Todd McKie
Geometry without Fear, 2001
flashe on canvas, 48" x 36"
Courtesy of the artist and Gallery Naga, Boston

Refigured

June 14–August 29, 2004

E-book I Selected Works

Refigured brings together for the first time works by six Massachusetts artists to examine nontraditional representation of the human. Todd McKie, Jo Sandman, Andrew Tavarelli, Joseph Wheelwright, Heidi Whitman, and Leslie Wilcox each invents a different visual language, employing various media, to “refigure” the complexity of the human condition. Following in the footsteps of early Modern artists, like Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, and Jean Dubuffet, who were inspired by non-Western tribal art, children’s art, and the art of the insane, each uses the image of the human form as a springboard for exploration into human experience. Tavarelli, Wilcox, and Sandman portray themes of mortality and physical vulnerability; McKie, Wheelwright, and Wilcox incorporate humor and word play into their titles and imagery; and Sandman, Wheelwright, and McKie present correlations between human likeness and natural forms. An illustrated catalogue, with essays by principal curator, Alston Conley and co-curators, Naomi Blumberg and Katherine Nahum, accompanies this exhibition.

Organized by the McMullen Museum, this exhibition has been underwritten by Boston College with major support from the Patrons of the McMullen Museum of Art.