Feature Image

Neo-Abstraction: Celebrating a Gift of Contemporary Art from John and Sara Shlesinger

Saturday, Jul 17, 2021 — Sunday, Dec 05, 2021


At the end of 2019, John and Sara Shlesinger donated 110 works of global contemporary art from their personal collection to the Georgia Museum of Art, transforming the museum’s ability to teach and exhibit cutting-edge art of the past 25 years. This exhibition celebrates their gift by showcasing a selection of works by emerging and established artists from it. “Neo-Abstraction” highlights the resurgence of abstract art among contemporary artists, including an early spin painting by Damien Hirst and a photographic abstraction by Walead Beshty. Their works vary in method. Some employ traditional forms of painterly abstraction. Others use technology to remove bodily gesture from the equation. Still others investigate the boundary between the representational and the abstract. But, for each artist, abstraction offers a way to make visible materiality, process, expression and chance. As a result, their works bring us as viewers back to a real, physical and emotional encounter with the objecthood of our world.

Neo-Abstraction

  • Georgia Museum of Art
    Walead Beshty (American, b. England, 1976), “Black Curl (CMY/Five Magnet: Irvine, CA, January 2nd 2010, Fujicolor Crystal Archive Super Type C, Em. No. 1650-021, 09610),” 2011. Color fiber based photographic paper. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; The John and Sara Shlesinger Collection. GMOA 2019.364. © Walead Beshty. Courtesy the artist, Regen Projects, Los Angeles and Thomas Dane Gallery. Photo: Brian Forrest.
    get_appDownload File
  • Georgia Museum of Art
    Sarah Braman, “Coexist,” 2010. Found car part, plexiglass, paint and found chair, 49 × 61 × 55 inches. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; The John and Sara Shlesinger Collection. GMOA 2019.365. © Sarah Braman Courtesy of the artist and Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York.
    get_appDownload File
  • Georgia Museum of Art
    Matthew Brandt (American, b. 1982), “Great Salt Lake UT 5,” 2013. C-print soaked in Great Salt Lake water, 46 × 64 inches CREDIT LINEGeorgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; The John and Sara Shlesinger Collection. GMOA 2019.366.
    get_appDownload File
  • Georgia Museum of Art
    Mika Tajima (American, b. 1975), “At the Door,” 2008. Silkscreen, woodcut, cotton rag, CNC Plexiglas, wood, paint, 30 7/8 × 22 inches. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; The John and Sara Shlesinger Collection. GMOA 2019.457. © Mika Tajima. Image courtesy the artist, Kayne Griffin Corcoran (Los Angeles), and Taro Nasu (Tokyo).
    get_appDownload File
  • Georgia Museum of Art
    Michael Bauer (German, b. 1973), “H.S.O.P. – Gasstunk Mob 55,” 2012. Oil on canvas. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; The John and Sara Shlesinger Collection. GMOA 2019.359.
    get_appDownload File
Curator

Jeffrey Richmond-Moll, curator of American art

Galleries

Philip Henry Alston Jr. Gallery

Press Releases

chat

Georgia Museum of Art debuts expanded contemporary collection

Wed, Jul 14, 2021