subject” and what is “art”?
529:2020
Enrique Chagoya,
American (born Mexico), born 1953
El Regreso del Caníbal Macrobiótico (The Return of the Macrobiotic Cannibal), 1998
lithograph, woodcut, and chine collé on amate paper
printed and published by Shark’s Ink, Lyons, Colorado
Read from right to left, this accordion-style book on amate fig-tree bark paper was the first printed example of a form that Enrique Chagoya began making in 1992. That date marked 500 years after Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas, launching a genocide that decimated Indigenous populations and cultures. Among the losses were Mesoamerican books, burned by colonizers attempting to take control. In response, Chagoya revisited this violent collision, borrowing from a wide range of imagery to invert the power dynamics and propose an alternative history. Here, the Virgin of Guadalupe is encapsulated in an anatomical drawing of a body, and Superman loses out to an Aztec skull.
467:2020
Enrique Chagoya,
American (born Mexico), born 1953
Caníbales Daguerrotípicos, 2015
inkjet print on resin-coated photo paper
printed and published by Magnolia Editions, Oakland, California
The muted, silvery colors of this work distinguish it from the other books in these cases. Its presence indicates a shift to the history of a different medium: photography. Enrique Chagoya’s concentration on photography brings a focus to the complicated histories of European and Euro-American attempts at representing the “other.” The nostalgic glow is quickly undercut by his reversal of Modernism’s cannibalization (the artist’s term) of formal characteristics from various cultures’ art production. Instead, it is the European and Euro-American perspective that is unmoored and made to seem absurdist.
646:2020
Enrique Chagoya,
American (born Mexico), born 1953
Everyone is an Alienígeno, 2018
lithograph
printed and published by Shark’s Ink, Lyons, Colorado
Enrique Chagoya exploded ethnic stereotypes in the splashes of color that march across this print. Among the most legible features are the googly eyes and manner of dress. The small images scattered between the figures gesture to a history of capturing individuals with the goal of categorizing and formalizing difference, and the harm that ensued and still continues. Drawing on his own experiences of living within and between cultures, Chagoya’s title suggests the spectrum of commonalities without degrees of superiority.
471:2020
Enrique Chagoya,
American (born Mexico), born 1953
Illegal Alien’s Guide to Critical Theory, 2007
lithograph
printed and published by Shark’s Ink, Lyons, Colorado
Enrique Chagoya appears here in many guises, beginning with the Mayan figure horizontally stretched across this composition. In the margins below, a series of smaller figures and their interactions introduce a narrative. Chagoya is again transformed, this time into a plucked chicken who undergoes Chagoya’s real-life experience just prior to making the print: a bicycle crash and extended recovery. Various critiques and commentaries from the mouths of American comic book characters recount this incident. Chagoya has deployed a clever sense of humor to engage with the role and expectations of the artist.
486:2020
Enrique Chagoya,
American (born Mexico), born 1953
Illegal Alien’s Guide to Somewhere Over the Rainbow, 2010
lithograph with chine collé
printed and published by Shark’s Ink, Lyons, Colorado
This map draws attention to environmental problems of global concern, from pollution to climate change. The landscape is dotted with the trappings of contemporary life that contribute to these issues, while sea creatures seem to fight back at this invasion of their home. By highlighting the fragility and interconnectedness of our world, this work also suggests a shared responsibility for addressing such challenges. Further, by replacing the heads of leaders or heroes with the very means of destruction, Enrique Chagoya demonstrates his distrust in their ability to take on the task.
487:2020
Alert: Upon entry, gallery will go dark to view art.
Dorothy Cross,
Irish, born 1956
Ghost Ship (i), 2011
Ghost Ship (ii), 2011
etchings with aquatint and phosphorescent ink
printed and published by Stoney Road Press, Dublin, Ireland
Surprise! Ghost Ship i and ii are glow-in-the-dark prints. The photographs document a temporary site-specific installation in 1999 for which Dorothy Cross painted a decommissioned lightship with phosphorescent paint that floated in Dublin Bay, Ireland, for three weeks. Until the 1970s, these engineless boats served to mark reefs too shallow for larger ships but too deep for the construction of a lighthouse. To re-create the appearance of the glowing ship in these prints, Cross used phosphorescent ink. Throughout her career, the artist has reflected on themes of loss and absence.
548:2020, 549:2020
Pay Attention
The Simmons collection is distinctive for its emphasis on artists who have responded to the disruptive, often turbulent events and trends of the past 60 years. Much of the world was still grappling with the aftermath of World War II (1939–1945) when protests against the Vietnam War (1954–1975) exploded in the mid-1960s. A new generation that loathed authority embraced the promise of change and fought for civil rights and the environment, among countless other causes. These ideas impacted the art world as well as the political climate. Advised early on to collect art that speaks to their own experience, the collectors have never shied away from bold topical statements like those seen throughout this exhibition.
