Forum 81
April 19–August 25, 2019
Carnegie Museum of Art (CMOA) debuts a new body of work by American painter Ruth Root in the 81st installment of its Forum series dedicated to contemporary art.
A consummate innovator, Root (b. Chicago, 1967) fashions eccentrically shaped paintings that dazzle and perplex with their play of pattern and found imagery. Each of Root’s latest works, which combine abstraction and digital printing, include a shaped panel painted with acrylic and spray paint suspended from a flexible sewn form that has been covered with the artist’s own fabric designs. This presentation is Root’s first solo exhibition at a major American museum.
Physically and visually unruly, these large-scale works push the boundaries of the medium and embrace the complexities of the visible world. For her fabric designs, Root draws found imagery from disparate sources including the news media, art history, the studio, and online search engines. In this new body of work, Root has also incorporated images of artworks and design objects from CMOA’s collection.
“The exhibition celebrates Root’s startling command of color, pattern, and shape as well as her thought-provoking inquiry into what a painting can be today,” says exhibition curator Eric Crosby. “Painting, everyday life, and the museum collide in Root’s visually complex works. Diving into them is a captivating process of discovery.”
In addition to the exhibition, Root has collaborated with museum staff to create an interactive scavenger hunt called Looking and Drawing with Ruth Root based on her research visits to CMOA. Visitors of all ages are invited to take a free copy of the guide and follow the artist’s imaginative prompts to experience the museum’s collection of paintings through her eyes.
Ruth Root is organized by Eric Crosby, Henry J. Heinz II Acting Co-Director and Richard Armstrong Senior Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art, with Hannah Turpin, Curatorial Assistant for Modern & Contemporary Art and Photography.
Exhibition credits
Major funding for the Forum series is generously provided by the Juliet Lea Hillman Simonds Foundation. Additional support for this exhibition is provided by the Martin G. McGuinn Art Exhibition Fund and the Ruth Levine Memorial Fund.
Support for Looking and Drawing with Ruth Root is provided by the Scaife Family Foundation Fund for Children’s Publications.
General operating support for Carnegie Museum of Art is provided by The Heinz Endowments and Allegheny Regional Asset District. Carnegie Museum of Art receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
About the Forum Series
CMOA’s Forum series is a dynamic program of exhibitions by some of today’s most innovative contemporary artists. Initiated in 1990, the ongoing series remains a vital aspect of CMOA’s contemporary program today. It has presented more than 80 exhibitions since its inception, many of which have been museum debuts for artists who have gone on to achieve international renown. Artists featured in past Forum exhibitions include Jeff Wall, Yasumasa Morimura, Ann Hamilton, Thaddeus Mosley, Kiki Smith, Mel Bochner, Rivane Neuenschwander, Ragnar Kjartansson, Cory Arcangel, Alison Knowles, Ian Cheng, and many others.
