Passing Through the Opposite of What It Approaches, Chapter 25

R. H. QuaytmanWW-2012-099638

2012·Acrylic, silk-screened tempera, gesso on wood·82.2 × 133 cm (32 3/8 × 52 3/8 in.)

Since 2000 R. H. Quaytman has produced over twenty-five “chapters” of paintings, each chapter structured around a specific theme or concept and comprising numerous individual works. Exhibited at the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, Passing Through the Opposite of What It Approaches, Chapter 25 revisits aspects of the venue’s exhibition history and interior architecture. The work’s composition includes allusions to two of the artist’s artistic influences—Niele Toroni (the panel’s silkscreened background is of a Toroni work as installed at the Society in 1990) and Daniel Buren (whose signature vertical stripes punctuate the image). Chapter 25 enacts a larger art historical dialogue and performs as a visual archive of the Renaissance Society.

Catalogue

Year: 2012
Medium: Acrylic, silk-screened tempera, gesso on wood
Dimensions: 82.2 × 133 cm (32 3/8 × 52 3/8 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: R. H. Quaytman

Artist

R. H. Quaytman

Painting

R. H. Quaytman’s work follows a few cardinal rules: pieces are conceived in series, each series must relate to the site where it was first exhibited, and new works relate directly to the series that preceded it. This emphasis on continuity in Quaytman’s practice imbues her works with a narrative trajectory—it is fitting that she titles her series “Chapters.” The subjects in her works hail from a variety of sources, which have included art history, scientific archives, and personal or family history. Though the production of an individual work might require techniques and media related to silk-screening, photography, and sculpture, Quaytman claims to always have painting on her mind: “I seek to maintain and simultaneously disrupt painting’s absolute presence,” she has said.

New York, NY, USA

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