The works in this gallery confront the effects of war, bigotry, and colonialism in the United States through diverse lenses. Dating from 1962 to 2017, they provide a cross-section of concerns that remain relevant. For example, Bruce Nauman’s Pay Attention and Kara Walker’s Keys to the Coop use contrasting methods to capture viewers’ attention with contentious statements. Nauman literally wrote his insistent command in eight-inch block letters, while Walker borrowed the visual form of the silhouette to expose the brutality of slavery and racism. For those who take the time to return the gaze of these artworks, the rewards include a greater self-awareness and a point of entry into the long arc of history.
To learn more about the printmaking and photographic techniques used to create the works on view, scan the QR code below.
Bruce Nauman,
American, born 1941
Pay Attention, 1973
lithograph
printed and published by Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles
This print’s direct language and the size and graphic intensity of the letters facilitate clear reading. Yet its backward orientation, not to mention the obscene nature of the second two lines, makes the viewer pause. The artist does not specify what requires our attention. When the print was made, the United States was embroiled in numerous societal controversies. Those include, but are not limited to, the Vietnam War (1954–1975) and the Watergate scandal (1972–1974) that culminated in President Richard M. Nixon’s resignation.
Bruce Nauman frequently takes advantage of the reversal that occurs in printmaking, which is especially relevant in text-based works like this. In Pay Attention, it is an arresting characteristic that keeps our focus on the message. The work challenges us to be observant, to think critically, and to question the status quo of art and society.
750:2020
Kara Walker,
American, born 1969
The Keys to the Coop, 1997
linocut
printed and published by Landfall Press, Chicago
A young girl chases a decapitated chicken whose head she holds to her open mouth. Viewers are made to feel uncomfortable at both the violence and the crude racial stereotype. Kara Walker challenges romantic portrayals of the American past with disturbing and controversial images, intentionally exaggerated to underscore their damaging effects. This relief print mimics large-scale cut-paper silhouettes for which the artist became well-known. Walker turns the silhouette tradition on its head, taking what was an elegant art form in past centuries and using it to create new, troubling perspectives.
847:2020
Enrique Chagoya,
American (born Mexico), born 1953
Pluribus Recession, 2009
pigmented inkjet print
printed and published by Magnolia Editions, Oakland, California
Close examination of this sheet of uncut American dollar bills reveals subtle alterations to the currency: George Washington is drowning in a goldfish bowl, the public debt is printed at left, and Enrique Chagoya’s signature appears bottom right above the word “Artist.” Chagoya found early inspiration in the collection of forged money kept in his father’s bank office. In this work, he calls attention to the instability of paper money, one element of an economic system whose weakness had caused such damage during the global recession of 2008.
509:2020
Michele Oka Doner,
American, born 1945
Tattooed Doll (female), 1968
glazed porcelain with iron oxide
This curious figure suggests a vintage baby doll with missing arms and what appear to be calcified growths on its chest and head. Michele Oka Doner has long been inspired by organic material, especially ocean life and seashells. She shares, “The clay forms recalled the fragmentary nature of the corals I picked up on the beach.” Oka Doner sculpted about a dozen different ceramic dolls starting in 1966, her final year at the University of Michigan. In 1967, photographs of Vietnamese children burned by napalm shocked the American public, and the dolls quickly became symbols for anti-war protests. The artist embraced this interpretation and had it in mind when creating additional versions.
554:2020
Bruce Conner,
American, 1933–2008
BOMBHEAD, 2002
inkjet print with acrylic
printed and published by Magnolia Editions, Oakland, California
A nuclear mushroom cloud emanating from a military uniform triggers questions. In his youth, Bruce Conner watched film footage of a 1946 nuclear test blast in the Pacific Ocean, and he used those images in his art from the 1970s on. The brutal World War II atomic bombing of Japan by the United States (August 6 and 9, 1945) may have been decades in the past and worlds away, but the threat of nuclear war remained very real. This digital collage combines a military photograph of the 1946 test with one of the artist in a uniform.
545:2020
Tom Huck,
American, born 1971
The Great War-Madillo (For A.D.), 2017
chiaroscuro woodcut
printed and published by University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Nebraska
Armadillos come in many sizes, but Tom Huck’s “Great War-Madillo” dwarfs even the largest living variety. In his color woodcut heralding the mythical beast’s supposed demise in 2017, the war-madillo’s fanciful armor is not observed from nature. Huck’s armadillo skin references a 1515 woodcut by his artistic hero Albrecht Dürer (pictured below). Dürer never saw a rhinoceros himself yet his woodcut became the authoritative source in Europe for describing the animal. Huck’s sole focus on printmaking exploits this historic power of graphic images to communicate impactful messages.
717:2020
Albrecht Dürer, German, 1471–1528; The Rhinoceros, 1515; woodcut; sheet: 9 3/16 x 11 1/2 inches; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Harry G. Friedman, 1960 60.708.157
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith,
Enrolled Salish, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation, Montana, born 1940
Cowboys and Indians, Made in America, 1995
collagraph
printed and published by Washington University Collaborative Print Workshop (now Island Press), St. Louis
Two figures wearing cowboy hats appear to shoot each other, though to comical rather than violent effect. The print’s title, inscribed at top and bottom, repeats a Hollywood cliché popularized in Western movies. Yet these figures are indistinguishable, negating supposed differences between the two characters. Jaune Quick-to-See Smith underscores the humor of the work in her strategic placement of the guns, which read as stand-ins for male anatomy. In this way, her print critiques stereotypes of “the West” and masculinity.
