BMA Presents On Paper: Alternate Realities

Twenty-six narrative prints, many set in fictional worlds, are on view for the first time at the Baltimore Museum of Art in On Paper: Alternate Realities. The exhibition, open September 21, 2014-April 12, 2015, brings together American artists from across the country who have playfully exaggerated and reimaged the visual language of popular culture. The works consider larger societal issues while exploring myths, folk lore, religious stories, and fairy tales.

Among the prints featured are two complete portfolios by Raymond Pettibon and Trenton Doyle Hancock, as well as newly acquired works by Wangechi Mutu, Amy Cutler, Chitra Ganesh, Toshio Sasaki, Iona Rozeal Brown, and William Villalongo. At the center of the exhibition is an eight-panel, accordion bound work titled El Regreso del Caníbal Macrobiótico (The Return of the Macrobiotic Cannibal) (1998) by Enrique Chagoya. The colorful combination of woodcut, color lithograph, and chine-collé printing juxtaposes images of American comic book characters, Catholic iconography, medical illustrations, Mayans in overcoats, and alien spaceships.

On Paper will be presented in the revitalized contemporary wing’s third-floor gallery dedicated to the presentation of the BMA’s renowned holdings of prints, drawings, and photographs. This is the third exhibition from the Museum’s Thomas E. Benesch Memorial Collection, a group of more than 140 outstanding drawings by international contemporary artists.

Curated by Associate Curator of Prints, Drawings & Photographs Ann Shafer.

BMA Contemporary Wing

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.