BMA Presents Front Room: Guyton\Walker in the West Wing for Contemporary Art

BALTIMORE, MD (September 21, 2010)— In conjunction with Andy Warhol: The Last Decade, the BMA is presenting an energetic and colorful installation by the New York-based collaborative Guyton\Walker.  On view September 22, 2010 – January 16, 2011, Front Room: Guyton\Walker features the duo’s signature objects—large screen-prints of luscious tropical fruit, richly patterned paint cans, and surprising table-like constructions—strategically placed throughout the BMA’s West Wing for Contemporary Art and other areas of the Museum. These vibrant works demonstrate how Warhol’s artistic legacy impacts a new generation of artists.

Wade Guyton (b. 1972) and Kelley Walker (b. 1969) are known for producing lively visual environments from digitally manipulated, screen-printed images, and sculptural elements that combine image and pattern, as well as aspects of fine art and graphic design. Their collaboration involves reclaiming pictures from magazines and other popular sources and scanning them, along with actual objects, into a digital platform where both artists are able to access and alter the content. This model of creative production evokes Warhol’s “Factory” for art and experience-making and points to 21st-century collaborative information sharing and image development. Guyton\Walker also emulate Warhol by repeatedly exploring such seemingly mundane subjects as fruit.

The Guyton\Walker collaborative began in 2004 when Wade Guyton was invited to show at Midway Contemporary Art in St. Paul, Minnesota and extended the invitation to include his longtime acquaintance Kelley Walker, with whom he had shared a studio.  In a recent interview, the artists said, “In the beginning it was a way to get away from our own work, to try new things, to not be isolated in the studio. The work took on a life of its own and developed in many different ways, and still challenges us, so we continue.”

Guyton\Walker have also had solo exhibitions of their work at Greene Naftali Gallery in New York; Air de Paris in France; LAX Art in Los Angeles, California; Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Art Cologne Projects in Cologne, Germany. In spring 2010, they were among three artists to participate in Whitney on Site: New Commissions Downtown, where they created an outdoor installation at the site of the Whitney Museum of American Art’s future building in New York’s Meatpacking District. This is the first solo exhibition for Guyton\Walker in a major American museum.

Meet the artists on Saturday, November 13, when Guyton\Walker participates in an Artful Conversation about their works led by BMA Curator of Contemporary Art Kristen Hileman. Admission is free for the 2 p.m. event, which is sponsored by the BMA’s Friends of Modern and Contemporary Art.  A Third Thursday Curatorial Tour also led by Kristen Hileman is offered on November 18 at 1 p.m.

Front Room: Guyton\Walker is curated by Kristen Hileman, Curator of Contemporary Art.  The exhibition is generously sponsored by Joanne Gold and Andrew Stern. Additional support is provided by Sherry and Stuart Christhilf.

About the Baltimore Museum of Art

Founded in 1914, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) inspires people of all ages and backgrounds through exhibitions, programs, and collections that tell an expansive story of art—challenging long-held narratives and embracing new voices. Our outstanding collection of more than 97,000 objects spans many eras and cultures and includes the world’s largest public holding of works by Henri Matisse; one of the nation’s finest collections of prints, drawings, and photographs; and a rapidly growing number of works by contemporary artists of diverse backgrounds. The museum is also distinguished by a neoclassical building designed by American architect John Russell Pope and two beautifully landscaped gardens featuring an array of modern and contemporary sculpture. The BMA is located three miles north of the Inner Harbor, adjacent to the main campus of Johns Hopkins University, and has a community branch at Lexington Market. General admission is free so that everyone can enjoy the power of art.