800:2020
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith,
Enrolled Salish, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation, Montana, born 1940
Celebrate 40,000 Years of American Art (Goshen College), 1995–96
collagraph
published by Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana
Celebrate 40,000 Years of American Art, 1995
collagraph
printed and published by Washington University Collaborative Print Workshop (now Island Press), St. Louis
When Jaune [Quick-to-See Smith] came to the Washington University Collaborative Print Workshop—now Island Press—it was around the time of the 500th Anniversary of Columbus ‘discovering’ America. I distinctly remember Jaune saying to the assembled student assistants, ‘And there were 17,000,000 people here to say hello.’ And we were off. Under the tutelage of Peter Marcus, Jaune quickly mastered building textures using the collagraph method. Jaune had earlier sent a student to the library to find a book on the Peterborough Petroglyphs [Ontario, Canada] and the student came back with this little green book and opened it up and there they were, the rabbits.
—Maryanne Ellison Simmons
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Jaune Quick-to-See Smith,
Enrolled Salish, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation, Montana, born 1940
Venison Stew, 1995
Celebrate 40,000 Years (Posole Stew), 1995
two collagraphs
printed and published by Washington University Collaborative Print Workshop (now Island Press), St. Louis
These prints feature cans of soup in a direct reference to American Pop artist Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans, which debuted in 1962. Native American artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith “indigenizes” this iconic image with two kinds of stew rooted in Native and Mexican cultures. Posole Stew is juxtaposed next to rabbits and the text “40,000 Years of American Art,” which also appears in two other prints nearby.
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Andy Warhol, American, 1928–1987; printed by Salvatore Silkscreen Co., New York; published by Factory Additions, New York; Untitled, from the portfolio Campbell’s Soup II, 1969; screenprint; image: 35 x 23 inches, sheet: 35 x 23 inches; Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert G. Greenberg 166:1971.10; © 2022 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
H. C. Westermann,
American, 1922–1981
The Connecticut Ballroom, 1976
seven woodcuts with artist-made plywood case
printed and published by the artist
left to right, top to bottom:
The Connecticut Ballroom
The Green Hell
Arctic Death Ship
The Dance of Death
Deserted Airport N.M.
Popeye and Pinocchio
Elephants’ Graveyard
The Connecticut Ballroom presents colorful but frightening evocations of war, a post-nuclear world, and environmental danger and decay. The Green Hell resembles a scary swamp of the future putting humans in serious danger. Elephants’ Graveyard was inspired by a press photograph showing the bones of elephants in Kenya that starved to death in a drought. There are also autobiographical references. H. C. Westermann fought in the Pacific during World War II (1939–1945) and had first-hand experience with what he called “death ships.” He wrote stirringly of the “SMELL OF DEATH” he could not shake after spending weeks cleaning up a ship bombed by the Japanese.
The woodcuts were single-handedly produced by the artist himself using a different block for each color. He estimated each woodcut took as long as a month to complete. An accomplished sculptor, Westermann also meticulously crafted the Douglas fir portfolio case.
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H. C. Westermann,
American, 1922–1981
Disasters in the Sky, 1962–63
five linocuts
H. C. Westermann’s cartoon savvy is on full display in this group of hand-printed linocuts depicting a dizzying array of aerial exploits. The series utilizes a retro-futuristic feel to warn of the perils of modern technology. It begins with an airborne Batman-like figure swirling above a city, reminiscent of the 1930 film, The Bat Whispers. It also includes a dripping rocket—perhaps breaking the sound barrier; a plane threatened by a disembodied eye; and a frighteningly out-of-control vessel. The final image, Disasters in the Sky #5, depicts the explosive penetration of a tall, thin skyscraper. Though it might now conjure memories of the hijacked planes flown into the World Trade Towers on September 11, 2001, the Empire State Building did miraculously survive the fiery impact of a B-52 Bomber on July 28, 1945.
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Explore the World of Collecting:
• Watch a video featuring stories from Ted L. and Maryanne Ellison Simmons about their collecting adventures.
• In the spirit of collectible baseball cards, and Ted’s success as both a player and an art collector, make your own “art collectors’ card.” Be sure to complete the “stats” on the back.
• Relax and enjoy the catalogue Catching the Moment: Contemporary Art from the Ted L. and Maryanne Ellison Simmons Collection.
