The Bottle As An Art Form, At Aldrich Museum

RIDGEFIELD — The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum will present “Bottle: Contemporary Art and Vernacular Tradition,” an exhibition that explores the use of the bottle in contemporary art making, and seeks to reveal how deeply rooted the bottle is as an archetypal object in our culture.

Curated by Aldrich director of exhibitions Richard Klein, the exhibition is on view through January 5.

Bottles are so ubiquitous in everyday life that they have become practically invisible to us. Developed over 2,000 years ago with the birth of glassblowing, the bottle as a functional object continues to be indispensable to the modern world.

Bottles have also served a less practical purpose in the recent past, however, as both subject matter and material for a diverse range of contemporary artists. The exhibition questions why this common utilitarian object has attracted the interest of so many artists.

Exhibition artists include Joseph Beuys, Dove Bradshaw, Bethany Bristow, Moyra Davey, Tony Feher, Howard Finster, Phil Frost, David Hammons, Mona Hatoum, Damien Hirst, Donald Lipski, Whitfield Lovell, Josiah McElheny, Barry McGee, Sean Mellyn, Olivia Parker, Maria Porges, Rosamond Purcell, Charles Ray, Alison Saar, Arlene Shechet, Claude Simard, Kiki Smith, William Wegman and Jil Weinstock. The exhibition will also include “whimsy” bottles from the collection of the American Folk Art Museum

The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, at 258 Main Street (Route 35), is renowned as a national leader for its presentation of outstanding new art, the cultivation of emerging artists, and its innovation in museum education. Regular museum hours are Tuesday through Sunday, noon to 5 pm. For more information call 203-438-4519 or visit www.AldrichArt.org.