Here we are surveys contemporary art from the Portland Art Museum’s collection. Featuring work across a range of media, the exhibition showcases recent acquisitions alongside signature works and reflects on the constant change and shifting narratives that mark our contemporary world and networked lives.
In the current globalized, digitized ecology, contemporary artists observe, document, and reflect. Their voices and visions imagine what is possible and tell stories that expand our knowledge. They question, prompt, and call to action, while creating both beauty and criticism. The exhibited artworks ask us to ponder these real, virtual, and imagined spaces we find ourselves inhabiting today, and the moments, thoughts, and experiences that tell us about who we are and why we are here. Highlights in this gallery include works about our sense of self and identity such as Sentinel IV (Gold) by Simone Leigh, Fred Wilson’s black glass mirror I Saw Othello’s Visage in His Mind, and Maja Ruznic’s painting Daughter (Red). Large scale works by Chiho Aoshima, Carrie Mae Weems, and Wolfgang Tillmans consider relationships to place, another prominent theme. Others, including Jeppe Hein’s Please Participate, Katherine Bradford’s Ritual, and Jeffry Mitchell and Tivon Rice’s Panda speak to the human connection and the creative process.