Catching the Moment:
Building the Collection
duration: 6 minutes, 11 seconds, looped
Abstraction
The possibilities of abstraction are explored across the prints and paintings in this gallery. Using only the basic elements of color, line, and shape, these works highlight the variety of strategies available for the creation of non-representational art. Attention to materials and process shifts as the artists engage with different media and supports such as newsprint and ledger paper. The same medium can offer multiple opportunities for experimentation as evidenced by the woodcuts of Helen Frankenthaler and Donald Judd. Contrast Frankenthaler’s attention to the subtleties of visible woodgrain with the smooth, straight lines of Judd’s precise symmetries.
The Simmonses’ collection includes a small but impactful group of abstract artworks. Although they might appear unusual when compared to the other objects in this exhibition, their exceptional condition and artistry drew the couple’s attention. This gallery invites further reflection on the power and relevance of art that transforms minimal forms into carriers of meaning.
Jasper Johns,
American, born 1930
The Dutch Wives, 1977
screenprint
printed by Simca Print Artists, New York
published by the artist and Simca Print Artists, New York
Twenty-nine screens were used to print this work, including a screenprinted collage of newspaper strips. The same configuration of hatchmarks is repeated on the left and right sides of the composition. However, the inconsistent application of a multitude of grays makes that replication difficult to perceive. The title of the work is a slang term referring to various types of surrogate sex partners, such as sex dolls or holes in boards or panels. The circular mark on the right plays with this notion of sexuality and bodily presence.
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Helen Frankenthaler,
American, 1928–2011
Savage Breeze, 1974
woodcut
printed and published by Universal Limited Art Editions, West Islip, New York
Lightly curved shapes in lime green and burgundy are punctuated by delicate woodgrain patterns left by the printing process. Wiry, vertical lines in yellow and orange slash across the left side of the composition. Savage Breeze showcases Helen Frankenthaler’s inventive and groundbreaking approach to woodcut, a medium she explored for over four decades. The artist initially struggled with the colors in this work, finding it too muddy. It took whitewashing the underlying paper support for the printed colors to properly “glow” and contrast with one another.
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Al Taylor,
American, 1948–1999
No Title, c.1985
No Title, c.1985
acrylic on newsprint
Painted on newsprint, Al Taylor’s characteristic webs energize the color fields they are set against. The vibrant, segmented shapes challenge the flatness of the surface, while hints of faces or text beneath add another layer of depth. Taylor also worked in sculpture; his investigation and manipulation of line segments occur in both his two- and three-dimensional works.
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Suzan Frecon,
American, born 1941
dark red with vermillion (orange) e, 2011
watercolor on ledger paper
Bands of deep red and orange vermillion stretch across a wavy sheet of ledger paper. In her watercolors, Suzan Frecon indulges in the material effects of paint and paper, releasing control over the water and pigment to blur the edges of her abstract forms. She is interested in natural balance and proportion as opposed to constructed symmetry. The artist creates space for organic outcomes and accidents of paint and surface that combine to form a gently layered composition of color and shape.
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Bill Fick,
American, born 1963
Hooligan III, 1993
linocut
printed by Perry Tymeson
published by Cockeyed Press, New York
A whirl of arms and legs spins in a chaotic mess. The hands hold lethal weapons and make rude gestures, while the feet are clad in combat boots. Bill Fick’s linocut of swirling European soccer, or football, fans is inspired by comic strips. The long history of “football hooliganism” ranges from taunts and social disruption to vandalism and violence against rival gangs or “firms.”
Bill Fick, Tom Huck, and Tony Fitzpatrick—whose work is in the next gallery—belong to a group of artists calling themselves “Outlaw Printmakers.”
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Donald Judd,
American, 1928–1994
Untitled, 1992
four woodcuts
printed by Derriere L’Etoile Studios, New York
published by Brooke Alexander, New York
The rectangular shapes, lines, and borders in this set of minimalist woodcuts were designed to produce precise, equal measurements between each of its parts. Donald Judd followed rigid mathematical guidelines to achieve this desired effect. He often used repetition—creating related artworks with slight variations in both printmaking and sculpture—to explore forms and color. Comprised of four sheets of identical size, this series demonstrates Judd’s desire to call attention to the formal qualities of the object itself.
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Tom Huck,
American, born 1971
Death Bugz series, 2008
three linocuts
printed and published by Evil Prints, St. Louis
top to bottom:
Boris
Peede
Skeet
Tom Huck moved his searing gaze beyond humanity to the insect world in these frightful-yet-playful bug portraits. Boris the spider dominates his web with his characteristic eight legs yet sports a humanoid skull reminiscent of biker culture. The artist captured an insect-like essence in each one, but he also humanized them.
Huck links the Death Bugz series to his fascination with European printmaking traditions: “That comes from curious monsters and fanciful beasts of the Middle Ages.” The hybrid creatures visible below in Tribulations of St. Anthony by the late 15th-century German painter and engraver Martin Schongauer is a prime example of the artist’s inspiration.
