Art about Art

As they contemplate their places in art history, many artists make work about other artists and artworks. This cross section of artworks from the Smart’s collection references canonical figures, traditions, or artworks; offers studies in experimentation or preparation of other work; or even subverts the conventions and institutions of artworks’ production, circulation, and reception. Among these are two editions of Marcel Duchamp’s Boîte-en-valises alongside Erwin Wurm’s own play on Duchamp’s famed urinal (Fountain), a print by Faith Ringgold that centralizes prominent female African American figures who are offered sunflowers by Van Gogh, preparatory sculpture drawings by H. C. Westermann, and a vessel amalgamated from master ceramicists’ discarded fragments by Korean artist Yeesookyung.