Allan McCollum

Allan McCollum, born in Los Angeles in 1944, is a conceptual artist. During the late 1970s, McCollum began to develop his central thesis; one which transforms the relationship between viewer and artwork, by challenging the producer/receiver dichotomy. His work is defined by his artistic and sociological investigation of the individual within processes of mass production. To that extent, McCollum‘s works are often characterized by an extreme accumulation of individual parts—drawings or sculptural objects—with the aim of transcending such social categorizations as education and class which often divide audiences in their reception. Due to its focus on the processes of cultural reception, McCollum‘s work has often been set in the context of his contemporaries Michael Asher, Daniel Buren, Andrea Fraser, Louise Lawler, and Allan Ruppersberg. His most acclaimed works include his Plaster Surrogates, Perfect Vehicles, and his Over Ten Thousand Individual Works series, all of which have become icons of late 20th century conceptual art.

Allan McCollum’s work has been recognized through numerous international museum exhibitions and publications. McCollum has held professorships at various art schools including the Rhode Island School of Design, Bard College, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Since 1972 he has teached at various art schools in the US, including the Columbia University, School of Arts, in New York City, the Yale University School of Art, in New Haven and the USF School of Art and Art History, Florida. In 2008, he received the Award for Excellence in Design of the City of New York. Important solo exhibitions include The Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, Florida (2020),  Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington (2015), La Salle de Bains, Lyon, France (2010/11), Clifford Gallery, Colgate University, Hamilton (2010), Kunsthalle Zurich, Switzerland (2008), Musée d’art moderne et contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland (2006), Texas Gallery, Houston (2004), Central Park in New York (2004). Important group exhibitions include the Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, USA (2017), Hessel Museum of Art, New York (2017), Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerp, Belgium (2016), Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt a.M. (2016), Tate Liverpool (2015/16), MUMOK, Vienna (2015/16), LACMA (2015/16), New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe (2015), Bergen Kunsthall, Norway (2015), Hammer Museum of Art, Los Angeles (2014), MoMA (2014), J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (2012/13), Institute for Contemporary Art, Boston (2012/13), Walker Art Center (2012), Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2012). McCollum‘s works can be viewed in many of the world’s most important collections, including MoMA, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, SFMOMA, LACMA, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, the Art Institute of Chicago, Detroit Institute of the Arts, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, National Gallery of Canada, Vancouver Art Gallery, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou, MUMOK, Vienna, Sprengel Museum, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Musée d’art contemporain et moderne, Geneva, “la Caixa” Foundation, Barcelona, Israel Museum, New Tokyo Metropolitan Museum, and the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul. Allan McCollum lives and works in New York City.

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