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Martin Schongauer, German, c.1435–1491; The Tribulations of St. Anthony, c.1470–73; engraving; image: 12 5/16 x 9 1/16 inches, plate: 12 15/16 x 9 1/16 inches, Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Julian and Hope Edison 110:2019
Tom Huck,
American, born 1971
Goat Roper Rodeo, 2003
lithograph
printed and published by The Lawrence Lithography Workshop, Kansas City
Inspired by his memories of small-town wannabe cowboys, Tom Huck dreamed up this gleeful-yet-sinister trio. They ride their small farmyard steeds with gusto—including pigs with steer horns strapped around their heads. Huck is most known for the signature woodblocks he carves and often prints himself, but he also works with print publishers in other media. In this case, Mike Sims, a master of lithographic printing, invited the artist to work with him at Lawrence Lithography Workshop in Kansas City, Missouri.
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Tom Huck’s Rural Satire
Tom Huck delivers twisted interpretations of rural history, drawing from a wide range of satirical imagery from 15th-century Europe to contemporary America to do so. Out of this blend of old and new, true stories and fantasy, he creates brash Midwestern tales of amusement, vulgarity, violence, and misfortune. In this gallery, his demonic spin on a “Cabbage Patch Kid” doll gone bad brushes up against wannabe cowboys, ex-wives, heavy metal music, and famous stories from the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair.
The Simmonses, who began collecting Huck’s prints in the 1990s, have assembled a near-complete archive of his work to date. Included are his signature rural satires as well as commissioned projects, which equally exude his forceful artistic personality. What makes the collection truly distinctive, however, is that the couple has assembled a comprehensive selection of related material alongside the prints. This includes numerous preparatory drawings and sketchbooks, as well as many of Huck’s original hand-carved wood and linoleum blocks.
Tom Huck,
American, born 1971
Preparatory drawing for
Monday Night Metal: Motörhead, 2008
pen and ink
Monday Night Metal: Motörhead, 2008
letterpress
printed by Crazy Pants Press, St. Louis
published by Evil Prints, St. Louis
The “War-Pig” logo of heavy metal band Motörhead dominates the front of an intimidating tank crossing a battle-scarred wasteland. Armed with a smoking gun, the unstoppable combat vehicle echoes the rhythm of the band’s hard-grinding music. The tank also references the group’s leader, Lemmy Kilmister, and his controversial collection of Nazi military gear.
The St. Louis rock radio station, KSHE 95, commissioned this poster for a concert they sponsored at The Pageant in the Delmar Loop. Tom Huck worked feverishly overnight to finish it. Kilmister liked the poster so much he invited Huck to go on tour with him and create more artwork for the band.
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Tom Huck,
American, born 1971
Remembering Lemmy Mask, 2016
linocut
printed and published by Evil Prints, St. Louis
“Motörhead is my favorite band of all time … since I was 15 years old.” Tom Huck considers himself fortunate to have met many of his living heroes. In the case of Motörhead, he went on the road with the band and forged a working relationship with Ian Fraser “Lemmy” Kilmister, the force behind the group. Huck created this wearable mask for a memorial event following Lemmy’s death at age 70 in 2015. It was based on Joe Petardo’s 1970s “War Pig” logo. The mask’s prominent tusks resemble Lemmy’s signature mustache.
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Tom Huck,
American, born 1971
War from Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, 2008
ink and graphite
This sword-wielding horseman is a deliberate homage to Tom Huck’s all-time greatest artist-hero, Albrecht Dürer. The German printmaker was born in 1471, exactly 500 years before Huck. The artist has vivid memories of trips as a teenager to the Saint Louis Art Museum’s Print Study Room. There he viewed famous woodcuts up close like Dürer’s Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse pictured below, which have fed his imagination ever since.
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Albrecht Dürer, German, 1471–1528; The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, from The Apocalypse, c.1497–98; woodcut; sheet (irregular): 16 x 11 7/16 inches; Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Berenice C. Ballard in memory of her father and mother Mr. and Mrs. James F. Ballard 836:1940
Tom Huck,
American, born 1971
Preparatory drawing for Snacktime Marcy, center panel
Ink
Two compositional studies for Snacktime Marcy, left panel
graphite and ink
These drawings record Tom Huck’s preliminary ideas about Snacktime Marcy, the three-part woodcut on the wall to your left. The first drawing shows early sketches of various figures as they appear in the central panel. The others show successive stages of the overall composition of the left panel. Several individual motifs appear in the margins, including Huck’s reimagining of the cute and squishy “Cabbage Patch Kid” doll into a more sinister-looking squeezebox creature.
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Tom Huck,
American, born 1971
Snacktime Marcy, 2000
woodcut, printed from three blocks
printed and published by Evil Prints, St. Louis
The merry birthday party in the left-hand panel of this three-part woodcut devolves into violence in the center. A father wields an enormous pair of scissors—apparently intending to cut his daughter’s hair from the jaws of the now-diabolical doll. On the right, vengeance is carried out by an aviator holding decapitated dolls’ heads aloft.
The story that spawned Snacktime Marcy, Tom Huck’s first triptych, only appears too bizarre to be true. Any child or parent alive in the 1980s will remember the “Cabbage Patch Kid” dolls, but few will remember the “Snacktime Kid.” Her mechanical mouth, designed to gobble up her very own plastic French fries, instead latched onto anything in her path—including hair—and did not let go.
