Charles LeDray, Untitled (I Love NY), 1992, Fabric, thread, buttons, wire, 29 x 11in., Gift of Alice and Marvin Kosmin, Linda Pace Foundation Collection, Ruby City, San Antonio, Texas © Charles LeDray

IRRATIONALLY SPEAKING: COLLAGE & ASSEMBLAGE IN CONTEMPORARY ART
9.21.24 — 8.31.25

Irrationally Speaking highlights two art forms—collage and assemblage—as artistic techniques and conceptual approaches. With the simple act of placing two or more distinct images or objects together (sometimes jarringly so) artists can create a complex whole to address a multiplicity of meanings. Combined wood fragments, cut-and-pasted paper, seamless digital and photo-based prints comprised of disparate pictures, bronze sculptures created from discarded shoes, and contrasting clothing articles put together —these are some of the ways that contemporary artists harness a myriad of materials and methods to craft the art in this presentation. Although they may appear to be composed of “irrational” or illogical combinations, making them appear surreal or abstract, the works are formal and material experimentations as well as personal and cultural explorations.  Irrationally Speaking demonstrates the alluring appeal of these art forms for artists and their ability to elucidate the complexity of artistic expression, history, place, and contemporary life. 

Martha Rosler, Nature girls (Jumping Janes), 1966, Photomontage, edition 4 of 10, 27 x 40 in, Linda Pace Foundation Collection, Ruby City San Antonio, Texas

Irrationally Speaking includes works by Leonardo Drew, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Arturo Herrera, Thomas Hirschhorn, Ken Little, Hew Locke, Wangechi Mutu, Lorraine O’Grady, Jon Pylypchuk, Deborah Roberts, Martha Rosler, and Nancy Spero, among others.