Exploding Surfaces: 1954–1984

Exploding Surfaces: 1954–1984

Open through August 8, 2021
2nd Floor North Gallery

World War II wrought societal upheaval and atrocities against humanity and along with it a moral and ideological crisis around the world. In the wake of the war, artists began questioning the value of traditional modes of artmaking. They sought new forms of expression as a way of making meaning in their art. Artists began to move away from traditional approaches to representation and the application of materials. From dripped, soaked, and stained canvases to paintings that were cut apart, reassembled, or combined with found objects, the old rules of painting no longer applied. Likewise, artists working with clay experimented with new approaches to form, construction, and surface as they explored the medium’s sculptural possibilities.

This exhibition explores the ways in which artists of the mid-twentieth century pushed the traditional boundaries of form, materials, and representation to exploit the expressive potential that could be mined from the surfaces of works of art. Highlighting works from the Speed’s permanent collection, Exploding Surfaces features paintings, sculpture, photographs, and ceramics in which artists manipulated media for expressive means and to investigate the physicality and process of making.

This exhibition also features a selection of ceramics and sculpture donated by the late Leonard and Adele Leight. Our concurrent exhibition, Collecting – A Love Story: Glass from the Adele and Leonard Leight Collection, presents contemporary glass acquired by the couple over the course of fifty years. That exhibition is on view on the second floor of the north building and extends through the museum to the Loft Gallery at the south end of the building.