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Tom Huck,
American, born 1971
Notes about “Booger Stew” and preparatory drawings for The Great War-Madillo (For A.D.), in: Sketchbook, 2001–4
sketchbook
Charley Patton, and preparatory drawings for Snacktime Marcy, in: Sketchbook, 2016–18
sketchbook
Preparatory drawing for Bride, in: Sketchbook, 1995
sketchbook
Tom Huck’s sketchbooks give remarkable insight into the artist’s process. Included are early ideas for series and titles as well as drawings from existing sources and his imagination. The Simmons collection includes nearly 200 drawings and six sketchbooks.
The sketchbook on the left is opened to a page showing Huck’s thoughts on the ongoing “Booger Stew” series that encompasses his major triptychs, or three-panel works. Sketches for The Great War-Madillo (For A.D.) on view in Gallery 244 can be seen opposite those notes, with the suggestion to have “‘Dillo’ ‘Peeing’ out of fear.”
In the smaller book is a detailed drawing of Delta Blues pioneer, Charley Patton (1891–1934), as well as an earlier version of “Snacktime Marcy”—or “Snacktime Bobbie” as he called her at that stage. The third sketchbook is open to a detailed drawing in preparation for one of the color etchings also seen nearby.
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Tom Huck,
American, born 1971
Up Dung Creek, 2006
linocut
printed and published by Egress Press & Research, Edinboro, Pennsylvania
The muddy Mississippi, shown here in all its glory above and below the surface, welcomes mysterious creatures swimming its length. Giant catfish, sturgeon, bull sharks, paddlefish, and alligator gar can weigh anywhere from 50 up to hundreds of pounds. Specimens of each type have been found well north of the river’s source in New Orleans. Tom Huck’s inspiration for this print came from the constant stream of stories circulating about fantastical sea monsters discovered along Missouri’s coastline. The title, Up Dung Creek, echoes a similar phrase that cannot be printed on this label.
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Tom Huck,
American, born 1971
Bridal Sweet, 2001–12
five etchings
printed by White Wings Press, Chicago
published by Wildwood Press, St. Louis
left to right, top to bottom:
Bride
Hitch
Lust
Sin
Stang
These sexy pin-ups appear to have seen better days. Their missing teeth and cross-eyed, mindless stares add an unexpected edge to the otherwise tantalizing opportunities their bodies promise. Tom Huck’s work includes frequent autobiographical references, and those close to him are not spared from his satirical gaze. In this series he inflated his two divorces into five ex-wives, characterizing them as witch, temptress, slut, playmate, and floozy.
Huck turned to Chicago printer Theresa James and Maryanne Ellison Simmons’ Wildwood Press for help in producing these complex color etchings.
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Tom Huck,
American, born 1971
The Early Days of Soft-Serve, 2003
Wiener Mania: The Birth of Frankenskank, 2003
two linocuts from the series Vintage Junk ‘04: Fair-y Tales from the Mississippi Expo
designed for publication in BLAB!
printed and published by Evil Prints, St. Louis
The legend of the ice cream cone’s invention at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair is presented by Tom Huck as a spiraling spectator sport. The American hot dog, rumored to have similar origins, appears as a scary eating contest held over an open fire. These examples represent how the artist skillfully takes hold of a story with an already tenuous relationship with the truth and spins it even deeper into fantasy. The characters are typically Huck: exaggerated, sexualized, and caricatured in a brutal-comic critique of human pleasure and folly.
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Tom Huck,
American, born 1971
Snacktime Marcy, 1999
wood blocks
Block carving is the most intensive labor performed by Tom Huck in the creation of his woodcuts. At the start of the process, the artist’s ideas are captured in preparatory drawings such as those seen in the cases nearby. Next, he draws the entire composition onto the blocks. He then carves the wood away around the drawing so that only the image to be printed remains raised above the surface.
When he made Snacktime Marcy, Huck lacked a large enough printing press, so he transferred the image to the paper by rubbing the back of it with a spoon. The resulting triptych, as such three-panel works are called, hangs on the opposite side of the gallery.
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Borrow, Transform, Repeat
Captain America, Mickey Mouse, and Dick Tracy share space in this gallery with a samurai and a contemporary “Egyptian” mummy. Artists have long utilized popular culture of all kinds as source material, from advertisements to comic books, movies, and more. They not only adopt existing images, but also tap into the mass media formats that gave rise to the originals. Examples include Tony Fitzpatrick’s manual replication of the recognizable Ben-Day dot pattern in his repurposed comic-book characters, or the imitation of wood grain from Japanese color woodcuts in Roger Shimomura’s lithographs.
But what happens when the superhero’s image is removed from the comic book or movie telling the story of their exploits? Through the act of borrowing, artists propose new meanings for these familiar characters, and the resulting transformation can vary greatly. It might take the form of a personal universe or an intellectual commentary on the nature of art. Or it might elevate a commonplace object or enlist a hero in the pursuit of social justice. In all cases, these appropriations ask the viewer—the art consumer—to be more thoughtful and to reconsider what is often taken for granted, but also to have fun while doing so.
