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Beyond the Surface: Collage, Mixed Media and Textile Works from the Collection

June 16, 2022 – May 14, 2023

This exhibition includes approximately 40 works, primarily from the Nasher Museum’s collection. With a focus on collage, mixed media and textile works, Beyond the Surface explores how artists bring together disparate materials and ideas to create artworks that engage with all audiences. Through skill and care, artists juxtapose unexpected elements and concepts in their work to tell many different stories.

Since opening in 2005, the Nasher Museum has been dedicated to building a groundbreaking collection of contemporary art centered on diversity and inclusion. The museum’s emphasis is on artists historically underrepresented, overlooked or excluded from art institutions, with a particular focus on artists of African descent. In this effort, the museum supports global artists of extraordinary vision, whose works spark opportunities for thoughtful engagement.

Artists include Nina Chanel Abney, Emma Amos, Korakrit Arunanondchai, Romare Bearden, María Berrío, Sanford Biggers, Mark Bradford, Nick Cave, Barbara Chase-Riboud, William Cordova, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, David C. Driskell, Sherman Fleming, Derek Fordjour, Charles Gaines, Deborah Grant, Lyle Ashton Harris, Barkley L. Hendricks, Silvia Heyden, Rashid Johnson, Mauricio Lasansky, Kemang Wa Lehulere, Hugo McCloud, Vik Muniz, Wangechi Mutu, Christopher Myers, Alexander Ney, Odili Donald Odita, Ebony G. Patterson, Dario Robleto, Paul Anthony Smith, Jeff Sonhouse, Alma Thomas, SoiL Thronton, Stacy Lynn Waddell, Purvis Young, and Nettie Young.

Organization and Support

This exhibition is organized by Lauren Haynes, former Patsy R. and Raymond D. Nasher Senior Curator of Contemporary Art.

Beyond the Surface is supported by the Nancy A. Nasher and David J. Haemisegger Family Fund for Exhibitions and the J. Horst and Ruth Mary Meyer Fund for the Nasher Museum.

Deborah Grant, In the Land of the Blind the Blue Eye Man is King from the series By the Skin of Our Teeth, 2007. Oil, archival ink, paper, Flashe paint, and enamel on five birch panels; 72 × 180 inches (182.9 × 457.2 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Museum purchase with additional funds provided by JoAnn and Ronald Busuttil, 2013.13.1. © Deborah Grant. Courtesy of the artist and Steve Turner, Los Angeles.
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