BMA PRESENTS ‘RIPPLE EFFECT’

AVV 8-6 #708340

BALTIMORE, MD. — The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) presents the exhibition, “Front Room: Ripple Effect,” on view through September 2.

New acquisitions often force museums to reconsider works thought quite familiar and provide a fresh perspective on old favorites. “Chandelier with Hands,” 2006, by Swiss artist Thomas Hirschhorn is the centerpiece that brings together the disparate works of art in this exhibition.

Using mass-produced materials such as brown plastic tape, rough-hewn wood, bubble wrap and painted plastic hands, Hirschhorn’s work shares common themes and iconographies such as the presence of hands, crosses, and bodies, with works that range from Albrecht Durer’s “Crucifixion, The Large Passion,” circa 1497–1498, to William Klein’s photograph of the hand of an unseen man in Beirut, Lebanon, 1936, to Andy Warhol’s “Electric Chair,” 1971.

Shown together in the same space, the exhibition demonstrates how the presence of one work of art in the collection creates a ripple effect by complicating and altering the impressions of others. The exhibition is curated by Darsie Alexander, BMA’s senior curator of contemporary art.

The Baltimore Museum of Art is at 10 Art Museum Drive. For information, 443-573-1700 or www.artbma.org.