Roger Shimomura,
American, born 1939
Yellow Suite, 2012
four lithographs
printed and published by The Lawrence Lithography Workshop, Kansas City
left to right, top to bottom:
Zero
Target
White Wash
Banana
In Yellow Suite, Roger Shimomura presents the color yellow in different contexts—both neutral (a piece of fruit) and offensive (the skin color of a grossly insensitive cartoon face). A white hand painting with the same color over a yellow surface refers to “whitewashing.” Zero depicts the Mitsubishi A6M fighter jet flown by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II.
Some of Shimomura’s work takes on the crude racial categories that refer to Asian people as “yellow.” In the 18th century, Swedish taxonomist Carl Linnaeus was the first to propose racial categorization by four colors: black, red, white, and yellow. Together these four images show how identity cannot be simplistically reduced to, or represented by a color.
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Roger Shimomura,
American, born 1939
Yellow No Same, 1992
twelve lithographs
printed and published by The Lawrence Lithography Workshop, Kansas City
This set of twelve lithographs depicts Kabuki actors alongside “all-American” types: a soldier, individuals wearing cowboy hats, and even Mickey Mouse. Kabuki is a distinctly Japanese form of theatre in which actors wear kimonos and dramatic makeup. This portfolio was published on the 50th anniversary of Executive Order 9066 in 1942 in which President Franklin D. Roosevelt incarcerated Japanese Americans—including Shimomura and his family—in internment camps. The barbed wire dividing the characters references these prisons, and is seared into the artist’s earliest memories.
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Roger Shimomura,
American, born 1939
Kansas Samurai, 2004
lithograph
printed and published by The Lawrence Lithography Workshop, Kansas City
In his many self-portraits, Roger Shimomura often depicts himself as a caricature drawn from Japanese and American cultures. In this lithograph the artist references a 20th-century Japanese woodblock print (below), overlaying his signature round eyeglasses onto the painted face of a Kabuki theatre actor. Popeye, Dagwood, Superman, Dick Tracy, Donald Duck, and Pluto appear to march away from Samurai Shimomura in the background. The title refers to the artist’s adopted home state, where he taught at the University of Kansas for 35 years.
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Natori Shunsen, Japanese, 1886–1960; The Actor Sawada Shojiro as the Swordsman Hayashi Buhei, from the series Collection of Portraits by Shunsen (Shunsen nigao shu), 1927; color woodblock print; 15 11/16 x 10 5/8 inches; Art Institute of Chicago, Clarence Buckingham Collection 1929.641
Roger Shimomura,
American, born 1939
Super Buddahead, 2012
American Buddahead, 2012
two lithographs
printed and published by The Lawrence Lithography Workshop, Kansas City
Roger Shimomura substituted a portrait of himself as a middle-aged man onto Superman’s chiseled body, creating a cultural hybrid. The elongated vertical format of these prints suggests East Asian hanging scrolls, and his merging of Superman and Buddha brings together idealized icons from the West and the East. The artist explains, “By wearing the Superman outfit … I’m saying, ‘I, too, aspire to those American values that are in this country, to those rewards available for working hard and trying to attain success, like every other American, regardless of their cultural background or ethnic heritage.’”
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Jane Hammond,
American, born 1950
Spells and Incantations, 2007
lithograph and screenprint
printed and published by Shark’s Ink, Lyons, Colorado
This astonishing three-dimensional lithograph was printed on paper and cut and assembled into the shape of an Egyptian coffin. A photograph of the artist’s face functions as the mummy’s portrait. The pseudo-hieroglyphs adorning the surface are drawn from Jane Hammond’s personal repository of 276 found images compiled from printed illustrations. Of this work, Hammond says: “I think of this piece as an amulet for propitious things in the journey of this life and beyond.”
Ancient Egyptian coffins and a mummy portrait, much like the works that inspired Hammond, can be seen upstairs in Gallery 313.
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Jane Hammond,
American, born 1950
My Heavens, 2004
lithograph with silver Mylar and chine collé
printed and published by Shark’s Ink, Lyons, Colorado
This vibrantly colored star map is filled with creatures in flight, as well as antlered mammals and humans in dynamic poses. Given that all celestial constellations are born of images in the stars as perceived by humans, Jane Hammond echoed this act of creating order out of chaos by using images that are repeated throughout her body of work. To imitate shining stars, she single-handedly cut out each one, exposing the silver Mylar sheet beneath the paper.
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Wayne Thiebaud,
American, 1920–2021
Candy Apples, 1987
woodcut
printed by Shi-un-do Print Shop, Kyoto, Japan
published by Crown Point Press, San Francisco
Nine candied apples cast bright blue shadows across a countertop in this surprisingly complex, multicolor woodcut. The theatrical presentation of this quintessential American treat evokes nostalgic remembrances of county fairs, candy shop windows, and holiday seasons past. Though Wayne Thiebaud often exhibited with Pop artists, he considered himself to be a realist. His depictions of popular and recognizable cuisines blur any connections to the actual foods, emphasizing the similarity of food culture across the United States.
