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Back to Press Room
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 24, 2008
PRESS CONTACT:
Andrea Potochniak
607 254-4563
arp37@cornell.edu
The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art Presents
Jane Hammond: Paper Work
Over 50 works on paper on view;
artist to speak at Museum on January 31
Ithaca, NY—The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University presents Jane Hammond: Paper Work, on view from January 19 to March 23, 2008.
Jane Hammond’s work hovers at the intersection of word and image. Trained as a sculptor, she established a formidable reputation as a painter during the 1990s, which is now being supplemented by a closer look at her paper-based work in this traveling exhibition. Operating with a fixed lexicon of 276 subjects—mined from magazines, board games, maps, science manuals, children’s books, and the Internet, among other sources—Hammond combines and recombines imagery in her work.
“Jane Hammond: Paper Work features more than 55 unique paper objects, conveying both thoughts and the slippery process of thinking itself,” said Andrea Inselmann, curator of modern and contemporary art at the Johnson Museum. “They collage together techniques and materials as well as ideas and feelings to create a stream of mental associations and visual stimuli, underscoring the effect of context and connotation on the construction of meaning.”
Many of Hammond’s works on paper take the form of postcards and scrapbooks, photographs and game boards, maps and charts, books and costumes. Scrapbook – 1000 Yen (2003) is composed of a large open book into which is sewn Japanese paper. Affixed to the two open pages are an array of images: silhouettes, paper doll-like collaged figures, paper flowers, money, safety pins and fabric, and collages inside handmade glassine specimen envelopes, lithographs of old balloons, paper necklaces and handmade paper matchbooks. They represent collecting, sorting, and assortment, storage and memory, engaging the languages of minimalism and conceptualism, which dominated the art world during Hammond’s early career in the 1970s.
Jane Hammond will speak at the Johnson Museum on Thursday, January 31 at 5:15 p.m.
Faye Hirsch, senior editor at Art in America and a contemporary art scholar, will speak in conjunction with the exhibition on Thursday, March 6 at 5:15 p.m. Both lectures are free and open to the public.
Jane Hammond: Paper Work was organized by the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum. The exhibition and accompanying catalogue were made possible in part by the Lucy P. Eisenhart Fund, the Susan B. Weatherbie (class of 1972) Exhibition Development Fund, the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum Friends of Art, and a generous gift from the Andy Warhol Foundation.
The Johnson Museum has a permanent collection of over 30,000 works of art from Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America. The museum building was designed by I. M. Pei. Funds for the building were donated by Cornell alumnus Herbert F. Johnson, late president and chairman of S C Johnson. The building opened in 1973.
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The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, located on the campus of Cornell University, is open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Admission is free. The Museum is completely accessible for mobility-impaired visitors, and a wheelchair is available in the lobby. Metered parking is available in the lot next to the Museum. For more information, please call 607 255-6464. Visit the Museum’s website at www.museum.cornell.edu. The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art is a proud member of Ithaca’s Discovery Trail: www.DiscoveryTrail.com.
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