Stephen Prina remixes preexisting cultural materials, historical subjects, and institutional systems to unravel established meanings and generate new associations. An artist, musician, and composer, he draws on—and often wryly combines—diverse sources including pop songs, modernist design, art history, and his own artworks.
In this installation, which calls attention to how museum displays shape the meaning and reception of artworks, Prina references his earlier work, Monochrome Painting (1988–89). That project includes green panels that share dimensions with 14 historical single-color paintings, among other elements. This drawing project is a “ghost” version of its source, in which Prina maintains the components’ dimensions but changes the materials and layout. Everything is translated into ink-wash drawings and reorganized by category, such as panel, label, or graphic. The catalogue that artist Barnett Newman resists—as referenced in the work’s title—is the project’s focus: what is included and excluded in the process of historicizing an artwork.
Organized by Samantha Friedman, Curator, with Rachel Rosin, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Drawings and Prints.