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Tony Fitzpatrick,
American, born 1958
‘C’, 2012
‘J’, 2012
‘O’, 2012
three etchings from the Alphabet of Songbirds
printed and published by the artist
These prints are part of Tony Fitzpatrick’s Alphabet of Songbirds. The cardinal, native to North America, is the most common state bird. A Japanese Songbird represents the letter “J.” The upper corners of this image include the Japanese characters for “joy” and “song.” “O” pays homage to the extinct Hawai’ian ‘ō-‘ō (Moho), highly prized for its beautiful feathers.
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Tony Fitzpatrick,
American, born 1958
left to right, top to bottom:
Ass Hopper, 2011
Ghost, 2012
Little King, 2011
The Atomic Child, 2012
The Pink Witch, 2011
Misfits, 2011
The Radio Swan, 2011
Chicago Mephisto, 2011
An Irish Story, 2011
nine etchings
printed and published by the artist
A tuxedoed spider with a monocle, an elephant holding balloons, and a group of mice are some of the expressive characters in these brightly colored, carnivalesque settings. The vignettes may appear fun at first, but signs of dystopia create an unsettling sense of anxiety: abandoned factories, wrecking balls, inclement weather, and symbols for radioactivity.
Tony Fitzpatrick is a master of intaglio printmaking, a method in which an artist draws images on metal plates that are then etched in acid. Each color requires its own pass through a press. How many do you count in these prints? He often layers between three and six colors.
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Tony Fitzpatrick,
American, born 1958
The City Owl, 2013
etching
printed and published by the artist
A red-eyed owl gazes intensely at viewers within an urban environment filled with telephone wires and unintelligible conversations. Silhouettes shuffle in the rain, while a stick figure wearing a mouse mask roasts a hot dog over a pile of coal. Tony Fitzpatrick invents quirky scenes drawn from tattoo imagery, personal memories, and his beloved hometown Chicago to create densely-packed works of art.
600:2020
Mike Bidlo,
American, born 1953
Print Your Own Jackie!, 1984
screenprint
printed by Lower East Side Printshop, New York
published by the artist
In November 1963, press photographs of Jacqueline Kennedy at the funeral of her husband, President John F. Kennedy, became an emotional touch point for a grieving country. Andy Warhol manipulated several of those images and used them to produce hundreds of paintings and prints featuring Jackie’s face. Mike Bidlo seems to have relished the cascading layers of appropriation: Bidlo from Warhol; Warhol from the press; the press from the First Lady’s intensely private moment.
By writing “Print Your Own Jackie!” at the bottom of this print, Bidlo suggests anyone can create their own copy.
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Andy Warhol, American, 1928–1987; Jackie Triptych, 1964; acrylic paint, silkscreen ink and spray paint on linen; each: 20 x 16 inches; The Doris and Donald Fisher Collection at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; © 2022 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, Photograph: Katherine Du Tiel
Mike Bidlo,
American, born 1953
Campbell’s Soup Can (Not Warhol), 1984
oil on canvas
Andy Warhol’s “Soup Cans” are instantly recognizable. Borrowed from Campbell’s soup cans, the imagery is familiar to anyone living in contemporary America. Warhol first painted his soup cans in 1962, but this work was created 22 years later by another artist, Mike Bidlo. Bidlo’s handmade replicas of famous works by Modern artists, including Spanish artist Pablo Picasso and American painter Jackson Pollock, have stirred up controversy throughout his career. They pay homage to his predecessors, while also questioning established notions of originality.
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Mark Newport,
American, born 1964
Sampler: Batman and Catwoman, 2005
embroidered comic book cover
Sampler: Captain America 228, 2008
embroidered comic book cover
These comic book covers show superheroes at dramatic moments of combat. Artist Mark Newport hand-stitched threads of embroidery floss over the main characters, creating a soft texture that diminishes their ferocity. Newport explains:
I usually pick covers where the hero is in danger or in a moment that seems fraught. I predominantly use two stitches for the figures: the French knot and the bullion stitch. French knots make various sizes of dots which reminds me of the halftone Ben-Day dots used to print old comic books. The bullion stitch makes more linear stitches [similar to] crosshatching from drawings and muscle striations. The stitches on borders and around letters on the covers refer back to the embroidery sampler tradition.
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Mark Newport,
American, born 1964
Captain America, 2007
acrylic yarn and buttons with wooden hanger
Captain America, a World War II-era superhero, fights enemies of democracy. Portrayed as an empty, sagging hand-knit textile, however, this work contradicts superhero attributes of invincibility and power. The artist explains, “I work to forge a link between childhood experience and my adult exploration of protection, masculinity, and heroism.” Since 2003 Mark Newport has knitted nearly 40 superhero costumes, which he sometimes wears for photo shoots. He invents many characters, such as “Sweaterman,” but also represents well-known comic book legends.
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