ICA at MECA Presents ‘Off the Wall’

The Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art announces the opening of Off the Wall on Thursday, January 18, 5–7pm. Meet guest curator Jaime DeSimone and artist Ryan Wallace.

In 1966, German-born American sculptor Eva Hesse attached a seemingly simple long metal cord to a canvas that dramatically transformed a painting into a sculpture. Such a simple act revolutionized our understanding of what a painting could be. By privileging the painting’s marginal feature—the frame, its structural support — Hang Up transcends the medium’s inherent two-dimensionality.

Curated by Jaime DeSimone, Off the Wall pays homage to Hesse’s groundbreaking work and investigates how contemporary artists continue to explore this liminal space between painting and sculpture. At times, a painting’s skin slides onto the floor or creeps onto the ceiling. In others, structural components protrude outward into the gallery space. As our spatial relationship with such works is reconfigured, objects on view in Off the Wall permeate into space and challenge our comprehension of both painting and sculpture. To provide an intimate perspective on this topic, Off the Wall will feature a range of works by two Brooklyn-based artists, Rosy Keyser and Ryan Wallace. A representative sampling of work will be presented by each artist to provoke thought about the shifting dynamics between painting and sculpture, or vice versa, as well as their collision.

 

For more information please contact MECA’s Director of Exhibitions and Special Projects, Erin Hutton, at 207.699.5025 or ehutton@meca.edu.